Setting standards for efficiency, quality and product integrity is crucial to protecting your brand’s reputation. Customers have an expectation that what they get you from will feel like your brand and be of uniform, high quality. Standardization of processes is the big, boring sounding key to the success of many… Read More »Digital Standardization: Making it difficult for inexperienced workers to make a mistake

It’s no secret that retirement of skilled workers has created a massive skills gap.  According to a new study by Deloitte this crisis could result in 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030. But what about the situation right now?    Forbes Magazine noted that “while the pandemic resulted in more… Read More »Fighting the Skills Gap With Continuous Training

Nothing is more important than creating a high quality product. Fall short of the uniform quality your customers have come to expect and it can be a huge hit for your brand's reputation. The largest factor behind unplanned downtime and defective products is no longer machine error but operator error.   Research shows that upRead More »Improve the Quality of Your Product by Improving Quality of Inspection

Front line workers are wasting massive amounts of effective work time doing redundant paperwork at the end of the day. How much time are they wasting?  A mining industry expert Atheer talked to said anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes is wasted per work order.  That adds up to between 2,000 to 10,000 hours ofRead More »The Cost Of Paperwork For Reporting

One of the major problems faced by manufacturing companies is uneven batch production. Manufacturing huge quantities of a single product might save some money for the manufacturer but it can lead to excess production that takes up valuable warehouse space, costs money for storage, and in the end, might not… Read More »Heijunka and the Connected Worker

In the early 1970s, Japanese industrial engineer and businessman Taiichi Ohno was looking for a way to meet increasing consumer demand and improve the quality of Toyota’s products. What resulted was called Just-in-Time manufacturing or the just in time system, now a management philosophy and lean manufacturing methodology, which has… Read More »Just In Time Production and The Connected Worker

Standardized work refers to a foundational lean manufacturing practice. Standardized work analyzes and finds the best practices to make products in the safest, easiest, and most effective way based on current technologies. It documents the best practices with detailed steps and sequences in which they should be performed. It is important to complete the processRead More »How To Standardize Work With Lean Manufacturing Software

The biggest source of potential productivity loss for any manufacturing company is caused by unplanned downtime.  When equipment breaks down, production grinds to a stop and products can’t be made. It is estimated that almost every factory loses at least 5% of productivity, with some factories experiencing as much as a 20% productivity loss dueRead More »The Human Contribution to Machine Downtime

One of the best ways of ensuring continuous improvement in the manufacturing process is for managers, leaders, and decision-makers to take part in the improvement process themselves by doing a Gemba Walk. Gemba is a Japanese term that means ‘the real place.’ In a Gemba Walk, managers and leaders walk… Read More »Gemba Walk 4.0 and the Connected Worker

Lean Manufacturing was developed by the Toyota Production System and this methodology focuses on improving the overall efficiency of manufacturing operations and eliminating waste from processes. Implementation of lean manufacturing leads to enhanced productivity and fewer errors. Industry 4.0 is the fourth industrial revolution brought forward by the introduction of… Read More »What Is Lean 4.0 and how can the Connected Worker Help

Among the many effective techniques in lean manufacturing, value stream mapping or VSM is used to analyse, document, and improve process activities involved in delivering a product to the customer. Also referred to as lean value stream mapping, VSM is most effective in manufacturing processes where products or items must… Read More »Lean Value Stream Mapping

It’s easy to get confused about the difference between what is transportation waste vs motion waste in lean manufacturing. While they are both part of the 8 wastes of lean manufacturing the sources of these wastes they are in fact completely different.  Before talking about how to eliminate these manufacturing… Read More »What is Transportation Waste vs Motion Waste

We are excited to announce the Gale update of Atheer’s AR Powered Front Line Worker platform is now available!   Our product team worked tirelessly to create some great new features to improve Atheer’s user experience and make the lives of our partners so much easier.     In the Gale… Read More »Atheer’s Gale Release: Improving User Experience and Introducing Air Anchors

