Shop Floor Machine Monitoring Module
Produce OEE Metrics Activity with FACTIVITY
FACTIVITY extends the capabilities of its award-winning FACTIVITY shop floor WORKBENCH with a module that connects directly to factory floor assets for real-time monitoring of machines, lines and cells.
FACTIVITY Machine Monitoring can display changes as they occur and produce valuable Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metrics.
How it Works
FACTIVITY monitors factory floor activity by providing:
- REAL-TIME VISIBILITY into all assets currently on the floor, including machines, lines and cells
- PERFORMANCE information on machines, lines and cells as each cycle completes
- Capture of DOWN TIME situations tied to specific MACHINES, PARTS and LABOR
- REASON CODES captured automically or entered manually
Experience the Benefits
FACTIVITY supports lean manufacturing by reducing waste through:
- Reduce shop floor paper
- Minimize bottlenecks between operations
- Shrink WIP Inventory and improve material accuracy
- Eliminate waste time of either manual or bar coded data entry
- Provide a value-stream mapping as a bi-product of using the system
- Alert management real-time to work problems and inefficient activities
- Optimize the sequencing and scheduling of the production supply chain
- Provide a systemized approach to a Kaizen Events by getting operators involved
Getting Started
FACTIVITY Machine Monitoring Module is flexible, scalable and easy to implement:
- The interface is worker-friendly and color coded touch screens are specifically designed for the needs of the factory floor.
- Operator training is simple and intuitive – employees can be trained within two hours.
- Touch screens are located where employees need them – on the factory floor.
- Security passwords protect data integrity.
Understanding Manufacturing and the IoT
How can your business benefit from the Internet of Things?
The Machine Monitoring Module connects FACTIVITY directly to factory floor machines, lines, and cells to capture performance data automatically — without operator involvement. When a machine starts, stops, completes a cycle, or produces a part, FACTIVITY captures it in real time through the machine interface. This data feeds directly into OEE calculations, downtime reporting, and production dashboards — giving management an objective, continuous picture of machine performance based on what machines actually do rather than what operators report.
FACTIVITY connects to machines through OPC (OLE for Process Control) — the standard communication protocol used by most modern PLCs and PAC controllers. Supported hardware includes controllers from vendors such as Opto and Moxa. For machines that support OPC connectivity, the connection is plug-and-play. For machines with non-standard interfaces or older controllers, FACTIVITY's team works with customers to identify the appropriate connection approach. The module supports unlimited tags from unlimited machine resources, making it applicable to complex cells and lines as well as individual machines.
The module captures machine start and stop events, cycle completions, piece counts, and downtime situations tied to specific machines, parts, and labor. Reason codes for downtime can be captured automatically through the machine interface or entered manually by the operator. For machines with additional data acquisition requirements, FACTIVITY can capture SCADA-level data — process parameters, sensor readings, recipe settings — and provide complete Historian and Recipe Management functionality. This level of data depth supports both OEE improvement and process optimization initiatives.
Operator-reported data and machine-captured data serve different purposes and are most powerful together. Operators provide context — which job is running, what material is being used, why a machine stopped — while the machine provides objective counts and timing that can't be estimated or adjusted after the fact. When both are combined in FACTIVITY, the result is a complete picture: the machine confirms what was produced and when, and the operator provides the job and reason code context that makes the data actionable. This combination also provides a cross-check — discrepancies between operator-reported quantities and machine counts surface immediately as potential errors or issues to investigate.
Real-time machine data is the foundation of most lean and Industry 4.0 improvement programs. Without it, downtime analysis is based on operator estimates, OEE calculations rely on manual inputs, and machine performance variation is invisible until it shows up in finished goods quality or missed delivery. The Machine Monitoring Module provides the continuous, objective data stream that enables evidence-based lean improvement — identifying which machines have the most improvement potential, tracking the impact of changes over time, and supporting the kind of data-driven Kaizen events that produce lasting results rather than one-time fixes. FACTIVITY's integration with Ignition, a leading SCADA and IIoT platform, further extends these capabilities for manufacturers pursuing broader Industry 4.0 connectivity.