GainSeeker Suite real-time SPC software can have a profound impact on a business, and even on a whole supply chain. We’ve authored a collection of the GainSeeker case studies to share some of those stories.
What makes that possible?
Some years ago we authored a white paper on the top reasons why GainSeeker is the software solution of choice for quality professionals.
That’s all good information, and most of it is still valid. But it seemed to me that we could boil it down to a few really big differences between GainSeeker and most of the rest of the software that is out there for collecting, managing, and analyzing manufacturing quality data. Here is my short list of the top features:
- Integration
- Drill down analytics
- Data visibility
Integration
At the top of the list is GainSeeker’s integration capabilities. GainSeeker plays well with others. GainSeeker makes it easy to connect to almost any data source in a manufacturing company. A partial list includes:
- Digital gages such as Mitutoyo, Starrett, and Fowler
- Weigh scales such as Ohaus and Sartorius
- CMM and Visions systems such as Keyence, Brown & Sharp, Nikon, Zeiss, and Omron
- IoT data from sensors and equipment such as Schneider Electric, GE, Emerson, Matrikon, and Kepware
- MES Systems such as Aspen Tech, Dassault Systemes, Cognizant, and Epicor
- EQMS Systems such as EtQ and IQS
- ERP Systems such as Oracle, SAP, and Epicor
- SharePoint
Integration significantly increases the usability of all this data. At the same time, integration reduces the cost of getting value from the data.
Manufacturers are flooded with data. (This is the theme explored in more detail in my ebook, Tripping Over Data.) There are estimates that 70% of the data generated in a manufacturing company is never used, or is under-utilized. That is a huge waste of a valuable corporate asset. GainSeeker analytics, connected to all of this data, makes it easier to take advantage of the data that is in your company. This enables your team to make better, more timely decisions – decisions that are based on data, not on opinion.
Which brings me to the second top feature:
Drill-down Analytics
The second really important and unique capability in GainSeeker Suite is all the ways you can slice and dice all this data.
At the risk of over-simplifying, all of this data falls into one of two types:
- Raw data that measures or describes a process in some way.
- Contextual data that gives the raw data more meaning.
By placing the raw data in context, the value goes up and it changes the game.
As I write this I’m thinking of one of our clients who business is filling bottles. They purchased GainSeeker because they needed to get their material costs under control. They were giving away far too much of their product.
After automating their data collection processes, GainSeeker revealed that the variation in the bottles they were filling was greater than the variation of the material they were putting in the bottles. They purchased the bottles from a diverse supply base, and the incoming materials were all over the place.
Using the tare weights of the bottles they were filling (raw data), and placing it in context (automatically looked up from the ERP or MES systems) of the supplier that provided the bottles, they were able to identify the best bottle suppliers. They went to the supplier and negotiated a volume purchase, at very competitive rates.
Optimizing fill volumes at the production line ultimately led to an optimization of the supply chain.
But what are the software features that enable this? GainSeeker makes it easy to group data and drill down into it to identify significant variations in populations. It includes a couple of wizards (Variation Wizard, Drill Down Wizard, and Big Data Analysis tools) that do the heavy lifting for you.
These wizards mean you don’t have to be a master data scientist or a database expert to get actionable results from your data.
Data Visibility
This third family of features might fit under the first two, but it is so significant that it belongs on its own. There are a lot of dashboarding systems out there, and some of them are pretty good. Here is what makes GainSeeker Dashboards unique:
First, GainSeeker Dashboards give you a direct path from Data Visibility to Data Analysis. From any GainSeeker dashboard, you can click through to charts and statistical analysis tools. And within those charts, you have all of the drill down tools described above.
Second, because GainSeeker Dashboards are open to data from any source, you further break down the barriers created by silos of data. Most business systems (and I’m talking here about EQMS, MES, and ERP systems) provide dashboards of their data. But they can’t provide visibility for data from other systems. GainSeeker makes that data accessible and visible, leading to information and knowledge, and perhaps even wisdom.
That journey – described as the “Hierarchy of Data to Wisdom” and shown in the graphic at the top of this post – comes from a GainSeeker user. GainSeeker dashboards bring this hierarchy to life because they enable your team to move beyond data to more valuable information, knowledge, and wisdom.
Impact
I said at the top of this post that GainSeeker can have a profound impact on a manufacturing company. The broad-stroke features that I’ve described above are central to that. But the features are only part of the story. The other part of the story is that GainSeeker helps our clients get their data house in order. It creates – or maybe a better verb is “fosters” – a clean foundation of actionable, real-time data that enables your team to get the most out of all the manufacturing data in your facility.
Because GainSeeker is rooted in the ground level (with the operators on the manufacturing floor) it often yields fast wins and rapid payback at the local level. These quick wins help build momentum with senior leadership. And while these local benefits are very real, the better visibility of this information can ripple out across the supply chain and enable systemic optimization.
If you’d like to discuss how Hertzler can help you solve problems faster, reduce costs and improve throughput, contact our sales team at sales@hertzler.com, or complete the form here. They’ll be happy to discuss your situation, and explore how GainSeeker Suite can help you improve business performance.
Oh, and by the way, the next GainSeeker TechTips LIVE is scheduled for January 18th, 2018 at 2pm EST. The topic will be Implementing Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Click here to register! Look for the “Register” link under the pictures. The password to register is GSTTL.
