ConnectFacts – Our Value Proposition – Part 1

This is the first part in this two-part series on how we holistically enable digital transformation for our clients.

In the age of big data and Industry 4.0, companies tend to collect large volumes of data across their operations. This data is meaningless if it is not converted into valuable insights. Further, the insights are of no use if suitable actions are not taken. Manufacturers cannot drive business performance without any actions.

ConnectFacts plays a critical role in each step of converting data to insights to actions. Let us look at examples directly from the field to understand how our applications can benefit discrete manufacturing companies.

1. Data Infrastructure

Factories that utilize industrial furnaces must collect details of cycle time, rate of melting, power consumption, burning loss, and breakdown information. Similarly, garment manufacturers need to track manpower absenteeism, supermarket inventory, and quality data. Connect DATA helps uniformly collect this information with simple digital forms.

2. Live Dashboards

A garment company has departments such as planning, cutting, sewing, finishing, and quality. And each department has multiple operators, supervisors, managers, and leaders. Connect MONITOR helps with real-time dashboards to track operations. These are customized for each individual as well as the type of industry.

3. Output Tracker

Any factory would need to optimize line balancing to ensure great productivity. Manpower availability, bottleneck identification, downtimes, and material availability must be monitored and optimized. Three of our applications, Connect SIC, Connect CORE, and Connect RECAP, ensure that the shop floor is alert, agile, and reliable.

4. Muda (Waste) Elimination

In lean manufacturing, Muda, the Japanese word for wastefulness, refers to the different kinds of wasteful processes within a factory, such as time, products, transportation, and movement. Being accountable and eliminating waste can be done with the help of Connect ALLOCATE, which uses a signal-based messaging system to allocate optimal resources.

5. KRA Bands and KPI Dashboards

Every individual in different departments in any factory, such as scrap processing, furnace, casting, rolling mill, and others, would have their own performance goals and metrics, which are usually measured every quarter or so. With Connect KRA, the performance can be measured in real-time by means of a balanced operational scorecard.

6. Performance Dialogue System

Finally, while building a data infrastructure with dashboards and measuring manufacturing performance is essential, leaders must close the loop by assigning actions to each stakeholder during structured review meetings. Connect ACTIONS sets up a three-layer performance dialogue system to calendarize reviews, log actions, and follow up to complete activities.

In this first part, we have described how the ConnectFacts applications help streamline and convert data into insights and insights into well-defined actions. In the next part, we shall delve into the value proposition of ConnectFacts and how we implement digital transformation in the age of Industry 4.0.