Vorne is pleased to announce the release of the XL Documentation Center, an all-new and innovative approach to product documentation. The XL Documentation Center delivers instant access to the XL User Guide, direct from the XL device via web browser. No more lost or out-of-date manuals and no more digging for documentation. Just organized, accurate, and up-to-date information, delivered direct to your desktop.

The XL Documentation Center is available as a free upgrade for all XL customers. Contact Vorne at 1-877-767-LEAN for more information.

The AME (Association for Manufacturing Excellence) 2007 exhibition in Chicago, with its strong emphasis on lean manufacturing, proved to be the perfect event to preview the latest version of the XL Productivity Appliance™ platform. Live product demonstrations of both the XL600 and XL800 provided hands-on interaction with the Vorne XL family of products, complete with the latest features under development by our R&D teams.

Call Vorne at 1-877-767-LEAN or email us for information on how Vorne XL can accelerate your lean manufacturing initiatives.

Leading manufacturers such as Honda, Toyota, Energizer Battery, and Harley Davidson gathered in Cleveland on October 1st to 3rd to share lean manufacturing best practices and case studies focused on TPM and OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness).

Vorne exhibited XL products (the XL600 and XL800), which were a popular draw for attendees seeking effective methods for delivering real-time goals along with “role-tailored” process feedback. Attendees shared insights on how they use OEE to drive their TPM initiatives and a common theme was providing the right KPIs to the right people at the right time.

Call Vorne at 1-877-767-LEAN or email us for more information on how XL products can enhance your TPM program.

Vorne has been tapped to lead a two-hour conference session on OEE at National Manufacturing Week 2007 in Chicago on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007.

The session explores why OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is a leading metric for driving plant floor productivity, and features real-world examples and insights from a Vorne XL800 customer who has successfully implemented OEE in thirteen manufacturing plants around the world.

Contact Vorne at 877-767-LEAN to find out more about how we can help make your OEE initiative a success!

Vorne is pleased to announce that it has authored a feature article for Plant Engineering’s July issue titled: KPIs from a Lean Perspective: Achieve Goals, Reduce Waste. The article explores how to select and apply key performance indicators such as OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) and TAP (Target, Actual, and Piece Variance) to lean manufacturing environments. It also analyzes how real-time, plant floor KPIs expose, quantify, visualize and eliminate waste from the manufacturing process.

Vorne is a recognized leader in the practical application of lean manufacturing techniques to the plant floor and has published numerous articles on the topic. Call us at 1-877-767-LEAN to learn how our XL Series will accelerate your lean initiative.

Vorne is pleased to announce the release of a web-based Event Viewer for the XL product line. The Event Viewer is fully integrated with the XL device, and automatically tracks a wide range of system events and diagnostics. For example, job and shift resets, time and date changes, and error codes are automatically logged by the XL device, along with detailed information about each event.

The Event Viewer is available now as a free software upgrade for all XL customers and is also shipping as a standard feature on all new XL devices. Call Vorne at 1-877-767-LEAN or email us if you would like more information.

The Vorne XL800 was recently featured in a Manufacturing Business Technology article titled Overall Equipment Effectiveness: An old metric offers new ways of boosting performance. The XL800 is featured as an integrated solution that collects manufacturing data directly from plant-floor assets and displays real-time performance measurements such as OEE for improved operator involvement. The article also highlights the success of Hermes Abrasives in using the XL800 as an essential part of their OEE initiative.

Call Vorne at 1-877-767-LEAN or request a free 90-day trial of XL for your manufacturing plant.

More than 300 participants, representing many of the top suppliers to Honda of America, gathered May 15th to 17th in Cincinnati to share lean manufacturing best practices during the 5th annual Honda Lean Network Conference. Vorne is honored to have been one of twelve companies with expertise in lean manufacturing invited by Honda to demonstrate products to Honda’s suppliers.

One of the pervasive themes of the conference was visual management. Vorne presented the latest version of its flagship XL600 and XL800 products, which deliver accurate, up-to-the second, plant floor performance data throughout the enterprise, and which “bolt-on” to virtually any manufacturing process. For more information on XL contact Vorne at 877-767-LEAN.

Vorne is pleased to announce the release of an advanced web features package for the XL product line that adds many features and enhancements to the browser-based user interface. Scalability has been dramatically improved enabling numerous browser clients to be concurrently connected to a single XL device. The user interface has also been enhanced with a new look and feel and significant upgrades to the underlying communication technologies. These upgrades support true real-time connectivity between the browser and XL device; data can be automatically refreshed as often as ten times per second with no page reloads or other visual artifacts and with minimal load placed on network infrastructure.

The web features package is available now as a free software upgrade for all XL customers and is also included with all newly shipped XL devices.

In a March 2007 article on favorite downloads from www.plantservices.com, Michael Ermitage writes that Plant Services coverage of the Vorne OEE web site (www.oee.com) and free pocket guide has consistently been one of the top three downloads from their web site.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is a hot topic for manufacturers because it provides a simple way to “keep score” of manufacturing performance. Vorne is widely viewed as a leading expert on OEE – especially in regards to the practical application of OEE to the plant floor. Training your team on the “how” and “why” of OEE can be a challenging task, so Vorne has developed a complete portfolio of free educational materials that support and simplify training. Contact us at 877-767-LEAN to find out more about how Vorne can help make your OEE initiative a success.

Vorne Technology Partner I/Gear is offering a free one-day, hands-on workshop focused on using I/Gear software tools to connect Vorne XL displays to a vast array of plant floor technologies such as PLCs, RFID/barcode scanners, HMIs, ERP systems, databases, spreadsheets, and more. The workshop also showcases web-based performance dashboards that roll-up and aggregate performance data from asset to enterprise using I/Gear tools.

Workshop details:

• When: April 11th from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM (lunch provided)
• Where: I/Gear Training Center, Louisville, KY
• Cost: Free

There is limited availability and these workshops fill up fast so register now! For more information contact Mark Doyle of I/Gear at 502-423-0999 x 114.

Vorne is pleased to announce that it was selected to author the OEE cover story for the January 2007 issue of Industrial Maintenance and Plant Operations (IMPO) magazine. The ABCs of Overall Equipment Effectiveness explains how OEE drives improvements in manufacturing effectiveness and efficiency, and how lost production time can be turned into found profits. Vorne is a recognized leader in OEE, publishing the OEE Pocket Guide, the Fast Guide to OEE, and www.oee.com.

Vorne announced today that it achieved record sales in 2006, and it’s third straight year of strong revenue growth. This sustained growth is a direct result of Vorne’s unique combination of lean manufacturing expertise and advanced technology products. Together they deliver an exceptionally fast and cost-effective way to get actionable, real-time production information to the plant floor and throughout the enterprise.

Vorne is the company to watch in 2007! Check back often to see the latest developments in performance management solutions, or call 877-767-LEAN to learn more about how Vorne can help you increase productivity and profitability in 2007.