Activplant Corp. was granted a patent on its Throughput Analyzer manufacturing software, said to identify key chronic disruptors to overall product flow, the company says.
London, Ontario, Canada – Activplant Corp . was granted a patent on its Throughput Analyzer manufacturing software. Released in 2007, the software features Capability Metric, which the company describes as breakthrough technology that supersedes previous measurement metrics, including OEE and downtime, in its ability to identify key chronic disruptors to overall product flow.
Activplant introduced manufacturing intelligence with its Performance Management System in 1997. Company says it saw an opportunity to provide a repeatable, quick-to-deploy software that Activplant Throughput Analyzer is pre-configured to identify issues and provide root cause information relating to the performance of the manufacturing value stream, the company says.
The new patented Throughput Capability Metric determines how each line impacts the overall performance of end-of-line production. It provides a Balance Map simply coded to allow continuous improvement teams to see where they need to focus, company says. The approach has resulted in sustained operational gains of 8% to 18% in certain applications, according to Activplant; Deployment has taken as little as six weeks and delivers ROI typically within six months.
“The manufacturing industry is facing daunting challenges; we are very pleased to receive this patent on an application that has the opportunity to revolutionize how companies drive performance improvements,” said Chuck Frosst, president of Activplant. “We have a desire to help our customers compete in some very challenging economic times. The Throughput Analyzer helps plant managers and operations executives to clear the fog from the lens and see exactly where to focus their improvement efforts, resulting in sustained operational improvements that can translate into significant savings and efficiency gains.”
“This patent represents a milestone in Activplant’s journey to help manufacturers transform the way they use data from the plant floor,” added Dennis Cocco, company founder and chief product strategist. “When we created the Throughput Analyzer, we believed we had delivered a breakthrough technology that would become a strategic tool for manufacturers to drive performance gains. The feedback from customers has been overwhelming as they see sustained gains in improvement, helping them gain back a competitive edge provided by unbiased recommendations leading to plant floor improvement.”
According to ARC Advisory Group vice president Greg Gorbach, “High-volume, high-automation manufacturers need to be able to quickly spot bottlenecks… to remove constraints and improve performance. Activplant’s Throughput Analyzer provides this information graphically, in real-time, and in context of the entire production process, allowing managers to make the best decisions to improve manufacturing productivity performance, and to focus theircontinuous improvement activities.”
Read more about Activplant: Performance management: .Net-based platform collaboration
– Control Engineering News Desk
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