How can lean manufacturing help my business?  This is the first thing business owners must ask themselves when considering implementing lean manufacturing principles. The Manufacturing Advisory Service found that across the thousands of projects where they helped implement lean manufacturing practices, 33% of them experienced an increase in stock turnover… Read More »How Can Lean Manufacturing Help My Business

In a world with strained supply chains, increased competition, intensifying skilled worker shortages all threatening manufacturers’ ability to meet customer demand, operational efficiency is more essential than ever.  Kaizen or Continuous improvement has helped manufacturers improve processes for decades but the philosophy has recently come under fire for encouraging improvement… Read More »Digitizing Kaizen

The lean manufacturing process uses lean principles, tools, and practices to eliminate waste, optimize processes, and boost business growth. Anything that doesn’t add value to the company or the customer is considered waste and eliminated in the lean manufacturing process. Lean manufacturing software enables companies to implement lean manufacturing principles… Read More »Lean Manufacturing Software

One of the most used lean manufacturing techniques and tools for process improvement is called Six Sigma. Originally formulated nearly 35 years ago to reduce defects in parts manufacturing, lean Six Sigma principles and methodologies found their way into different fields such as finance, healthcare, and more.  In this article,… Read More »Digitizing Six Sigma and The Connected Worker

As per the 2010 Compensation Data Manufacturing survey, nearly 70% of companies make use of lean manufacturing techniques. Lean manufacturing is the application of best practices, tools, and principles applied in the manufacturing process to reduce waste, cut costs, streamline processes, and increase production. One of the most important practices… Read More »What is Lean Problem Solving?

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the manufacturing industry reports over 300 work-related fatalities among full-time workers every year. In fact, despite the improvement in worker safety standards, the number of fatalities has increased from 303 in 2017 to 341 in 2020!  UK-based Health and Safety Executive reported… Read More »Connected Worker Safety: Improving Safety and Compliance In Manufacturing

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation among manufacturing companies across the world due to rising commodity prices and disrupted supply chains. Changes in business dynamics, evolving customer behavior, increased competition, and growth opportunities have been the key drivers behind the increased adoption of digital technologies and tools across industries. Technologies… Read More »The Connected Worker Of The Future

Manufacturing, if not planned well, can lead to unnecessary waste, inefficient practices, and reduced productivity. This can cost valuable time and money to manufacturers and hurt their competitive position in the marketplace. One solution is lean manufacturing. Companies that invest in lean manufacturing report a whopping 25% increase in productivity. … Read More »What is Lean Manufacturing

In the face of regular machine breakdowns costing manufacturing companies nearly a trillion dollars every year, the manufacturing sector can no longer rely on reactive maintenance. An effective preventive maintenance plan is a must if manufacturers  want to extend the life of their machinery and reduce their operational costs. Apart… Read More »Preventive Maintenance Plan: Improving With Connected Worker Platforms

Human error is blamed for 18% of unscheduled equipment downtime according to a recent study by Plant Engineering. Manufacturing companies have been investing in Connected Worker Platforms to reduce human error by cutting out time, wasting paper processes and providing end to end knowledge support. The integration of the connected… Read More »The Connected Worker and Preventive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance is concerned with increasing the usability and longevity of manufacturing equipment.  An optimized preventive maintenance (PM) must take into account every step of the process from quality work instructions down to work execution and reporting.  To keep equipment in optimum condition manufacturers must also look into preventive maintenance… Read More »Preventive Maintenance of Tools & Equipment: Creating a Successful Program

A Plant Engineering study points out that almost half of Manufacturing facilities continue to use paper-based or manual systems to record and store their maintenance records. Entering these records involve dual data entry, a process where humans take the workflows generated in the field and type them into siloed computer… Read More »Preventive Maintenance Procedures: The Need to Digitize

