Glotech.io
How Do You Track Machine Downtime Without Anyone Writing It Down?
To track machine downtime, stop relying on a person to write down when each stop began and how long it lasted. That information already shows on the machine's tower light, and a camera can record it. Why the machine stopped is a separate question, and the people at the machine are still the ones who know. KAYA Vision AI measures when stops happened and how long they took, from the cameras you already have, and leaves the reason to you.
How downtime is logged today
In most shops a stop gets recorded on a paper form, with a button on a terminal, or as a line someone adds to a sheet when the shift ends. All of them need someone to notice the stop and remember to log it. A long breakdown always gets written down. Half an hour while the operator was at another machine, or short alarms that keep coming back through the day, often don't.
So the list you end up with isn't a list of the stops that happened. It's a list of the stops someone remembered to write down.
What can be recorded with nobody logging it
KAYA puts every moment of a machine into a state. The time a machine isn't cutting or moulding falls into five groups, and each group points to a different question.
| State | In the report | What to look at |
|---|---|---|
| Alarm (red light) | Shown separately, not runtime | Which machines, and which hours of the day it keeps happening |
| Stopped, someone at the machine (amber) | Inside runtime, shown separately | Setup, fixturing and preparation time |
| Nobody at the machine (amber) | Reported separately, not runtime | The machine is ready and waiting; how work is spread across operators |
| Light off | Not runtime | A planned shutdown, or no job given to the machine |
| No evidence | Shown as a gap | A camera or view problem; the machine's state is unknown |
A single "downtime" figure adds all of these together and hides which one is large. If your own definition counts setup as downtime, that number is on its own line in the report; which definition you use is your call.
Where the reason comes from
KAYA doesn't know why a machine stopped. Behind a red light there may be a broken tool or a door left open. The operator of a machine waiting on amber may be on a break or busy with setup on the next machine. The people at the machine know that.
Because the start and length of each stop are already recorded, nobody has to guess a duration when they give a reason. You keep the reasons where you keep them today, and you can choose which stops to ask about, starting from the longest.
Will I see a stop as it happens?
No. KAYA reports by the day, and nothing is sent out when a machine turns red. You see the stops in the daily report, by machine and by day. If a stop needs someone at the machine right away, that still depends on the machine's own alarm and the team on the floor.
Common mistakes
Using the measured figure against operators
When measured downtime comes out longer than the forms showed, the first reaction is often to question the operators. Use the figure as blame and you lose the people who would tell you why the machines stopped.
Starting with a long list of reasons
Picking the right line from a list of forty reasons is harder for an operator than writing down the stop. Start with a few broad headings: breakdown, material, setup, no operator, no work. Once it's clear which one is large, break that heading down.
Counting planned shutdowns as downtime
Not every hour with the light off is a loss. If hours with no shift, planned maintenance or a holiday shutdown aren't kept apart, the downtime total points to a problem that doesn't exist.
Where to begin
Start with the bottleneck machine, the one jobs queue up in front of. Measure its stops for a month, and each week go through the few longest with the people who work at that machine. Build the reason list out of those conversations.
Trying KAYA
No sensors go on the machines and operators aren't asked to enter anything. Where KAYA doesn't fit is set out on the KAYA page, and setup questions are in the FAQ. Setting it up takes about an hour, all of it done remotely. The first 30 days are free.
Does your equipment have tower lights, and can a camera see them? Just write to info@glotech.io.