Manufacturing Excellence for All

We’re in the era of the industrial internet. The elite 1% of manufacturers are installing complex systems to run at peak efficiency. But what about the rest?

A mid-size company can’t gamble on investing in something so complicated it takes a troop of consultants to implement – and may not pay off. If you’re a small or mid-size manufacturer, odds are you’re tracking production with pen and paper or spreadsheets. Guesses and estimates add up to inaccuracies. You’re constantly firefighting, relying on a few individuals rather than a consistent system. You can’t get the answers or results you need. You’re stuck in a production fog. 

There’s been no way to eliminate the production fog without risking tons of time and money. No way to quickly and easily get to systematized, dependable operational excellence. 

But that’s changing.

With falling costs and improving capabilities of IoT, cloud computing, mobile devices and machine learning, it’s time to democratize the industrial internet through a new category: the manufacturing operations cloud. 

The manufacturing ops cloud is plug-and-play, simply and cost-effectively giving any factory team the tools to drive operational excellence. It gives small and mid-size manufacturers the advantages that usually go only to elite manufacturers, but without the complexity, huge investment, and frustrating implementation. It’s a single source of truth – a reliable system – that flags problems and proactively recommends what to do about them so the factory can meet goals and save money. 

Little time or training is needed to get the manufacturing ops cloud started and delivering useful insights. It’s deployed by simply clipping sensors on any machine on the factory floor. The sensors measure the heartbeat of a machine and send that information through the cloud, making it accessible through an intuitive app on a computer or phone. The plant manager and team get instant, real-time visibility into any machine’s activity. Everyone can see at a glance what to act on.

And that’s just the start. 

Machine learning can look at all that data for patterns, diagnosing anomalies and recommending action such as predictive maintenance to further lower downtime. Behind the scenes, the manufacturing ops cloud can continuously learn not just from one factory’s machines – but from all the machines in all the factories using the system (anonymized, of course). The team can have better benchmarks to strive for, and better insights to improve operations. APIs will allow a developer ecosystem to build on top of the manufacturing ops cloud, helping everyone in the community benefit even more.

Instead of putting out fires all day, any factory’s team will have the tools to build a culture of high performance. The company can meet deadlines, improve margins, and make customers happy. And just by doing so, will cut down on waste and save energy as well as money. Imagine the enormous positive impact if the world’s 10 million factories get close to peak efficiency, helping both their businesses and the planet. 

At Guidewheel, we’re building the manufacturing operations cloud. We help any factory achieve operational excellence – quickly, cost-effectively, simply. We’re building the manufacturing excellence platform for all of us.