Easy Setup: Best Practices From Our Team to Yours
Low effort, high impact on the bottom line
Impact / Effort Matrix
”Your implementation team is amazing. I have to say we’ve used other systems before and had startup teams, but nothing like at Guidewheel. They are great, we’ve never had as much help and guidance!”
—Glenn Munshaw, VP of Operations, Chroma Color Corporation
"My favorite thing is the ease of implementation. The time from idea to value is pretty quick!"
—Katie Smokowski, President, Air Duct Products
When manufacturers choose Guidewheel, they are choosing a solution that combines a low-effort installation process with a high impact on the bottom line. Other systems that provide real-time visibility have much heavier installation processes, often requiring a full team of experts to get the job done right… but not Guidewheel. We believe that the installation of the hardware should be just as user-friendly as our software platform itself!
In addition to an installation process that is low-effort, we pride ourselves in the process being simple and fast. Customers frequently get up and running within a matter of days of receiving the hardware. For example, a recent new customer completed install in just 2 business days! Guidewheel’s starter kit offers a straightforward 6 step guide that will have your machines up and running in no time, and the data pouring in shortly after.
In this post we will share tips and tricks to set up Guidewheel with ease, compiled from our customer support and implementation teams as well as other customers.
Tips, Best Practices, and Advice from Our Team To Yours
Note: When you start the journey with Guidewheel, you are never alone! In addition to the tips below, our team is readily available to answer any questions that arise at any point in the Guidewheel experience.
Our Customer Success and Technical Account Managers have compiled a proactive list of best practices to ensure a smooth setup:
Prioritize – Determine in advance when you will set aside the time to prioritize this installation. Customers often report that the setup is much faster and easier than they expect—and the value of the data is so great—that they’re glad they got started right away rather than postponing the startup. Once you review the instructions, you will see how low effort and high impact it will be.
Map it out – If you can share a floor plan with the Guidewheel team prior to install, our team can work with you to figure out exactly where to place the Guidewheel hub(s) to minimize effort. Rather than waiting to make a game-time decision on installation day, being proactive by determining location in advance can remove any stress and worry.
Size up sensors – Guidewheel’s starter kit comes with a variety of sensor sizes for our customers to get started with. If you know the fully loaded amperage (FLA) of any of your machines beforehand, however, let us know and we can tailor your kit to exactly your machines.
Many options for IT – We never tap into the PLCs and are non-invasive, therefore IT plays a very minimal role, if at all, in the installation process. However, we can also provide comprehensive documentation if your IT team would like background. In addition, Guidewheel can connect via wifi, ethernet, or LTE Router, which allow for flexible options that will suit your connectivity situation the best! Let us know which way will be easiest for you to connect to the cloud and we can match you with the best connectivity option to ensure your data will be received continuously and securely.
Always prioritize safety – While pausing production during the installation process is not necessary in all situations, our general recommendation is to pause production especially if working on machines which require “lock out, tag out” (LOTO). If pausing it is not possible, we recommend that someone with the proper electrical certifications do any work on the distribution panel to ensure proper safety precautions.
The combination of the above best practices coupled with our user-friendly six step installation guide will have your team up and running with real-time data in your Guidewheel system in no time!