With demand for Vorne products running at a record pace, an initiative was recently put into place to meet increased demand using existing capacity and with the additional goal of reducing lead times. Through a process of value stream mapping, key opportunities for improvement were identified and implemented, including cross-training and flexible manning. As a result lead times on Vorne products have been reduced by an average of approximately 30%.

To learn more about lean manufacturing, visit our Learning Center.

In an initiative led by their company president, a major US-based home building products manufacturer challenged its employees to further enhance their continuous improvement initiative by sharing best practices and key metrics across the entire decision making chain and across multiple manufacturing plants.

The Vorne XL600 was selected as a key part of the initiative – an integrated means to communicate real-time goals to the plant floor, to deliver accurate and up-to-the-second performance data including real-time OEE, and to provide detailed production information to managers. A pilot program in two plants quickly proved the value of XL, and led to the purchase of over one hundred XL600 devices to monitor production assets across all US manufacturing plants.

Click here to request a free 90-day XL trial for your manufacturing plant!

Vorne contributed to an October Automation World article titled: The Trick To Applying OEE Across Several Plants. This article focuses on OEE as a best-practice strategy for driving continuous improvement, and addresses the issues that can arise when comparing OEE across multiple plants. The article also explores how real-time automated data collection plays an important role in obtaining accurate and unbiased OEE scores. 

Read "The Trick To Applying OEE Across Several Plants"

Vorne announced today that its highly popular OEE Pocket Guide has been released for its second printing of 25,000 copies. Since first published last year, over 25,000 copies of the OEE Pocket Guide have found their way into the hands of those seeking to learn more about OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness). The OEE Pocket Guide was designed to be a convenient quick reference tool for those tasked with implementing OEE on the plant floor and is an excellent training tool for employees at any level.

If you are interested in OEE, and would like to discuss your project with our OEE experts, or if you would simply like to request some OEE Pocket Guides for your team please email us or call Vorne at 877-767-LEAN.

Vorne will be presenting a session on OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) at the 2006 Assembly Technology Expo in Rosemont (Chicago), IL on September 26th. Free OEE training materials such as the Fast Guide to OEE and the popular OEE Pocket Guide will be distributed to all session attendees.

Click here to register for the 2006 Assembly Technology Expo Conference or call Vorne at 877-767-LEAN to request a free pass for the OEE session. Passes are limited so please call early!

If you are unable to attend but would like to learn more about OEE email your request to receive free OEE training materials for your company.

Real-time visuals at the plant floor can have a substantial impact on productivity, as recently discovered by one of Vorne’s XL customers. Despite having an enterprise-level data collection system in place this major US automaker lacked the ability to communicate real-time production goals and data to the plant floor. The solution – the Vorne XL400.

The XL400 was chosen for its cost-effective combination of a highly-visible 4" LED display, on-board data collection tools, integrated I/O, and its unique ability to execute visual calls for maintenance, QC or supervisory staff at the push of a button. The result – over forty XL400 units installed across the plant, and substantial improvements in productivity. The Senior Electrical Engineer leading the project summed up his XL experience: “I am very impressed with the XL! Just two wires is all it takes to get a tremendous amount of real-time process data”.

Vorne is pleased to announce that all XL products are now shipping with browser-based access for setting key production values. Takt time, ideal cycle time, goal count, job ID, shift ID and dozens of other values can be quickly and easily set from anywhere in the plant through the new web interface. A total of eight settings pages are available, including Job, Shift, Part, Scale Factors, Presets, User Numbers, User Strings and Device.

Would you like to learn more about XL? Contact Vorne at 1-877-767-LEAN, or request a free 90-day XL trial for your manufacturing plant!

One of the world’s largest manufacturers, a FORTUNE Global 100 company, has selected the Vorne XL600 as a “best-of-breed” solution for use in more than 70 manufacturing plants world-wide.

A wide range of solutions were considered by this consumer and industrial products manufacturer during an extensive one-year evaluation, but only the XL600 was selected – as the definitive choice – due to its highly-integrated approach to performance management and the depth of features that are indispensable for lean manufacturing initiatives.

To learn more about XL call Vorne at 1-877-767-LEAN. Or, request a free XL600 trial for your manufacturing plant.

