Memex Automation’s MERLIN Answers How to Pinpoint Problems on the Shop Floor

Memex Automation’s (CVE:OEE) manufacturing efficiency tool MERLIN has been highlighted in industry press for its ability to monitor activity on the shop floor of a manufacturer, with the company proving its worth by a recent invitation to join the Partners in THINC program, a collaboration network of 40-plus companies serving the metal-cutting and manufacturing industry.

The collaboration network was formed in 2007 by the American subsidiary of Okuma, a machine tool manufacturer based in Japan.

In a recent blog posting, the director of Partners in THINC, Jeff Estes, spoke about the value of Memex’s tool and others like it.

The company’s MERLIN product allows manufacturing companies to measure overall equipment effectiveness in real-time, enterprise-wide, machine by machine. It monitors production and capacity utilization on the shop floor, improving profitability, reducing waste and ensuring compliance with regulations. The tool enables customers to address production bottlenecks as they happen, converting idle time back into production and ultimately improving throughput and increasing income from plant operations.

Estes said: “When a job takes longer than planned, you can spend a lot of time chasing people down to try and unravel the mystery about why this is happening. Or you can quickly find out where the problem is coming from in real time, from one centralized dashboard right at your desk.”

In the blog post, he links to a video to show how to use a shop floor monitoring dashboard to pinpoint issues that may be reducing manufacturers’ productivity. The example outlines problems, such as a low overall equipment effectiveness rate, which can be solve by digging deeper into the dashboard data.

“Having a view of where the problem comes from allows you to solve it or prevent it. Shop floor monitoring tools like those available from Memex and dataZen (members of Partners in THINC) allow you to focus your energy in the right place, so you can increase your productivity,” Estes said.

Last month, Memex said it sold $106,000 of the company’s flagship manufacturing productivity tool to Toronto-based Club Coffee, a custom coffee roaster in North America.

The company also recently received the 2013 PEM Plant Engineering & Maintenance Award for best company under 50 employees.

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