Sampling the Future(s)
About 30 years ago, I sat outside a seminar room at a product design conference. I recall meeting Tom Matano. In the 1990s, Mr. Matano was an icon and rock star in the industrial design world. He was the head…
Vic Uzumeri
Toward a Video-for-Operations Ecosystem
Imagine an industrial facility with dozens of video cameras that continually record and store video of plant operations … for weeks, if not months. If the cameras are strategically placed, they will capture a visual record of nearly everything that…
Self-Writing (almost) Video SOPs
Over the years, we’ve asked people if they love writing standard operating procedures (SOPs). Their answer is almost always NO !!! SOPs (AKA work instructions or written procedures) are the lifeblood of standard work and continuous improvement. How can something that…
Skills for Video in Operations
Security video systems are promising tools to investigate value-added business processes and operations. The technology is mature and the potential benefits are manifest. However, it requires a new skills ecosystem that most organizations currently don’t have. This article lists six key areas…
Studying Operations with Video
Industry has embraced continuous improvement for at least a century. Arguably, it started with Frederick Taylor and evolved to Six Sigma and beyond. There were many advances, and a few fads, in between. Still, Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) is a common…
High Detail Video for Operations
A New World of High Resolution Cameras We see footage from convenience store security cameras … usually in a police report or plea for citizen help … and the videos are colorless, grainy and lack detail to see the action…
Video For Operations – Speed Reveals
Typical manufacturing and business operations involve a huge range of independent activities. One of the key differences between the various activities is the way in which they unfold over time … their speed and timing. Sad to say, our traditional…
Video for Operations – The Cost Lines are Crossing!
In previous blog articles, I advocated using video monitoring technology in standard production operations. In writing these notes, I often wondered why this hasn’t happened already? The opportunity and benefits seem obvious and the costs are reasonable. I never found…
Manufacturing needs a Time Machine – Seriously!
Factories need time machines! It would be really cool if a quality manager could go back in time and watch how (ultimately) defective units were made … their actual journey through production. It might help the maintenance engineer to watch a (later…
Industry 4.0 MUST have video … for management
As previous posts have argued, I believe that manufacturing and logistics operations are grossly under-utilizing video technology in their operations. I believe there are many easy wins if you apply standard video surveillance technology to manufacturing and logistics processes. However,…