Kickstart Your Digital Transformation

The OpenMachineMonitoring project represents our commitment to making Industry 4.0 digital transformation accessible to everyone.

Digital is exactly the sort of thing we should be doing.

"Should" be doing. "Should" does not mean "yes"!

Recognising the potential of digital technologies and actually implementing them are two very different things. Businesses usually understand the "potential of digital transformation" but find it all too easy to let it slip down the priority list. They simply don't have the time, money, or people to devote to something that's still often seen as a "nice to have".

This is a problem for engineers working to introduce digital technologies. Digital is the future but how on earth can we get there if resources are limited?

A recent survey of manufacturing companies* conducted by SWMAS found that costs, skill and time are the top three biggest barriers to investment in digital manufacturing (cited by 75%, 69%, and 61% of respondents respectively). The same survey found that ideas from staff (58%) is one of the most important factors for influencing investment.

At All New Consulting, our goal is to help as many companies as possible get the most out of digital transformation. So, with the Manufacturing Barometer's findings in mind, we wondered whether we could come up with something that would address the main barriers and leverage factors that influence investment.

We came up with OpenMachineMonitoring; a practical, engineer-driven way of starting digital transformation with minimal effort and cost.

*Q2 2023 SWMAS Manufacturing Barometer survey.

What Is It?

OpenMachineMonitoring is an open-source machine utilisation tracker designed for manufacturers who need a low-cost, quick-start approach to digital transformation.

With OpenMachineMonitoring you can:

• Spot periods when machines are using power but are not in use,
• Understand where there might be spare capacity or production bottlenecks,
• Compare utilisation across different machines,
• Identify ideal times to perform maintenance,
• Get your digital transformation started with an easy win,
• Build a business case to support further digital investment. Demonstrating a real-world win gives decision-makers confidence to invest further in digital.

Why does this matter?

• No more guesswork: quickly get real data on machine usage.
• No more waiting : skip the budget approval delays and start today for hardly any initial investment.
• No integration headaches: use simple clip-on sensors, plug in a Raspberry Pi or laptop and off you go.

What Will You Need?

Getting OpenMachineMonitoring setup and monitoring a machine is easy. Here's what you will need:

• 🖥️ A computer (Raspberry Pi provides a nice prototyping platform, but almost anything will do)
• 🔌 Hardware (a way to measure machine usage): Arduino MKR 1010 WiFi (here) + DFRobot current sensor kit (here)
• 📦 Software: OpenMachineMonitoring (clone from GitHub), an InfluxDB account (for storing sensor data) and a HiveMQ account (for message routing). The free tiers of InfluxDB and HiveMQ will be sufficient.

And that's it.

For little more than £100 you have everything you need to start!

Arduino and a signal conversion module for the current sensor

AC current clamp sensor

OpenMachineMonitoring's user interface

Getting Started

• 1️⃣ Install OpenMachineMonitoring on your device (following the instructions laid out in the README)
• 2️⃣ Connect the sensor(s) to your machine
• 3️⃣ Start collecting data

With just a little configuration you will be ready to start ingesting data within the hour!

Why Should You Use This?

🚄 It's Fast: Go from zero to real data in less than an hour

Many businesses find that implementing digital tools involves a lot of effort; particularly if they're starting from scratch. This means formal (and large!) budgets, automation and/or engineering team support, IT department support, and software licenses to name just a few of the moving parts that need to come together.

OpenMachineMonitoring bypasses all of this. Imagine skipping weeks, maybe even months of emails, meetings, and budget proposals to try and get a digital project off the ground!

OpenMachineMonitoring is a fast route to getting real-world evidence to support digital investment business cases.

✅ It's Low Risk: No need to commit to major investment

For £100 and an hour of setup time you can start gathering real data and start making data-driven decisions!

It's a small, easily-affordable outlay for most companies and involves no reconfiguration of your current machines or processes.

👉 It's Tangible: Not another theoretical digital transformation plan

Implementing OpenMachineMonitoring as a pilot project provides you with evidence to take to decision-makers. Real-world evidence carries a lot more weight when it comes to making investment decisions for more digital transformation.

Bonus: Dealing With Legacy Machines

One of the biggest challenges in digital transformation is dealing with legacy machines. In a digital transformation, they can often become forgotten relics sitting on the factory floor quietly going about their business.

However, legacy machines don't have to sit out your digital transformation.

With OpenMachineMonitoring, even your oldest machines can start reporting data; no expensive retrofitting required!

What Next?

Ready to see it in action?

🏭 Pick a machine.

💻 Get the hardware (or check if you already have it!).

🧑‍💻 Download OpenMachineMonitoring and start collecting data in under an hour.

🚀 Try it today!