Drives & Controls October 2022

28 n MACHINE BUILDING AND OPERATION October 2022 www.drivesncontrols.com Monitoring software gives a handle on production capacity B irmingham-based Armac Martin manufactures luxury brass cabinet fixtures and fittings for kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms and is specified by architects, interior designers, property developers and customers around the world. Established in 1929, the fourth-generation family business has grown through a continued programme of investment and a strong work ethic. Today it operates around 20 CNC milling and turning machines and employs more than 120 people. The company’s strong reputation, wide product range and commitment to quality had resulted in strong growth, but demand was outstripping supply and was beginning to choke its production lines. The company’s managers realised that longer lead times risked not being able to fulfil orders, potentially losing sales. There was the added danger that this could damage Armac’s reputation. They felt that the business had more production capacity but had no quantifiable measure of where that capacity could be found. They felt that a machine monitoring solution would provide the answer. They commissioned a system from the UK developer Fourjaw and the resulting data has highlighted which machines are being well- utilised and in high demand, and those that were under-utilised and were becoming redundant. The data provided Armac Martin with clear visibility of its production schedules and machine capacities. This knowledge gave the company the confidence to sell one under-used machine and to invest in a more appropriate alternative. This alone is expected to reduce the overdue rawmaterial orders by more than 60%. The data has also helped the company to decide to quit subcontract work and to focus instead on more profitable direct contracts. Since the machine-monitoring software was installed on a turning cell, the data has revealed a steady increase inmachine utilisation. Armac Martin is gettingmore out of its existing assets by working smarter andmore efficiently. And its managers can see what improvements need to be made in real-time. Over the past six months, the monitoring software has helped Armac Martin’s turning section to improve its machine utilisation rate from 21.7% up to 35.8% today. Capacity has also been boosted. For example, in the time it took the company to make 100 parts in April, it now makes 165 parts. And the trends are continuing upwards. The monitoring software has given team leaders on the shop floor more autonomy over managing their sections, no longer requiring managers to tell them how they are doing. They can see detailed live and historical information all of the time. “FourJaw helped to quantify our initial thinking and put some value to it so that we could make more-informed data-based decisions,” says Armac Martin’s production director, Rob McGrail, adding that the monitoring software “is delivering real benefit from the top floor to the shop floor”. This has been Armac Martin’s first step towards Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). It is nowworking with FourJaw to integrate ERP functions into its software to give a single joined-up view of the business. n A Birmingham luxury goods manufacturer has used a machine-monitoring platform to increase its production capacity and meet a surge in demand for its products. It has already achieved a 14% improvement in machine utilisation. By implementing machine monitoring on a CNC turning cell, Armac Martin has been able to boost its utilisation by 14%