A key part of success in the molding industry is how well you’re able to monitor your production systems and processes. The digital age has brought about endless innovations purely around this kind of monitoring to allow many more variables to be tracked and at an exceptionally faster pace than in the past. Ideally most higher-end systems offer real-time capabilities.
These allow molders and production facilities in general to evaluate their efficiency based on key performance indicators and quickly identify problems at the source. Data can be used in real-time to quickly respond and adapt as needed but it also allows greater in-depth analysis for long-term strategy. It’s important however to ensure that adequate production and process monitoring are being executed. An issue some facilities can run into is working with systems designed around one kind of monitoring and having inadequate capabilities for the other. Various production-monitoring systems are generally more developed and common-place throughout facilities.
Process-monitoring while not a necessarily new concept anymore, is still one that can be overlooked more easily but can unlock much more potential and efficiency from a production facility. Solely monitoring production could show a great cycle time on a machine while the process after the part comes out of the machine may be inefficient.
Here at Lomont Molding we’ve been recognizing the value of being able to have this analytical power and it’s one of the key reasons we employ our powerful IQMS ERP system that allows such real-time monitoring and connectivity of all our locations.
This allows us to regularly implement/modify processes as needed and react quickly when there are issues with machines or processes need updated. In today’s world more than ever, adaptability and reactiveness is the key to be able to continue to maintain high quality and on-time delivery standards for our customers.
Read more about the importance of Process & Production Monitoring in the below writing by Robert Gattshall, a highly regarded figure in the plastics industry with over 22 years of experience in the injection molding industry and many more accreditations
https://www.ptonline.com/articles/process-monitoring-or-production-monitoringwhy-not-both
