With the recent launch of the Fiix Integration Hub, there are now near-endless possibilities for Fiix customers to connect to enterprise systems and operational technologies to make smarter, data-driven decisions that improve productivity and asset performance. There are now over 150 new ways to connect your CMMS to other business systems, which is amazing—but we know it can also be a little overwhelming.
That’s why we’re taking the time to highlight some of the partners Fiix customers are excited to integrate with. This week, we’re putting the spotlight on SensrTrx, manufacturing analytics software that’s “like a Fitbit for manufacturing” (more on that later). With SensrTrx, organizations are able to improve their production operations based on real-time machine data.
The SensrTrx story
In the manufacturing world, every organization needs to hit its production targets in order to be successful. But while the desired outcome is clear, the production process often isn’t. Without information on machine health, it can be impossible to know what’s causing downtime and scrap that eats into production time and wastes resources. Enter SensrTrx.
“Just like a Fitbit gives you insight into your own health, SensrTrx gives you visibility into the health of your machines,” says SensrTrx CEO Bryan Sapot. It does this by connecting to machine sensors to give real-time updates on downtime and changes in equipment condition. Customers receive real, concrete data they can use to address problems that threaten production output.
Without SensrTrx, organizations largely run into the same problem, says Sapot. “They don’t have visibility into downtime. They know they have problems, but they don’t know what they are.” What’s more, many organizations don’t have access to data on their most critical assets, which can lead to disaster when those machines go down unexpectedly.
With real-time displays, downtime tracking, scoreboards, dashboards, and alerts, SensrTrx users finally have the data they need to understand downtime and scrap in a new way, and use those insights to transform production.
How Fiix and SensrTrx work together
Just as Fiix enables maintenance teams to move away from legacy systems like Excel and pen and paper to track their maintenance operations, SensrTrx allows manufacturers to move away from similar systems to improve their production activities. When these two systems are connected, maintenance teams are able to perform true condition-based maintenance.
In a nutshell, there are four different ways that Fiix and SensrTrx talk to each other to enable condition-based maintenance:
SensrTrx can configure events and alarms based on data that flows into the system
By keeping in constant contact with machine health data, SensrTrx can raise a flag when something needs to be addressed by maintenance personnel. For example, if a machine sensor picks up on excess vibration on a machine, an alert will be triggered by SensrTrx and appear in Fiix as a work order. Technicians are alerted as soon as possible when something threatens production, and downtime can be avoided.
Machine status can be sent from Fiix back to SensrTrx when equipment is back online
When a machine is shut down for maintenance, this can create a black hole for the production team. With Fiix, maintenance technicians can send updates once maintenance is complete so that operators know the equipment is back online, and can work that information into their production targets.
SensrTrx can track cycles and runtime to produce usage-based PM triggers
Just as a car needs an oil change after a certain number of miles, some machines need to be serviced based on cycles or runtime. SensrTrx can send real-time meter readings to Fiix so that technicians and notified when an inspection needs to take place.
Maintenance data can be pushed from Fiix back to SensrTrx
The frequency and reasons for maintenance can tell the production team a lot about what’s going on with their machines. If maintenance is being performed on a critical asset more often than planned, should the maintenance approach for that asset be revised? What tasks performed on a given asset will produce an ideal production schedule?
The outcome: Streamlined, condition-based communication between production and maintenance
When data is connected between two systems, they’re often able to produce results that are more than the sum of their parts. This is especially true with SensrTrx and Fiix. The beauty here is that both the production and maintenance teams can use data from one another to improve their own day-to-day life.
For maintenance teams that have conquered time-based PMs but are struggling to incorporate condition-based activities, SensrTrx provides the opportunity for them to unlock the new level of productivity and cost-savings that condition-based maintenance enables.
