Use Case - Discrete Manufacturing and SME

A small-to-medium sized manufacturing company, active in the discrete production of mechanical and assembled components, was looking for a simple and scalable solution to monitor real-time performance of production lines, reduce downtime, and improve visibility on key performance indicators such as OEE.

The Challenge: Production Control and OEE

Production was run on heterogeneous, often dated machinery connected to non-integrated local SCADA or HMI systems. Data collection relied on Excel files or paper records, making it difficult to intervene promptly when problems occurred and complicating the analysis of production performance on a daily or weekly scale.

Problems encountered:

• No real-time monitoring of production efficiency

• Lack of integration between departments and plants
- Inability to automatically calculate OEE

• Hidden costs associated with untracked downtime or undetected inefficiencies

The Solution: Meddle as a Lightweight Supervisor for SME

By implementing Meddle, the company would have a single, flexible, low-code line supervisor that could connect directly to existing PLCs and machine sensors to automatically collect data on machine status, cycles, errors, and downtime.

Key features:

• Direct connection with even dated PLCs (e.g., Modbus, S7)

• Automatic calculation of OEE on each line

• Web-accessible custom dashboards

• Easy configuration by non-IT technical staff

• Remote management capability on multiple plants

Results for the Manufacturing Company

Meddle produces immediate and measurable benefits:

• Continuous improvement through up-to-date KPIs

• -80% in unplanned downtime

• Access to data even remotely or multi-site

• Reduced dependence on external integrators