Tech Tips: Using GainSeeker

Being in my role of Technical Project Manager, I discuss the needs and wants of our clients and help them figure out the best implementation method to continue forward. I would like to share some important things to think about. As a result, I talk about these topics all the time and I realize the fact that sometimes it is beneficial to do a “using GainSeeker status check”. How are you using GainSeeker?   Let me help you.

Are you on the newest version of GainSeeker?

You may be asking why is this important?  We are using GainSeeker on an older version and are happy.  Well, the Hertzler team continually listens to our customer’s feedback and requests to continually provide additional functionality into the GainSeeker software.  There are always areas we can help streamline the process.  When is the last time you spoke with your Account Manager or support team to see how we can help?  Are you on our mailing list? (Sign up using the form at the right side of this page.) We always try our best to keep our customers up on the latest and greatest involvements with GainSeeker.  Staying up to date also guarantees that you are on a supported version. (Click here to find out.) Typically, we support up to 2 previous versions of where we currently are.

Are you using each of these use cases of GainSeeker? 

• SPC – Statistic Process Control – Entering in variable data.  Do you have your specification limits set?  Are you ready to turn on control violations? Runs, trends? Did you forget about all these goodies to help you out? Are your operators entering this data manually? Is there a possibility to connect to gauges, read from an Excel, txt, or csv file? What about pulling in some data from another database? Are you still using Templates or have you made the plunge to Inspections? Am I piquing your interest yet???
• DMS – Defect Management System – Entering in a sampling of defects.  Are you using this portion of GainSeeker? Do you have cost associated with it?  We have various ways to tie cost to the part or defect.  Are you performing audits? Why not perform them in GainSeeker?  GainSeeker easily conducts pass / fails in a user friendly environment. Let’s take a look.  I took a few minutes to create the following Inspection for an example.
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• OEE – Overall Equipment Effectiveness – This continually becomes an important topic in the manufacturing industry.  If you are trying to find more opportunities for improvement and you have a solid foundation on the first two bullet points, then this can be your next step.  Some manufacturing lines find out they are running at a lower productive rate than they thought.  This use case of using GainSeeker definitely brings light to the three components that make up the OEE score which are Availability, Performance, and Quality.  Many times our customers will focus on one of the components at a time and slowly integrate the others as they see fit.  Wouldn’t it be nice to see charts like the ones below?
  

  OEE Chart – By Week

  

GainSeeker use cases are endless!

Here are some more examples of how various customers utilize GainSeeker.

GainSeeker Use Cases

Are you using it another way?  What do we need to add to this slide? I hope I sparked an interest of how to expand your use of GainSeeker.  Would you like to see more information regarding the different use cases?  Check out our GainSeeker Platform Library!  Information is continually being added.

Just a reminder:  Starting with version 8.9 Microsoft XP is NO LONGER SUPPORTED.  If you have machines still on XP do not upgrade to this version.  I am hoping that by now (since Microsoft has discontinued support for this a while back) you guys are just fine. Click here for a current list of our supported environments.

If you do not have GainSeeker yet, I urge you to schedule a demo! Oh, and if you tell them Jen sent ya, I will sit in on the demo with you to help answer any technical questions you may have.