Machine Monitoring Software

Drive Productivity

Drive continuous improvement with real-time utilisation and OEE metrics to inform decisions.

Increase Capacity

Increase production capacity by removing inefficiencies on your factory floor.

IMPROVE COLLABORATION

Improve communication across the factory floor by giving your people the tools they need.

YOUR FACTORY'S DATA, CONNECTED.

Plug & Play Machine Monitoring

FourJAW IS an operational tool that enables MANUFACTURERS to become more efficient, sustainable and profitable.

On average, our customers see an uplift of between 15 and 20% increase in productivity, enabling them to make more products with the same level of resources.

Connect any machine on your factory floor using our plug-and-play manufacturing analytics platform to understand where you can unlock productivity, save energy and increase production capacity.

MANUFACTURING DATA COLLECTION

Take control, drive efficiency and increase the productivity and sustainability of your manufacturing operations by getting your factory floor data in real-time.

AUTOMATIC DATA CAPTURE FourJaw machine monitoring system automatically gathers machine data so you can finally ditch the clipboard and spreadsheets and drive your lean manufacturing efforts.

ACCESSIBLE, AFFORDABLE AND SCALABLE Unlike traditional machine monitoring solutions, our cloud-based platform only requires a small piece of 'plug and Play' hardware to be installed per machine. Find out more about our flexible pricing plans and discover how quickly you could be getting an ROI. You can also use our ROI calculator to get an idea of how quickly you might see a return for your business.

IMPROVE EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION Manufacturing environments are typically very busy and complex, which can lead to inefficiency in things like peer-to-peer communication. FourJaw makes everyone’s job easier, from the top floor to the factory floor, using technology to provide complete visibility, leading to a more engaged workforce.

OPTIMISE FACTORY PRODUCTIVITY & ENERGY USAGE FourJaw machine monitoring software enables manufacturers to increase operational efficiency by identifying where inefficiencies in productivity occur. Our machine monitoring software enables manufacturers to understand where energy is being wasted on unproductive machine downtime so they can take corrective action to reduce costs and your carbon footprint.

COMPLETE FACTORY VISIBILITY WITHOUT THE COST

Traditional Vs FourJaw Machine Monitoring

Move over traditional machine monitoring solutions. We’re on a mission to make access to machine monitoring as affordable and accessible as possible.

See Our Interactive Product Guide

Traditional Solutions

FourJaw

Monthly Subscription

No Large Upfront Costs

ROI in Weeks, Not Months

Plug & Play Installation

Works on Any Machine, Regardless of Age or Brand

Regular Security & Feature Updates Included

Productivity & Energy Monitoring features

PLUG & PLAY MACHINE MONITORING

How It works

The MachineLink Hardware uses sensors and powerful algorithms to recognise when the machine is in a productive or unproductive state.

The Operator Tablet automatically prompts operators to select downtime reasons, shows performance through a shift, enables work booking and can be used as a communication platform.

The Web App visualises your factory floor data, so you can manage your operations on a day-by-day basis as well as provide actionable insight into where productivity and energy improvements can be achieved.

ACHIEVE OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

Know What good looks like

Data without context is just data. Understand what 'good' looks like in your factory using key productivity metrics such as machine utilisation and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) so you always know when things are going well (or not so well).

See key production metrics, such as machine utilisation and top downtime reasons to inform your continuous improvement efforts and hit your production KPIs
See your top downtimes, per factory, cell or machine to improve your performance and availability goals

KNOW WHAT'S CAUSING DOWNTIME

PRIORITISE PRODUCTION ISSUES

Find out top reasons for machine downtime, by factory, cell, or machine. Take action where it matters most based on the top-loss Pareto chart.

Understand top downtime reasons
Change production processes to gain efficiency
Create custom machine downtime categories to suit your business
Allocate resources more effectively
Improve machine productivity

REAL-TIME VISIBILITY FOR SUPERVISORS

Live Data Dashboard

View an at-a-glance summary of how production is progressing in real-time, allowing you to take immediate actions to improve.

View an at-a-glance summary of production performance
Enables supervisors to make quicker, more informed decisions
See downtimes and machine active times per work order

Within just 6 months, FourJaw's machine monitoring software solution has enabled the Armac Martin Turning section to go from a 21.7% machine utilisation rate up to 35.8% today.

