Plastic molding: OEE from 66% to 74% in 6 months

Problem

A manufacturer in the plastic-molding industry was struggling to follow production issues in real time. The plant ran three shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Every two weeks, the plant manager sat down with directors and leads for a full morning to compile, analyze, and act on the data operators had collected over the previous two weeks.

Targets were then adjusted, production was changed, and the plant started another two-week cycle. In the meantime, the floor still needed smaller corrections to cut downtime, reduce scrap, and improve output. Those day-to-day adjustments rested mainly on the experience of operators, leads, and directors, without concrete data to support informed decisions.

Solution

In this plant, we integrated the Artemis software suite. C200 cards were installed on the presses and extruders to capture critical data at the machine, in real time. With that data, the team could count actual cycles and see whether those cycles were running on time.

We then rolled out Artemis Nexus, a simple tablet interface built for operators. It lets them record downtime reasons with precision, assign quantities and causes to scrap, and notify a supervisor as soon as a problem appears on the line.

Finally, all of the information collected was brought together, compared, and crossed in customizable dashboards built around the KPIs that matter to this plant. Each director and each lead now has real-time access to the critical information they need to supervise their department.

Results after 6 months

By integrating the Artemis software suite and the C200 cards, the company made a meaningful culture change and a successful digital shift. It moved from a reactive model based on data from the past to a proactive model based on real-time data.

Six months after this ecosystem went live, overall equipment effectiveness rose from 66% to 74%. The plant cut downtime by more than 20% by eliminating repetitive micro-stops. With alerts at the operator workstation, supervisor reaction time fell by 40%, which also shortened the average length of stops. Because presses were adjusted right after the first defective cycle, scrap dropped by 25%, saving thousands of dollars in time and raw material.