Machine malfunctioning and downtime in the manufacturing domain reduce overall productivity and drastically increase the cost of maintenance. Over the years, manufacturers have adopted  preventive and corrective maintenance strategies to keep their machines running and operational for longer durations. A recent study reveals that aging equipment is viewed as a… Read More »Preventive and Corrective Maintenance: How Front Line Worker Platforms Improve Them Both

What does it mean to reach Preventive Maintenance 4.0?  Industry 4.0 is the term used to describe the ongoing transformation of the manufacturing industry using a host of digital technologies including automation systems, cloud computing, and Augmented Reality. What was a buzz word a decade ago is fast becoming an… Read More »Reaching Preventive Maintenance Industry 4.0

According to a 2021 Plant Engineering survey, over 50% of manufacturing plants use preventive maintenance software tools. This makes sense due to how important operational efficiency is, when companies with inefficient processes spend as much as four times more on preventive maintenance.  A 2021 study found that over 50% of… Read More »Preventive Maintenance Software: 5 Ways To Take It To The Next Level

When it comes to keeping manufacturing assets operational, preventive maintenance is the preferred approach  in 78% of all facilities in contrast with reliance on reactive or corrective maintenance. This is because it’s obviously better to prevent problems than clean up their messy consequences. At the same time, scheduled maintenance work… Read More »Plant Preventive Maintenance Checklist: Improve It with a Connected Worker Platform

Unplanned equipment downtime continues to cost manufacturing companies $50 billion each year, with aging equipment  being the leading cause of extended downtimes. Manufacturers are increasingly looking to move to planned predictive maintenance to reduce downtimes and increase the longevity of equipment. To improve equipment uptime and increase their operational life,… Read More »Planned Predictive Maintenance: Why Manufacturing Companies Must Go Beyond Scheduled Preventive Maintenance

The cost of unplanned machine downtime for industrial manufacturers is estimated to be $50 billion each year.  Massive amounts of productive time is wasted due to maintenance operators having to file paper reports into siloed computer systems at the end of the day and wait for paper instructions to be… Read More »Digitize Planned Preventive Maintenance: Why Companies Need To Do It

In the previous article Operational Transparency Part 1: Transform OEE And Move Past Paper we discussed how paper based systems prevented manufacturers from capturing and communicating crucial machine data during machine monitoring and service tasks. We looked at how paper based processes reduced the availability of workers, the quality of… Read More »Operational Transparency Part Two: Improve OEE With Connected Worker Platforms

Most manufacturers operate at between 60 and 65% Overall Equipment Effectiveness.  World-class OEE is 85% or better. But how do you improve your OEE to a world-class level? Operational transparency is essential to capture and communicate crucial job data to iterate and improve processes to increase this crucial metric. In… Read More »Operational Transparency Part One: Transform OEE And Move Past Paper

We are excited to announce the Frost update of Atheer’s AR Powered Front Line Worker Platform is now available! This is one of our biggest updates ever. Our product teams worked tirelessly to improve on four key themes in our Platform:    Job Scheduling and Management Systems Integration Worker Communication… Read More »Atheer’s Frost Release: Elevating Job Scheduling and Management, Systems Integration, Worker Communication & Front Line Support

Manufacturers refer to Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) as the gold standard of productivity for a reason. It’s putting it mildly to say your equipment’s availability to perform at the highest level and output high-quality products are essential to your company’s success. Tracking your equipment’s efficiency is the first step to… Read More »What Is OEE and Why Is It Important For Your Business?

OEE Quality is a crucial metric for any Manufacturing company.  Tracking quality metrics in real time has proven to offer companies a 6% advantage in OEE score according to LNS Research. Companies in today’s competitive environment need to make sure that the products they create are high quality and contain… Read More »Increasing OEE Quality: How Connected Worker Platforms Improve Quality

Machine breakdowns are the single greatest source of Overall Equipment Effective loss, making up 24% of all losses.  Changeover time related losses add up to another 6.2%.  Availability loss accounts for over 30% of all OEE losses.  This means that optimizing machine availability is critically important for increasing your OEE… Read More »OEE Availability: How Connected Worker Platforms Improve Availability