Rob McGrail Armac Martin - CEO

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a machine monitoring system?

A machine monitoring system is a tool that plugs into your machine and is designed to collect raw production data. The data that the system collects information on may include:

Machine downtime
Energy usage
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), to name a few

This data insight can then be used by machine operators and production managers to identify areas for improvement so that they can make informed, incremental tweaks to improve overall capacity and output. These actions eventually lead to more efficient manufacturing processes which in turn will improve profitability.

How Can Machine Monitoring Improve Productivity & Machine Utilisation?

Machine monitoring provides manufacturers with full factory floor visibility of how well-utilised machines are by showing the machine downtime, uptime and continuous event monitoring.

With the FourJaw machine monitoring platform, operatives can categorise the reasons for the downtimes, so factory floor managers get a clear picture of how productive the machines are. Here's a useful case study that shows how a manufacturer improved their machine utilisation by 400%.

Does FourJaw machine monitoring work on old machines?

Yes. Our machine monitoring platform was specifically designed to make machine monitoring accessible to manufacturers of all shapes and sizes. This meant we designed our platform to work with any type of machine, regardless of age, brand or model. With FourJaw, you can turn your 50-year-old machine into a 'smart machine', helping you to understand how productive your machines are.

Can Machine monitoring help reduce energy usage?

Yes. FourJaw's machine monitoring software can provide energy usage data combined with machine productivity data to help factories reduce their energy usage, energy costs and carbon footprint.

You can find out more about FourJaw's energy monitoring feature here.

Is plug-and-play machine monitoring software expensive?

No. Unlike traditional machine monitoring solutions, we designed our machine monitoring platform to be accessible. Not only did we make it easy to install (minimising disruption to your shop floor), but we also made it affordable.

We offer monthly payment plans and you can install it yourself, so there are no high upfront installation costs often associated with traditional machine monitoring solutions. Find out more about our machine monitoring software prices.

What data does FourJaw machine monitoring capture?

Utilisation Data

FourJaw starts with utilisation data in its simplest form. The specially designed MachineLink IoT hardware gets the machine utilisation data via two sensors that are attached to the machine's power cables.

These sensors are typically attached to the total power incomer of the machine and the main drive unit, for example, a spindle motor of a CNC machine.

This raw data is recorded every second and sent to our secure Azure cloud platform. The data is then instantly built into chunks of running and not-running data, typically over 20-second periods, which is then displayed and categorised throughout the FourJaw's w platform.

What this provides is a very accurate measure of when the productive part of the machine experiences load and when it does not. Applied to this data is FourJaw's Machine Learning program which automatically classifies the data into productive/active and idle/inactive time. This means warm-up runs and free air cycles are classed as idle time in the case of a CNC machine as the machine is not in its productive state.

How does FourJaw capture Machine Downtime Data?

Downtime reasons are inputted by the operator of the machine via a tablet which is installed beside the operator's machine.

Each tablet is paired with a machine via the same FourJaw portal running on a Chrome browser.

When the MachineLink hardware, detailed above, measures a set period of idle time a pop-up appears on the platform asking the user to log why the period of idle time has occurred.

This information can be inputted straight away, during the machine downtime period or even post-downtime period if required.

Does FourJaw machine monitoring platform capture work booking and job data?

Yes, it does. Works order information can be inputted manually or directly imported from a .CSV file.

This data includes the WO number, operations, machine names, estimated job time and start dates.

As with all parts of the FourJaw platform, this data is combined with the downtime and utilisation data to provide meaningful and actionable insights into your production process.

I already monitor Work order times, Ops times and setup times, why is this different?

As a manufacturer, it's likely, you'll already be monitoring work order times, Ops times and setup times, of course, this is all useful, however, it does not give you the big picture.

For instance, it doesn't identify and inform you of what improvements can be made to improve shop floor productivity.

Machine monitoring differs because it will give you real-time, actionable shop floor data such as:

Top 5 downtimes, per factory, cell or machine
Pareto plots
Average setup time per part
Downtimes and machine active times per work order

This information can be used to take decisions based on fact and not opinion.

What is production monitoring?

Production monitoring systems are designed to record production and machine performance in real-time. This information can then be used to drive OEE, strategise, increase production capacity and overall drive performance and profitability.

Download our helpful guide for more information about increasing your factory’s output: How To Increase Manufacturing Production Capacity.