Excel Connection is a Featured Case Study for FreePoint Technologies

Improving Productivity in a Wire Harness Shop by 50%

Excel Connection is an industry leader in manufacturing cable assemblies, wire harnesses, lead wires, ribbon cables, coaxial cables, fiber optics, power cables, heavy gauge and electro-mechanical assemblies.

The Challenge

As many manufacturers do, Excel faces the challenge of frequent set-ups for multiple customers with many different products. Prior to implementing their FreePoint solution, some jobs required up to an hour of preparation before the machines could be productive. Operators spent time finding wiring and other materials that were placed in hard to reach areas, helping others, waiting for a lead hand to set up, or waiting for instructions. In other words, people were usually busy, but not always productive.

The Solution

After implementing ShiftWorx, Excel experienced a significant decrease in machine downtime which considerably increased their capacity on critical processing machines, as well as improved employee engagement overall.

“It really made a difference when people saw how their machine was running and knew their co-workers could see that too.” – Colleen, Business Manager

With real-time data providing deeper process insights, Excel was able to identify bottlenecks in their process that was contributing to unplanned downtime. Less time was spent unproductively and more time was spent on production. Productivity for their critical cutting machines increased 40%, and on their bottle neck process, it increased 60%.

Having production data visualized in front of them, employees became more efficient and productive. The live dashboards on display created a more engaging, gamified and competitive culture on the shop floor, encouraging operators to keep their machine running, with bonuses now planned as a further incentive for top performers.

Overall, Excel managed to reclaim hours of lost daily production time, which in turn increased their overall production capacity by 50%. With ShiftWorx’s Downtime Narration Module, Excel generates downtime reports to analyze their data and see what other impactful process changes they can make in the future!

• Significant Reduction in Machine Downtime
• Improved Employee Engagement & Corporate Culture
• 50% Increase in Production Capacity