Working time automatic measurement tool
Measure time with IoT!
Visualization of the factory?
Improvements are being made at the manufacturing site to support high-mix low-volume production, but it has not yet been possible to grasp the actual work situation for each product order.
We do not know the labor and cost for each order, and the manufacturing inefficiency is not eliminated. Therefore, it is necessary to “visualize” the actual work situation.
Measure time, not place
There are many visualization tools on the market. However, most of them are literally “visualizing” workers and work in process.
This solution is a tool that measures time, not position. The work time that was partially measured manually with the stopwatch is expanded to all work and is always and automatically measured.
Automatically measure all working hours with IoT
This solution realizes automatic information collection of working hours by introducing the IoT infrastructure to the factory.
By grasping the work time of all processes and all work, it is possible to grasp the actual work condition for each product order for the first time. In addition, there is almost no burden because it measures automatically.
1. What is an "Automatic work time measurement tool"?
It is a tool that automatically measures the “stay time” of people (employees) and things (work in process, etc.) by the unit of defined “work places”. This will visualize the details of your work.
①Link “work” and “place”
②Automatically measure the “stay time” of people / work in process by “location” unit
③ Organize and visualize information in chronological order
Realizes a digital twin by introducing the IoT infrastructure “EXBeacon platform” to the factory. It constantly collects time and place data from the actual site and visualizes the work.
2. Time measurement mechanism
Redefinining the work site as a work place, the movement of people and things at each place is measured as the staying time, and the collected data is analyzed.
① Definition of place
The “work” of each production process and the “location” that is the range measured by the IoT infrastructure are linked and defined.
②Detection of people and work in process
A transmission / reception device (EXBeacon) is installed for each defined “location”.
③ Stay time measurement
The transmitting / receiving device measures the entry time and exit time by detecting the radio waves of the BLE tag attached to people and things. The measured data is aggregated on the server, data cleansing is performed, and the working time of each person or thing is calculated from the entry time and exit time.
④ Data analysis / time series display
By aggregating and analyzing the collected work time data for each product order, it is possible to understand the direct work and indirect work of each order. By listing them in chronological order, you can visualize the actual work situation that was difficult to see until now.
３．Expected introduction effect
Automation
Automatic collection of “completion of work” information
Until now, workers have manually collected information on the completion of work using a handy terminal or the like.
By introducing this solution, measurement can be performed automatically. Not only does it reduce the work load, but it also eliminates omissions and forgetting to confirm, improving accuracy and productivity.
Automation of daily work reports
The daily work report is created by the worker himself after the work and confirmed by the administrator, but the information is inaccurate and imposes a burden on the worker and the administrator.
By introducing this solution, a daily report will be automatically created based on the location information of the workers to be collected.
Site improvement
Inventory quantity detection
Detects the quantity of things placed in the defined location. By grasping the quantity in real time, it can be used for checking inventory, checking the specified quantity, reviewing the process, etc.
Understanding the work flow line
Instead of displaying the flow lines of workers on the map, the transition of whereabouts is displayed. From the transition information of whereabouts, we can grasp unnecessary movements, make improvements, and utilize them in process design.
Worker evaluation
Each worker is evaluated based on a huge amount of work record data. It can be used to measure the work efficiency of each worker, level the work, and train multi-skilled workers.
Know whereabouts and stay in real time
Since the location of workers and work in process is displayed in real time, you can save the trouble of searching. In addition, since “retention” can be found from the location of work-in-process and the passage of time, it is possible to grasp the bottleneck of the process.
Management issues
Realization of cost control for each product
Traditional cost control
＜ Direct labor costs ＞
・Input time from daily work reports (work time is ambiguous)
・Standard time is adopted to the product price (actual situation is unknown)
＜ Indirect costs ＞
・Allocation for each product from direct labor costs
(However, direct labor costs are ambiguous in the first place)
↓↓
Advanced cost control
＜Direct labor costs ＞
・Working time for each production number (automatic collection)
・Updated standard time to work cost (actual product price)
＜ Indirect costs ＞
・By ABC (activity based costing), indirect costs are allocated to each production number based on indirect work results.
4. Extended function / system cooperation
Cooperation with production control systems, etc.
The aggregated time information can be used in a wider range by linking between systems. A variety of inter-system cooperation is possible.
The external interface is as follows (Web / API, file output, IoTDB output). You can also manually download performance data through the dashboard.
System configuration
In the case of a factory, IoT DB not only stores the real space information collected by the EXBeacon platform, but also, connecting to PLC (machine information) and other external systems, collectively stores various types of factory information.
IoT DB has become the reality of digital twins, 1) providing site management information to MES and ERP as appropriate, 2) providing site support services at all times, and 3) analyzing accumulated information using various analysis tools.
Extended functions (various sensing)
The EXBeacon platform uses BLE mesh network technology, and basically any sensor with the BLE advertisement standard can be connected, and smartphones can also be used as sensors.
We actually cooperate with multiple manufacturers and have a history of connecting with a large number of sensors. It is also possible to prototype and develop special sensors that are not distributed and sold.
In this way, it is possible to propose the optimum sensor according to your company’s “sensing needs” that are expected to evolve in the future.
5. Case studies, etc.
Grasp the work progress using the work ledger
[Customer] Toshiba Elevator Products Corporation
Work process management system for machine manufacturing in a large assembly factory. BLE tag is attahed to the work ledger that is moving with the work-in-process group and a receiver (EXBeacon) is attached to the ledger holder, and the work progress status for each work area can be grasped.
Position detection of work-in-process and workers / MES cooperation
[Customer] Major musical instrument manufacturer
Detects the presence or absence of work-in-process at a specified location and performs detailed process control. By collecting the location information of workers, the time required for each process can be grasped. It works with MES to improve the accuracy of production control.
Palette position detection by directional beacon
[Customer] Major automobile manufacturer
Location management of “metal pallets” in the factory. Along with tagging each palette, a more accurate position is determined by performing boundary determination using a directional beacon.
Grasp the progress using the 1m positioning method
[Customer] Major precision machinery manufacturer
Manufacturing process management in a precision machinery factory. It is used for process control by arranging products using pressure sensors and determining the presence or absence of work-in-process and workers using directional beacons.
Location management of employees and work-in-process using card-type tags
[Customer] Nakamura Mfg. Co., Ltd
Location management of people and things at a parts manufacturing factory.
Manage the position of work-in-process by attaching an ultra-thin card type tag to the clear file of the work management table (paper). Not only the employee’s current location, but also the people who went home are managed at the same time using the return home rack. Work results are automatically generated from the collected location information.
Automatically generate work results from collected location information
[Customer] Major precision machinery manufacturer
Manufacturing process management in a precision machinery factory. It is used for process control by arranging products using pressure sensors and determining the presence or absence of work-in-process and workers using directional beacons.
BCP countermeasure solution for manufacturing industry
Even under COVID-19 pandemic, the manufacturing industry needs to continue operations, and new BCP (Business continuity planning) measures are required.
We are proposing new measures such as visualization of manufacturing sites and strengthening of management by utilizing “digital twin” by IoT infrastructure.
For details, please download the material from the button below.
