Gripple

Based in Sheffield (represent!) Gripple is a market-leading manufacturer of innovative, value-adding, time and cost saving solutions for the construction and agriculture sectors.

OEE a.k.a Overall Equipment Effectiveness.

It's the gold standard of manufacturing which quantifies the effectiveness of any machine, production line, or a factory. 

Gripple were already using multiple software models ro track OEE and Engineering activity with lots of manual systems being used for preventative maintenance, asset care and tooling. They wanted a new solution built on modern architecture with extra features that could evolve the platform as needed.

Project MIP incoming…

Gripple called on the Razor team to help them build a Manufacturing Informatics Platform, using Azure Digital Twins to manage their assets and machinery.

This would let Gripple model every physical asset digitally, so they could monitor and check their status in the cloud – at the drop of a hat – because OEE requires continuous monitoring!

Gripple had some Big Ideas, so we started off with a few discovery sessions to define The Big Plan. Together, we narrowed the scope, breaking the project down into key milestones and phases:

Phase 1 = Gathering the right data and presenting it back in a helpful way. By ‘right’ we mean relevant and useful – quality over quantity, always. This will let Gripple capture, configure and calculate data about their assets and process PLC signals (programmable logic controller) to generate OEE figures. 

In the every day running of Gripple’s MIP, this means that every signal received has the potential to change an asset’s status, which then updates the digital model accordingly. The Gripple team can then compare and contrast assets, combine data and review historic performance trends and model potential outcomes for business concepts or processes.

We’ll also sync their Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to pull all work centres, part codes, jobs and work orders together into the MIP operator screens.

Phase 2 = Preventative maintenance and adding extra functionality – features to boost the OEE figures (always chasing that 100%!) by making their engineering and maintenance more efficient. This will include: spare parts management, a data warehouse, and a dashboard to monitor assets and resolve issues in real time. The dashboard will offer Gripple engineers step by step guides to follow and run asset care routines.

Phase 3 = Incorporating a tool management system, ERP bi-directional work order completion and a visual factory… Did we also mention Gripple will be able to monitor all manual assembly assets and packing shipping stations? And that the system will be neatly tied up, ready for a global rollout across all of their manufacturing sites?

This was a fun one! The Razor engineers had never used Digital Twins but they took it in their stride. With their knowledge of the way data flows and hangs together in a business process, Digital Twins gave them an overarching view of the whole process – something they don’t get to see too often.

The product of Phase 2 is now in end-user testing, ensuring the MIP meets Gripple’s needs. Once it’s been tested for usability and data integrity, it’s game on – factory production time

Oh, and there’s a few more exciting things in the works, like adding more functionality with:

• Predictive maintenance and data analysis

• Prioritisation of fixes and operator availability

• 3D models of the factory floor 

• Using Raspberry Pi to make the MIP even faster!

Want to see how MIP can improve your shop floor efficiency? Find out more here.