Capability Stories From the Plant Floor

Challenge

High-volume powertrain assembly with strict traceability requirements: every gearbox and transmission unit needed a complete component history, pressing operations needed side-specific validation to prevent assembly errors, and management needed shift performance visibility without manual data collection.

Solution

• Station-level serialized tracking across gearbox and transmission lines
• Pressing operation validation — bearing and seal pressing with side-specific (LHS/RHS) logic interlocking the press
• Andon dashboards on the floor and in supervision offices
• Shift-based production reporting with OEE, TAKT, and SPR metrics
• Automated shift-end email reports with tables and charts
• Component genealogy linking sub-assembly lines to final assembly

Technologies

• ICONICS Genesis64
• Kepware OPC
• SQL Server
• SSRS
• HTML email reporting

Outcomes

• Complete unit-level genealogy available on demand for audits and field-quality investigations
• Wrong-side pressing errors eliminated at the station by interlock, not by inspection
• Shift performance reviews moved from manually compiled sheets to automated reports
• Bottleneck stations identified from SPR data rather than intuition

Challenge

In-process quality checks lived on paper: checkpoints could be skipped, records were hard to retrieve, and as-built documentation didn't reliably reflect what happened at the station. Quality data existed but couldn't be queried, trended, or audited efficiently.

Solution

• Quality station application with guided checkpoint workflow
• IPQC checkpoint tracking with enforced completion before release
• Digital as-built documentation standards replacing paper records
• Structured storage making every inspection queryable and trendable

Technologies

• ICONICS Genesis64
• SQL Server
• SSRS

Outcomes

• Checkpoints can no longer be skipped — completion is enforced by the system
• Inspection history retrievable in seconds instead of searching paper archives
• As-built documentation generated from actual station data

Challenge

Bulk milk coolers at dispersed rural sites had no central visibility: temperature excursions, power failures, and equipment faults were discovered only when product was already at risk. Site connectivity was intermittent and on-site technical staff minimal.

Solution

• Sensor telemetry from each cooler — temperature, power state, equipment status
• Centralized dashboard showing fleet health at a glance
• Threshold-based alerting for excursions and outages
• Infrastructure design tolerant of intermittent rural connectivity — buffering and store-and-forward

Technologies

• Sensor telemetry
• SCADA dashboarding
• SQL Server
• Alerting / notifications

Outcomes

• Central operations team sees every site's status without phone calls
• Temperature excursions raised as alerts while product can still be saved
• Architecture scales site-by-site without redesign

Challenge

Paper-based and legacy systems couldn't meet data integrity (ALCOA+) expectations in regulated production. Audit trails, electronic signatures, and access control needed to be system-enforced — and demonstrable to auditors on demand.

Solution

• User authentication and role-based access control across operator and supervisor functions
• Electronic signatures on critical operations
• Tamper-evident audit trails covering data changes and interventions
• Validated reporting with controlled report templates

Technologies

• ICONICS Genesis64
• SQL Server
• Audit-trail architecture
• IQ/OQ documentation support

Outcomes

• Audit-ready electronic records replacing paper logs
• Reduced manual documentation effort at the line
• Consistent compliance posture repeated across lines and sites

Challenge

Distributed onboard machinery and systems needed centralized monitoring, alarm handling, and operational visibility — in harsh conditions, with intermittent connectivity, and with crews who need clarity fast, not screens to interpret.

Solution

• Integrated vessel management systems consolidating machinery status
• Alarm and event management with clear prioritization
• Operator HMI screens designed for maritime operations
• Deployment practices hardened for offline and low-connectivity operation

Technologies

• SCADA/HMI platform engineering
• OPC connectivity
• Ruggedized deployment

Outcomes

• Centralized visibility of vessel systems from a single console
• Structured alarm response instead of scattered local indicators
• Reliable operation in offline and low-connectivity conditions

Challenge

Plant-level energy consumption was invisible at the process level: no one could say which line or utility drove the bill. Sustainability reporting required manual data collection from meters and spreadsheets.

Solution

• Energy monitoring capturing consumption per line and per utility
• Dashboards for demand analysis and peak identification
• Carbon footprint calculation aligned to sustainability goals
• Automated reporting replacing manual collection

Technologies

• ICONICS Genesis64
• Energy meter integration via OPC
• SQL Server analytics
• Automated reporting

Outcomes

• Process-level energy visibility for the first time
• Data-backed reduction initiatives instead of estimates
• Automated sustainability reporting on a fixed cadence