Operating 3 shifts and maintaining a working plant 24 hours a day comes with a wide range of challenges. Not only must staff be maintained to manage machinery and protect quality, but tracking the production becomes a challenge when working with 20 different injection molding machines. For years, Dimatic has used a proprietary custom-made system to help track its production, reduce down-time, perform regular maintenance and quickly address issues that arise.
This system, titled “Bear Tracker”, uses sensors placed on each machine to track cycle time, downtime, startups, and shut downs. Using the projected cycle time limits and real-time tracking, Dimatic can quickly and easily see what how machines and operators are doing, as well as receive live cost analysis on their jobs.
In addition, this Bear Tracker system saves historical data so that Dimatic can maintain a record of efficiency and best evaluate how changes effect the process. Dimatic regularly uses this data to improve their own processes, improve efficiency, and eliminate scrap.
Recently, Dimatic improved their system further by linking this Bear Tracker system with their warehouse inventory software to help automate their inventory tracking system. With this improvement, parts are flawlessly tracked from machine to warehouse to shipment, with a digital footprint throughout the process.
Dimatic’s Bear Tracker system gives them a distinct edge against competing injection molders as it allows us to track our machines in real-time, quickly respond to issues that arise, improve efficiency, keep customers aware of production status, and automate our production.
