ProcessIQ in Photonics and Lasers
Digital traceability, improved compliance applying ALCOA principles & streamlined efficiency of shop floor operations.
This interview transcript is from a ProcessIQ customer, operating in the packaged electronic goods manufacturing industry, (More specifically LED and vision systems)
We explored their experience of implementing ProcessIQ for their shop floor operations and offers a number of valuable insights into the challenges faced, the benefits realized and their future vision for expanding the use of ProcessIQ on the shop floor.
Why ProcessIQ for Photonics & lazers?
Challenges
The customer started by detailing the initial challenges encountered while implementing ProcessIQ. A significant obstacle was standardizing their diverse product lines. With numerous variants, configurations, and custom parts, consolidating this information from their legacy system was complex. To standardize effectively, they had to rename products to for re-alignment purposes, a necessary step for streamlining their processes and bringing more control to their operations.
Production documentation lag
They manage a large number of OEM orders alongside their own products, adding complexity to their production documentation. Manual processes were common, which was a drain on time and resources.
Seamless Traceability & Defect Prevention
Despite the initial hurdles, the customer emphasized several key benefits since adopting ProcessIQ. A primary achievement was improved traceability, a crucial factor for their business. By digitizing their processes, ProcessIQ has moved them away from manual, paper-based systems. This enables them to quickly identify the origin of any issues, search for affected batch codes, and take preventive actions efficiently.
Underpinning ALCOA standards - Attributable, Contemperanous, Original, Accurate, complete, consistent & enduring data
ALCOA, which stands for Attributable, Legible, Contemporaneous, Original, and Accurate, is a set of data integrity principles used in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries to ensure data quality and reliability. These principles are essential for maintaining good documentation practices (GDP) and ensuring data integrity throughout a product's lifecycle. Digital traceability significantly reduces the time required to resolve problems, resulting in faster response times and increased customer confidence. The customer also emphasised the increased data integrity that resulted from using ProcessIQ and its ability to adhere to quality standards where the customer adheres to the ALCOA methodology, basic guidelines for data integrity and pharma industry which ensures the following standards are met – Attributable, Contemporaneous – a key point was raised about completing data at the time of doing the work and not at the end of the day, Original & Accurate error free and finally the data must be complete, consistent and enduring.
Connecting Microsoft Business Central365 to the shop Floor
ProcessIQ provided tighter integration between their ERP system (Microsoft Business Central 365) and their shop floor. The integration between ERP and ProcessIQ allows them to sync bills of materials, production orders, production and quality data, providing a timely view of their operations, eliminating the need for spreadsheets or manual data entry.
Increasing operational Efficiency & connected Tooling
The integration between Microsoft Business Central365 and ProcessIQ has streamlined the customer production processes, reduced the risk of human error, and improved overall operational efficiency. In addition, the customer sees the enormous potential of tooling and machine integration to further enhance the processes. The customer also highlighted the ease of managing variation within their standardized build processes through the use of the configuration tools within ProcessIQ, enabling them to provide configured quality data and build information such as photos or input types aligned with the product configuration, further reducing administration and quality issues.
Future opportunities with advanced reporting & dashboards
The customers wants to further leverage the data and reports generated through ProcessIQ & Microsoft PowerBI, with a focus on developing dashboards and analytics and have specifically expressed interest in the instrument record reporting, enabling the evaluations of trends around acceptable quality parameters and getting ahead of any potential issues.
Future opportunities with advanced reporting & dashboards
The customers wants to further leverage the data and reports generated through ProcessIQ & Microsoft PowerBI, with a focus on developing dashboards and analytics and have specifically expressed interest in the instrument record reporting, enabling the evaluations of trends around acceptable quality parameters and getting ahead of any potential issues. The customer recognised the opportunity for increased integration with analytics and AI and the potential for dashboards and real-time alerts, particularly in high-value / high mix production environments. They are exploring the use of built history reports to provide customer evidence regarding quality control. Overall, the customer emphasised that ProcessIQ has been instrumental in advancing their shop floor operations, supporting their ALCOA initiatives for quality and increasing operational efficiency.
Impacts of ProcessIQ in Photonics & Lazers
Digital Traceability
Ensure precise assembly processes with digital work instructions and automated quality checks.
Underpinning Data Integrity Principles
ALCOA - Attributable, Legible, Contemporaneous, Original, and Accurate, is a set of data integrity principles.
Regulatory Compliance & Audits
Simplify compliance management with real-time data capture, process validation, and digital quality.
Efficient Production Operations
Connect ERP & shop floor operations to automate key workflows & data streams.
What our customer say
Georg Fischer
“We have 800+ SKUs which are subject to frequent changes. As we have customers across all regions, we have to adhere to certain localised or legislative requirements. Yet, about 20 SKUs represent 80% of our revenue, but we also have a vast number of low volume products to produce. This adds complexity to our production lines.“Additionally, some products require complex production processes, so ProcessIQ is extremely helpful for the production cells. It provides a very specific method sheet and documentation to support the build,” explained Nick.“ProcessIQ eliminates wasted time. Anyone can use the tool, so we are not relying entirely on engineering to make updates. You simply revise, following a document control workflow and share directly.
Read the Georg Fischer Case study
Georg Fischer – https://www.georgfischer.com/en.html
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