New App Uses Big Data to Alert Plant Personnel Before Problems Occur

Software analyzes quality assurance data and sends alerts via email or text.

Trumble's Reveal app monitors manufacturing data in real time. (Image courtesy of Trumble Inc.)

Trumble’s Reveal app monitors manufacturing data in real time. (Image courtesy of Trumble Inc.)

If there’s one thing all production managers dread, it’s that 3-a.m. call saying that the line is down and no one knows why. However, a new method for plant floor intelligence could mean fewer sleepless nights for production managers.

Reveal software is designed to get ahead of problems by detecting emerging process variability and other sources of production losses in real time. The software comes in two versions: Reveal Enterprise and Reveal Cloud.

The former is geared toward high-volume manufacturers with an existing IT infrastructure, while the latter is a scalable, cloud-based solution for small- to mid-size manufacturers that lack a mature IT infrastructure.

Reveal analyzes existing manufacturing quality and testing databases and then automatically alerts plant-floor personnel if a process is trending away from specification parameters via email, text message or a proprietary Android or iOS smartphone app.

The Reveal app is available for Android and iOS. (Image courtesy of Trumble Inc.)

The Reveal app is available for Android and iOS. (Image courtesy of Trumble Inc.)

The alert also notes which specific part of the process is trending toward a potential issue, further improving response time.

According to Trumble, the software’s creator, this approach differs from the current method, which tends to be reactive and relies on the production of defective parts as the first sign that something has gone wrong.

Manufacturers collect massive amounts of plant for data and this big data is ripe for analysis. Combing through it has traditionally required extensive knowledge of statistical process control, but Trumble is aiming to get around that bottleneck with Reveal.

“Reveal delivers the right information at the right time to the right people—the first responders on the plant floor,” said Jeff Trumble, Trumble founder and CEO and developer of Reveal software. “Reveal analytics monitor thousands of process parameters in real time and automatically notes the location of an emerging trend before it becomes a loss.”

For more information, visit the Trumble website.

Written by

Ian Wright

Ian is a senior editor at engineering.com, covering additive manufacturing and 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing. Ian holds bachelors and masters degrees in philosophy from McMaster University and spent six years pursuing a doctoral degree at York University before withdrawing in good standing.