Vorne XL products now support instant browser-based data export and report generation – and it’s as easy as 1-2-3! Simply select the type of report, the range of records, and the file format. XL does the rest! The result – your production data exported as a CSV file or Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet; or automatically formatted as a Microsoft Word®, rich text, or plain text report. It’s that easy.

Put XL to work in your plant and get actionable information anytime and anywhere you need it. Request a free 90-day XL trial with full technical support and application assistance.

Vorne was one of sixteen companies invited to the Honda Lean Network Conference May 16th-18th in Atlanta. Vorne conducted OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) workshops and exhibited their newest productivity enhancing XL products.

Honda’s Supplier Development Group considers OEE to be a critical metric for measuring process performance relative to its full potential. Workshop attendees learned how OEE data is used to improve manufacturing processes and sustain continuous improvement.

Call us now at 888-347-7529 or email your request to receive free OEE training materials for your company.

Vorne served on the OEE Case Studies Panel and presented a seminar on OEE at the Advanced Manufacturing Exposition (AM Expo) May 15th-17th in Greenville, SC.

One of the most frequently asked questions was how to collect and distribute actionable OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) data; particularly how to effectively log small stop events, which often go undetected yet invariably sap productivity. Panelists agreed that automating data collection is the key to gathering timely, accurate, unbiased data that can be used to identify and eliminate the "Six Big Losses".

Vorne XL is a truly "bolt-on" data collection solution that captures data directly from the production asset and distributes this data across the enterprise – in real-time.

Getting real-time actionable production data to the right people at the right time is one of the most effective ways of reducing waste in manufacturing environments. Vorne is pleased to announce that all XL models now provide real-time browser-viewable shift and job data, including counts, rates, cycle times, target and goal data, downtime statistics, OEE metrics, and much more. Request a free 90-day trial of XL for your plant today!

Vorne will be presenting a session titled Driving Improvement Through Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) at the PIA/GATF Continuous Improvement Conference, which runs from April 9th to 12th in Scottsdale AZ.

OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is a hot topic for manufacturers in general, and the printing industry is increasingly adopting OEE as a “best practices” metric for monitoring and improving productivity of press and bindery operations.

The Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF) is the world’s largest graphic arts trade association, representing an industry with more than $161 billion in revenue and 1.2 million employees across 12,000 member companies. Learn more about PIA/GATF.

XL products now support over-the-wire programming of both application code and configuration, making it easier than ever to adapt XL to your specific application.

Using Ethernet (serial communication is also supported) a complete new configuration can be loaded in under one minute. A wizard-driven interface guides you step-by-step through the reprogram process. No screwdrivers, jumpers or power cycles! Just a few simple button-clicks from Vorne Display-Pro® XL software.

Vorne has been selected to present a seminar titled OEE – A Practical Approach to Measuring Continuous Improvement at the National Manufacturing Week 2006 Conferences on Thursday, March 23, 2006 in Chicago.

OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is frequently incorporated in lean manufacturing and continuous improvement programs as a “best practices” metric for monitoring and improving the “true” productivity of manufacturing processes (i.e. machines, cells, assembly lines, etc.). You can find more information on the OEE seminar here.

Don’t forget to visit Vorne at Booth 22023A (National Industrial Automation Pavilion) for your free OEE Pocket Guide and to see the XL Series in action.

Would you like to view real-time production information from anywhere inside (or outside) your plant through a simple web browser? The all-new XL embedded web server delivers on this promise by integrating an HTTP server with a dynamic content engine that has full access to the wealth of information generated by XL Series products.

The XL web server is fully integrated into XL products, and supports simultaneous information access by multiple users (managers, supervisors, and when appropriate plant-floor employees). The end-result is instant access to actionable information – anytime and anywhere.

Vorne announced today that demand for its flagship XL family of production monitoring and performance management products resulted in record sales for 2005. Interest in the XL Series generated an avalanche of new customers who recognize that actionable, real-time production data is key to increased productivity. Vorne’s display products also performed well in 2005, with excellent sales for our large digital, large alphanumeric, and panel message display product lines.

A steady stream of new features released for the XL platform has continued to build unmatched value into XL products. Check back often to keep current with the latest XL news.