London, Ontario, July 22 - Activplant Corporation announced today that it has been granted a patent on its latest manufacturing software innovation, the Throughput Analyzer. Since its release in 2007, the Throughput Analyzer has been deployed in many of the world’s largest manufacturing facilities. This patent confirms Throughput Analyzer’s innovation in the performance management space, which enhances and extends the capabilities required by manufacturers in today’s competitive market place. The patented Throughput Capability Metric is a breakthrough technology that supersedes all previous measurement metrics, including OEE and downtime, in its ability to identify the key chronic disruptors to overall product flow.
"The manufacturing industry is facing daunting challenges. We are very pleased to receive this patent on an application that has the opportunity to revolutionize how companies drive performance improvements," said Chuck Frosst, president, Activplant Corporation. "We have a desire to help our customers compete in some very challenging economic times. The Throughput Analyzer helps plant managers and operations executives to clear the fog from the lens and see exactly where to focus their improvement efforts, resulting in sustained operational improvements that can translate into significant savings and efficiency gains."
Activplant pioneered manufacturing intelligence with the introduction of the Activplant Performance Management System in 1997; however, since then the company realized that the space still lacked a repeatable solution that was quick to deploy and could recognize payback in weeks rather than months. The patented Throughput Analyzer application fills this void and is unique in that it is pre-configured to identify issues and provide root-cause information relating to the performance of the manufacturing value stream.
"This patent represents a milestone in Activplant’s journey to help manufacturers transform the way they use data from the plant floor," said Dennis Cocco, founder and chief product strategist, Activplant Corporation. "When we created the Throughput Analyzer, we believed we had delivered a breakthrough technology that would become a strategic tool for manufacturers to drive performance gains. The feedback from customers has been overwhelming, as they see sustained gains in improvement, helping them gain back a competitive edge provided by unbiased recommendations leading to plant floor improvement."
This unbiased view introduces a new patented metric: the Throughput Capability Metric, which essentially determines how each line impacts the overall performance of end of line production. It provides a balance map to allow continuous improvement teams to see specifically where they need to focus their efforts. This innovative approach has been deployed at numerous large manufacturing organizations within several industrial verticals including automotive, industrial equipment, food and beverage, bottling and packaging resulting in sustained operational gains of 8% to 18% overall. The application has been deployed in as little as 6 weeks and delivers ROI typically within 6 months.
"High-volume, high-automation manufacturers need to be able to quickly spot bottlenecks in order to remove constraints and improve performance", said Greg Gorbach, vice president, ARC Advisory Group. "Activplant’s Throughput Analyzer provides this information graphically, in real time and in the context of the entire production process, allowing managers to make the best decisions to improve manufacturing productivity performance and to focus their continuous improvement activities."
