By: David Okrzesik, Customer Success Engineer
Before you define and create your Alert Escalation Workflow, it is important to understand the different types of Alerts and the parameters that determine when they trigger. Please review our articleÂ
With Amper, you can send alerts based on different types of activity on your shop floor. This article outlines the different ways you can use alerts for better control and visibility throughout your plant.
- 1. Alert Escalation for Downtime
- 2. Alerts for Machines Approaching Utilization Targets
- 3. Unlabeled Downtime Alerts
- 4. Long Setup Alerts
- 5. Maintenance Alerts
1. Alert Escalation for Downtime
Escalated workflow for Machine Down Alert
For escalation alerts when a machine goes down, different users will want to be notified under a varying severity of circumstances. In this scenario, we are talking about downtime.
- Open the Amper App and go to the Alerts tab on the left hand side
- Under the Alerts tab, click New Alert
- Fill in an appropriate name for the alert.
- Under Configuration, make sure Machine Down is the selected Alert Type and the desired time threshold of the alert is input in minutes
- Under Machines, select all appropriate machines to which you want to be alerted
- Under Shifts, select the appropriate shifts for which this alert should be active
- Under Alerts Recipient(s), add all persons who should receive the alert
Example: Using the Machine Down Alert for Escalation of Issues
- Bob: a production supervisor who fights all the fires
- Jack: a production manager who assists Bob on the fires he can’t put out
- Tara: the plant manager who is focused on big picture goals and issues
The Scenario:
- Bob creates an alert for himself that texts him when Machine #1 has been down for 15 consecutive minutes
- This gives the operator ample time to solve a minor issue, but gives Bob visibility to issues he should help with
- Jack creates a similar alert for himself but instead of 15 minutes, he is alerted if a machine has been down for 30 minutes
- This gives Bob time to find a resolution for the issue with the operator, but if they cannot, Jack is automatically alerted to gain visibility and offer assistance
- Tara creates an alert just as Bob and Jack have done, but as previously stated, she is busy and only cares about major issues—so she sets the time threshold to 60 minutes
- This gives both Bob and Jack the opportunity to handle the problem, but automatically notifies Tara when the issue persists, so she can provide further support as needed
Here’s what this alert escalation would look like set up in the Amper system:
2. Alerts for Machines Approaching Utilization Targets
Machine Down (Cumulative) Alert
The Machine Down (Cumulative) alert is used to notify employees if a machine accumulates more total downtime than the threshold over a specified period of time or in a shift.
- Open the Amper App and go to the Alerts tab on the left hand side
- Under the Alerts tab, click New Alert
- Fill in an appropriate name for the alert.
- Under the Configuration make sure Machine Down (Cumulative) is the selected Alert Type and the desired time threshold of the alert as well as the Period is input in minutes
- The Period is a rolling time, so for example, if the input is 30 minutes, the alert will continuously sort through the previous 30 minutes for instances of the selected downtime code to trigger the notification
- If you want the desired time Period to be a whole shift, leave the box blank, as the shift will be selected later
- Under Machines, select all appropriate machines to which you want to be alerted
- Under Shifts, select the appropriate shifts for which this alert should be active
- Under Alert Recipient(s), add all persons who should receive the alert
Example: Using the Machine Down (Cumulative) Alert
- Jason: the VP of Operations at ABC Machining
- Kris: the Maintenance Manager at ABC Machining
The Scenario:
- With the help of Amper’s data, ABC Machining, has increased utilization from 25% to 45% in just 3 months. However, Jason is an ambitious VP of Operations, and he wants the plant to be at least 50% utilization.
- To get an average utilization of 50% for just one week, Jason knows that means for the shift (600 minutes) worked each day, the machines must never be down for more than 300 of those minutes.
To ensure Jason and Kris, the Maintenance Manager, stay on target for their goal, they agree to create a Machine Down (Cumulative) alert, so they can be notified when the machine has accumulated 240 minutes of downtime in the shift.
**Remember, anything more than 300 minutes of downtime means utilization will be below 50%.
This is what this Machine Down (Cumulative) Alert would look like in the Amper system:
Note: This proactive strategy can be applied to other alert types as well. Simply is set a goal/expectation for the given machine/person/team and set up the alert with a time threshold that is well before that goal. This gives time to adjust and get back on track before a particular problem persists.
3. Unlabeled Downtime Alerts
Downtime Reason Entered
Unlabeled is the default downtime code when a downtime period starts and ends without a reason being labeled. This makes it easy to understand who is not labeling downtime reason codes, and allows you to create an alert for it.
