Data Analytics to Obtain Production Line Run Rates for Scheduling

Manufacturing Intelligence

A major food and beverage manufacturer asked Hallam-ICS to build a data analytics application for determining the Scheduling Run Rate of their packaging lines at multiple sites.  The Scheduling Run Rate is used by personnel to plan different types of product to run on the production lines.  The Run Rate for different products was found to vary greatly, based on these factors:

• Characteristics of the product
• Packaging arrangements and sizes
• OEM design speed of the line equipment
• Variations in line equipment reliability

The project objective was to calculate predictive Production Line Run Rates based on historical data from the past 4-weeks, 12-weeks, and 26 weeks, that can accurately predict the actual time needed to package batches of product for all combinations of product types and production lines.

We took an approach that would simplify the problem and make the solution algorithm transparent and easier to understand.  The team documented the approach and reviewed the design with end users prior to development.   It was important that the data analysis results be traceable back to the originating data, so that the calculated results could easily be verified and trusted.  It was critical that the report run fast and be available to users with newly processed results for all production lines.  The team achieved these feature requirements and deployed a successful application and report. 

The project required the following expertise:

• Data solution design skills
• Database table design and build
• Microsoft SQL Server stored procedures programming
• Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services report build
• Microsoft Power BI report for analysis and data verification

 The Production Line Run Rate Report was required to:

• Read production data from an existing system.
• Calculate Production Line Run Rate based on a multiple-step algorithm.
• Obtain product data and categorize into a derived product type, based on product characteristics and packaging operation category.
• Output a report for each product type and production line with actionable results and traceable data details.