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With Amper, you can send alerts based on certain activity in your factory. This article will guide you through the different types of alerts and the parameters required to configure each one.
Preparing for Alerts
To ensure your Alerts are notifying your employees in a timely manner, you first must make some considerations regarding the delivery type and accessibility your employees have to their computer or mobile device.
Cell and Wi-Fi Connection
When preparing employees to begin receiving Alerts, consider how the quality of your cell or Wi-Fi signal may impact the delivery of the alerts. For example, if your factory has poor cell phone strength, consider opting for email alerts and make sure that your employees are properly connected to your local Wi-Fi network on their cell phones. Conversely if your Amper users will spend most of their time on a factory floor without a stable Wi-Fi connection, but have a strong cell phone connection, consider text message alerts. Your factory may have a differing situation so understanding the quality of your cellular and Wi-Fi is key to alerting your employees without disruption or delay.
Device Access
Another consideration to make is the level of device access your Amper users will have throughout the day. Different users will spend their day in different parts of your facility and may or may not have constant access to a computer. If a user spends most of the day away from their computer, it is important that they have access to a cell phone to receive alerts as text messages will more reliably alert them.
- Preparing for Alerts
- Pick Your Alert Type
- Machine Down
- Machine Down (Cumulative)
- Downtime Reason Entered
- Setup Over Target
- High Priority Maintenance Request
- Select Your Machines
- Selecting a Machine Group
- Machine Picker
- Set your Shift
- Establish the Recipients(s)
- Saving The Alert
- Resolving Alerts
Pick Your Alert Type
You can create four different types of alerts using Amper:
Machine Down
The Machine Down alert is used to notify employees if a machine is continuously down for longer than a specified threshold.
Parameters
The Machine Down alert has one parameter:
- Threshold (minutes) - The number of minutes of downtime needed to trigger the Alert.
Machine Down (Cumulative)
The Machine Down (Cumulative) alert is used to notify employees if a machine accumulates more downtime than the threshold over a specified period of time or in a shift.
Parameters
The Machine Down (Cumulative) alert has two parameters:
- Down Threshold (Minutes) - The number of cumulative minutes of downtime needed to trigger the alert.
- Period (Over 'x' Minutes) - The length of time the Down Threshold (Minutes) accumulates.
Downtime Reason Entered
The Downtime Reason Entered alert is used to notify employees if a specific Downtime Reason Code is entered more than a specified number of times within a specified length of time.
Parameters
The Downtime Reason Entered alert has three parameters:
- Number of Times - Number of instances of the specified Downtime Reason Code
- Period (Over 'x' Minutes) - The length of time for the Downtime Reason Code instances accumulate
- Downtime Code - The Downtime Code the Alert will trigger for
Setup Over Target
The Setup Over Target alert is used to notify employees if a machine setup (being tracked with Amper’s Setup Module), has taken longer than desired.
Parameters
The Setup Over Target alert has one parameter:
- Grace Period (minutes) - The number of extra minutes a setup is allowed to take before triggering the alert.
High Priority Maintenance Request
The High Priority Maintenance Request alert is used to notify employees if an operator has put in a maintenance request from an operator interface with a Priority status of “High”. This alert can only be utilized by customers with access to the maintenance tools in Amper.
Parameters
This alert does not have any additional parameters.
Now that you’ve selected which alert you’re going to create, the next step is to select which machines will be included in the alert.
Select Your Machines
After choosing your alert type and setting parameters, you will need to select the machines you want this alert to apply to. There are two methods for selecting the machines attached to this alert:
Selecting a Machine Group
One way to apply the alert to select machines is to use the Machine Group drop down. If you have your Machine Groups configured, this allows you to easily select groups of machines that you want to be notified about.
Machine Picker
The second option is to use the Machine Picker. Pressing the blue Machine Picker button will open up the list of machines and allow you to select individual machines. You can use the All or None buttons to easily select or deselect all of your machines.
Set your Shift
The next configuration is for the Shift you want to be alerted during. You can either select one or more of the shifts you have in your system or select 24/7 to determine the time of day that an Alert will be active. This way, you can limit the range of time that you or other Amper users are notified to avoid false alarms such as weekends when downtime is expected.
Establish the Recipients(s)
The final configuration setting is for the recipients you ant to receive the alert.
There are two fields to fill out for each recipient:
- Name
- Phone Number or Email Address
- If Phone is selected, the user will receive the alert as a text message from 441-54.
- If Email is selected, the user will receive the alert in their email from no-reply@amper.xyz.
- Add this email address to your contacts list to make sure the Alerts are not wrongfully sent to your Spam folder.
If you would like to add additional users, press the blue icon. This will create a new, blank entry to enter another user's name and contact method.
Phone:
Email:
Saving The Alert
Once you have entered in the desired parameters, press the blue Save button in the bottom right corner of the window. Once the Alert is saved, a message will be sent to all of the recipients to notify them they have been added to an Alert.
Resolving Alerts
Depending on the type of Alert you set up, you will receive a follow up email or text to tell you that the machine has left the Alert state.
For example, lets say you have the Alert for when "Machine A" is down for more than 45 minutes. Once "Machine A" goes down for 45 minutes, you will first receive the Alert informing you the machine is down. Then when the machine enters a Production state again, you will receive an resolution message informing you that Production has started again for "Machine A".