Altra Industrial Motion : Warner Electric deploys “MBrain”, a factory intelligence system that provides enhanced process control, order traceability and operator support

Warner Electric, a brand of Altra Industrial Motion Corp. and global market leader in electromagnetic clutch and brake technologies for demanding applications, has chosen MTEK's MBrain, a method-centric software tool, to digitize its high-volume/high-mix manufacturing operations at its plant in Columbia City, Indiana.

The goal was to connect a diverse array of machines, including CNCs, hydro presses, delta robots and testers, to read, visualize and analyze machine and process data, such as real time SPC, yield analysis, changeover metrics and OEE, as well as digitizing the first Article Inspection and documentation for change-over and work instructions.

"Warner Electric has a strong culture of engagement by every individual on our shop floor. For us, choosing a software platform that enhances team member productivity by leveraging process, product and component data to support their work, while automating non-value added time, was essential", says Sean Bracken, senior manufacturing engineer and quality manager at Warner Electric.

MBrain's advanced data collection, analysis and improvement functionalities, enables Warner Electric to improve cycle times, stop times, control machine pressure, and identify micro stops, etc. MBrain will also allow Warner Electric to eliminate thousands of pages of paper by deploying dynamic work instructions, fully integrated to the manufacturing operations - freeing up time for the shift leaders to focus on throughput.

With AI functionality, the system can signal deviations and abnormal patterns in real time. This enables the factory to get insights about what to improve, and to manage the machines even better. This will lead to longer machine and equipment life, improved product quality, decreased scrap and more efficient production flow.

"We're very pleased that we have the ability to scale the platform ourselves, across the shop floor. With the system's no-code design, we can adapt and adopt this product as we wish. And the best part is we don't have to rely on consultants", adds Bracken.

David Ebling, president of Warner Electric, commented. "It was impressive to see how extremely smooth the deployment was, as the system was up and running, creating value, in less than one week, with no impact on production as machine data was read immediately. I'm convinced that MBrain will support our ongoing Kaizen journey of continuous improvement, as the capability and power of the method-centric system has become a central part of our digitization vision beyond Industry 4.0".

Visit: Warner Electric