What does the Changeover monitoring module do?

The Changeover monitoring module allows you to monitor the progress of the changeover between two works orders on a machine.

Depending on the nature of your business you may call a changeover by a different name such as one of the following:

• Die change
• Tool change
• Setup
• Setting
• Make ready

Whatever you call it, this module makes the progress of each stage of what can be a long process visible to production managers at all levels.

Key features

• Allows you to define a changeover plan in the form of a flow diagram.
• Allows you to set a planned duration for each task in the plan.
• Shows the progress of each task during a changeover, and indicates when a task is taking longer than planned.
• Allows setters to record the durations of and reasons for delays to a task.
• Forces a setter to sign off the completion of critical tasks.
• Calculates the critical path through a completed changeover and shows deviations from the expected durations of each task.

Is it suitable for my business?

The Changeover monitoring module is suitable for any manufacturing business which uses machines with medium to long changover times. Most of our customers use it in conjunction with the Machine Monitoring module, but it can be used as a stand-alone module if required.

Create a changeover plan

You create a changeover plan with a graphical designer which allows you to construct a flow diagram for the changeover. You can divide the changeover into as many or as few tasks as you require. For each task you specify the following information:

• A description.
• A planned duration.
• A list of reasons why the task might be delayed.
• A list of employees who are authorised to sign off the task as complete. You can omit this list if you don’t require anyone to sign off the task.
• Triggers for the start and finish of each task. These are most often triggered by the setter pressing a button on the touch screen next to the machine, but may be triggered automatically by signals from the machine for example when the machine first cycles after the tool has been physically changed.
• The tasks which must be completed before this task can start.
• The tasks which cannot be started until this task is complete.

The plan can include tasks which can be completed before the machine finishes its current works order operation, for example tool preparation and moving raw materials to the machine.

You can automatically modify the plan based on the characteristics of the next works order.

For example the duration of each stage of make ready on a printing press will depend on the number of colours which have changed between the current job and the next job. You can configure the plan to adjust automatically the duration of some or all tasks based on the number of colours. This often helps to reduce the number of changeover plans required

Execute the changeover plan

As the current job on a machine nears its end, the system will automatically issue alerts to line managers when the changeover plan for the next job should be started.

The setter selects the next works order operation from a work-to list produced by the Finite capacity planning module, and the system then configures the changeover plan for that operation.

As the changeover progresses the setter records the start and finish of each task.

During a task a progress bar shows how the elapsed time on the task compares with the planned duration. If the elapsed time exceeds the planned duration, then the task is coloured red.

When the Change works order task is started, the system automatically closes the previous operation and opens the new operation. This in turn sets up the Machine monitoring system on the machine for the new operation.

If a task is delayed for any reason, the setter can record it as suspended and give a reason why. Suspended tasks are shown in red.

When the problem has been resolved, the setter records that work on the task has resumed. A single task may be suspended and resumed many times if necessary.

Report on completed changeovers.

While a changeover is in progress, any user of the system can see the flow chart and the progress and status of each task.

After completion of the changeover, you can view the completed flow chart to see actual times for each task and the critical path through the changeover. You can click on the Finish of the changeover to see a summary of all tasks with deviations from their planned durations.

This module brings visibility and control of long changeover times and gives you the information you need to reduce these times.