Techno sans angles morts breaks down today's technologies, meets the brains behind these innovations and explores the digital tools available to Quebec businesses. This column helps to understand today's trends in order to be ready for tomorrow's.
TECHNO SANS ANGLES MORTS. Quebec-based Worximity already enabled manufacturers to connect their factories and view their production data in real time. Its new Insight tool, launched this summer, now also makes it possible to analyze the information gathered to improve their productivity. And the first results are compelling
"For years, our customers have been telling us they wished the data they collect with our tools were directly actionable. That's now the case. It tells them where their lines can be improved, how much money they'll be able to gain and what they need to do to get there," says Yannick Desmarais, founder and CEO of Worximity Technology, a Montreal company that for the past decade has aspired to help manufacturers "do more with less."
That was already true, in fact, even before Worximity Insight's official launch in June, since the company also offers two other services to its customers. The first connects machines — old or modern — on an assembly line using small sensors. These devices, which install in a day or two, can measure whether a production line is running, its speed, its rejects and the quantity of raw materials used. The other service allows the data from these sensors (and others, provided by workers) to be viewed on a dashboard accessible in real time.
With its first two solutions, Worximity already enabled its customers to increase productivity by 20% on average, according to the company. Insight will now be able to push the potential even further, detecting roughly 30% to 50% of productivity loss, based on early results obtained from customers who tested it during a run-in period over the past year.
"We spent three years developing several algorithms that detect anomalies in the data," explains Yannick Desmarais. These anomalies can indicate, for example, a lack of efficiency during shift changeovers or that a machine part should be replaced. And since Worximity measures production, the software also quantifies the financial gains that can be achieved by making these fixes.
An automatic roadmap
"Every day, Insight prioritizes the improvements to be made. It provides a roadmap of what needs to change in the factory. Previously, this work had to be done by analysts, perhaps only once a year. Today, we know in real time. It lets us use those same analysts to solve problems, rather than to detect them," notes the CEO.
While its other solutions can be deployed quickly (about a month, the time needed to train factory staff), Insight may take a bit longer to bear fruit, Yannick Desmarais warns.
"It takes about three months for the algorithms to accumulate enough data and for the system to be effective," he notes. Some can even take up to a year before they are detected. "Anomalies can occur rarely, so it takes time before we have enough data to measure their impact," the CEO adds.
New markets
Worximity has helped just over 500 customers deploy its solutions in their factories, in some twenty countries across four continents. Could Worximity Insight enable the nearly 40-employee company to break into new markets? Its CEO thinks so.
"Some of the factories we approach, especially the larger ones and those belonging to big groups, already have in-house solutions to measure their production," he explains. Insight was designed to integrate with Worximity's other services, but it can also be fed by information from these internal systems, provided it's well structured.
"Picture a company with 100 factories, each with dozens of production lines. It's humanly impossible to detect variations in the data. Now we'll be able to tell them how to allocate budgets to the right factories, on the right lines, where it will be most profitable. So yes, I believe this will let us break into larger groups more easily," predicts Yannick Desmarais.
"For years, our customers have been telling us they wished the data they collect with our tools were directly actionable. That's now the case. It tells them where their lines can be improved, how much money they'll be able to gain and what they need to do to get there," says Yannick Desmarais, founder and CEO of Worximity Technology, a Montreal company that for the past decade has aspired to help manufacturers "do more with less."
That was already true, in fact, even before Worximity Insight's official launch in June, since the company also offers two other services to its customers. The first connects machines — old or modern — on an assembly line using small sensors. These devices, which install in a day or two, can measure whether a production line is running, its speed, its rejects and the quantity of raw materials used. The other service allows the data from these sensors (and others, provided by workers) to be viewed on a dashboard accessible in real time.
With its first two solutions, Worximity already enabled its customers to increase productivity by 20% on average, according to the company. Insight will now be able to push the potential even further, detecting roughly 30% to 50% of productivity loss, based on early results obtained from customers who tested it during a run-in period over the past year.
"We spent three years developing several algorithms that detect anomalies in the data," explains Yannick Desmarais. These anomalies can indicate, for example, a lack of efficiency during shift changeovers or that a machine part should be replaced. And since Worximity measures production, the software also quantifies the financial gains that can be achieved by making these fixes.
An automatic roadmap
"Every day, Insight prioritizes the improvements to be made. It provides a roadmap of what needs to change in the factory. Previously, this work had to be done by analysts, perhaps only once a year. Today, we know in real time. It lets us use those same analysts to solve problems, rather than to detect them," notes the CEO.
While its other solutions can be deployed quickly (about a month, the time needed to train factory staff), Insight may take a bit longer to bear fruit, Yannick Desmarais warns.
"It takes about three months for the algorithms to accumulate enough data and for the system to be effective," he notes. Some can even take up to a year before they are detected. "Anomalies can occur rarely, so it takes time before we have enough data to measure their impact," the CEO adds.
New markets
Worximity has helped just over 500 customers deploy its solutions in their factories, in some twenty countries across four continents. Could Worximity Insight enable the nearly 40-employee company to break into new markets? Its CEO thinks so.
"Some of the factories we approach, especially the larger ones and those belonging to big groups, already have in-house solutions to measure their production," he explains. Insight was designed to integrate with Worximity's other services, but it can also be fed by information from these internal systems, provided it's well structured.
"Picture a company with 100 factories, each with dozens of production lines. It's humanly impossible to detect variations in the data. Now we'll be able to tell them how to allocate budgets to the right factories, on the right lines, where it will be most profitable. So yes, I believe this will let us break into larger groups more easily," predicts Yannick Desmarais.
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