- Open the Amper App and go to the Alerts tab on the left hand side
- Under the Alerts tab, click New Alert
- Fill in an appropriate name for the alert
- Under Configuration, make sure Downtime Reason Entered is the selected Alert Type
- Select the appropriate reason under Downtime Code and specify the Period in minutes
- The Period is a rolling time, so for example, if the input is 30 minutes, the alert will continuously sort through the previous 30 minutes for instances of the selected downtime code to trigger the notification
- Under Machines, select all appropriate machines to which you want to be alerted
- Under Shifts, select the appropriate shifts for which this alert should be active
- Under Alert Recipient(s), add all persons who should receive the alert
Why set up unlabeled downtime alerts
If you want to dive into the data and gather potential improvement projects for cost saving goals, the data around downtime labeling must be sound and complete. It’s recommended that no more than 10% of downtime go unlabeled.
With the chaos of a production floor, it can be difficult to ensure operators are labeling downtime. Thankfully, with the Downtime Reason Entered alert, labeling becomes easier to monitor. It makes supervisors aware that operators are not labeling downtime reasons, so they can go out to the floor to remind them to do so.
To use an alert for this functionality select Unlabeled as the Downtime Code. The result should look something like what is shown below.
4. Long Setup Alerts
Setup Over Target Alert
You can use the Setup Over Target Alert to get notified when a setup or changeover is taking too long.
For example, you could set a goal for setups to take no longer than 1 hour. Using the Amper setup tool, your operators would start their setup, and if he/she takes longer than the goal with the allotted grace period, an escalation alert would notify the team.
NOTE: To use this alert, the Setup tool must be turned on with a goal and actively in use. To activate, please contact your Customer Success Manager.
- Open the Amper App and go to the Alerts tab on the left hand side
- Under the Alerts tab, click New Alert
- Fill in an appropriate name for the alert
- Under Configuration, make sure Setup Over Target is the selected Alert Type and the desired grace period for the setup goal is entered
- The “grace period” is the amount of time passed the setup time target that will trigger the alert (ie. for a setup goal of 25 minutes and a grace period of 10 minutes, the alert will trigger after 35 minutes of setup).
- Under Machines, select all appropriate machines to which you want to be alerted
- Under Shifts, select the appropriate shifts for which this alert should be active
- Under Alert Recipient(s), add all persons who should receive the alert
Example: Using the Setup Over Target Alert
- Bruce has been an operator at ABC Machine for 20 years
- Damian has been an operator at the same company for only 2 years
- Selena has been an operator at ABC Machine for 10 years
- All 3 of these operators must complete setup before working on his/her machine.
The Scenario:
ABC Machine has been using the Amper setup module for the past month with a setup time goal of 25 minutes. Over the month, they’ve noticed:
- Bruce consistently takes about 35 minutes for setups
- Damian, who learned from Bruce, takes about 30 minutes
- Selena, who reordered some steps, only takes 15 minutes
Given this, ABC Machine has asked Selena to train Bruce and Damian on her method of a faster setup. To ensure no one is ever taking longer than 35 minutes, the supervisor creates a Setup Over Target alert.
To do this, the supervisor determined the setup goal should be 25 minutes, with a grace period of 10 minutes. This way, if Bruce, Damien, or Selena have a setup that goes over 35 minutes, their supervisor (or any other necessary personnel) will be notified immediately with an alert to provide support as needed. Below is a picture of what this would look like in the Amper system:
5. Maintenance Alerts
High Priority Maintenance Request
A High Priority Maintenance Request alert is used to notify maintenance personnel about critical maintenance issues that need to be addressed as soon as possible.
NOTE: To use this alert type, the Maintenance app must be activated. To learn more about how to get the Maintenance app, email support@amper.xyz or contact your Customer Success Manager.
- Open the Amper web app and go to the Alerts tab on the left hand side
- Under the Alerts tab, click New Alert
- Fill in an appropriate name for the alert
- Under Configuration, make sure High Priority Maintenance Request is the selected Alert Type
- Under Shifts, select the appropriate shifts for which this alert should be active
- Under Alert Recipient(s), add all persons who should receive the alert
Example: Using the High Priority Maintenance Request Alert
- Peter has been an operator at ABC Machining for 8 years
- He is pretty consistent when it comes to labeling downtime, and he often submits maintenance requests when something is wrong with his machine
The Scenario:
Peter senses something wrong with his machine and submits a maintenance request using the Operator Interface on his tablet. He has the ability to select the level of priority he feels is needed. For example:
- Squeaky bearing: it’s a LOW priority request
- Smoke coming from the machine: it’s a HIGH priority request
Whatever the request, it gets sent to the Amper web app for approval (typically from the Maintenance Manager), so that the task can be assigned, addressed and completed.
To ensure any of Peter’s high priority maintenance requests are approved and addressed ASAP, ABC Machining uses the High Priority Maintenance Request alert. This alert sends a notification out to the Maintenance Manager once Peter has submitted a maintenance request marked as HIGH priority. Thus, this guarantees a speedy response and in many cases, less downtime!
For extra visibility and responsiveness, the alert can be sent to the entire maintenance team to alert them of the high priority issue.
