In order to further optimize their own production and remain competitive, machine data in particular plays an increasingly important role. However, capturing this data can quickly become complicated—especially when companies decide to completely rebuild entire IT or IoT systems to digitalize their shop floor. Such projects are usually very complex, take a long time, and can incur high costs—success is not guaranteed.

For this reason, many companies choose to collect machine data manually using job tickets or shift handover protocols and digitalize it via Excel. There are various tools on the market designed to simplify this process. Nevertheless, the machine data collection (MDE) with Excel has its pitfalls.

What you need for machine data collection and why it fails with Excel

Generally, the evaluation of machine data involves four components:

Connectivity

The networking using an open protocol enables your machines to transfer data to other machines and IT systems. In the case of Excel, connectivity is achieved by copying values from the HMI.

Data Preparation

Correctly configured units and standardized naming convert confusing variables into usable and clearly understandable data. This is done via the column names in Excel.

Data Storage

Corresponding IT solutions make your prepared machine data accessible long-term, securely, and centrally. When using Excel, Excel becomes the “database.”

Data Utilization

You can analyze the captured and prepared data using suitable tools and use it to optimize your production. How exactly this works can be found in this article. More information about what exactly you need for the evaluation of machine data and what you should pay attention to when choosing the right software can be found in this article. 

If you rely on Excel for evaluating and capturing machine data, you may get the necessary information, but you do not work sustainably: If you want to repeat or change a specific evaluation, you start from scratch every time. Moreover, this method can only be done retrospectively, as the data is often several days old, meaning errors or disturbances in production cannot be fixed immediately. You therefore spend more time preparing the data than on the resulting optimization of production.

Ultimately, machine data collection via Excel does provide a cost-effective and low-threshold solution, but it is also extremely cumbersome. And it hits its limits, especially when it comes to MDE across multiple machines or locations. 

Machine Data Collection: Excel vs. ENLYZE

In the search for a good alternative to machine data collection and evaluation via Excel, many companies hesitate to digitalize their shop floor: Often this means a project to retrofit the MDE, which involves having to set up an entire IT project, including new IoT systems. Such projects often cost a lot of time and money and are very complex—and according to a survey by Microsoft, only about half of them lead to success. 

A simpler solution is offered by the Manufacturing Data Platform from ENLYZE, which enables even older and mixed machinery to be fully digitalized in less than two weeks. For this purpose, we establish connectivity to all relevant data sources, handle the entire integration at our customers' sites, and ensure that all data flows. The effort for IT in the company only consists of securely integrating our edge devices into the network. Additionally, we take care of the entire data infrastructure—our customers can focus on analyzing their machine data.

The machine data is then stored in a central location and enriched with order and product data to automatically calculate relevant metrics or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the background. Through the ENLYZE app, we also provide ready-made applications for production monitoring, OEE management, reproducibility and performance enhancement, as well as traceability and process auditing right away. This way, you can not only capture and store your data but also immediately use it in concrete applications and start your analysis. With traditional solutions, it takes months to reach this point.

Those who want to use their machine data for further applications can easily complement our platform and app through interfaces and integrations with other tools—it is designed openly to prevent the creation of data silos. For example, it is possible to return relevant data to the ERP system, create reports and analyses in business intelligence tools like PowerBI, or create their own dashboards in Grafana—or develop entirely custom tools and visualization options.

Digitally Capture and Process Machine Data

The capture and processing of machine data in manufacturing is now almost essential. Retrofitting an appropriate solution can quickly become costly and time-consuming. While MDE via Excel offers a low-threshold and cost-effective alternative, it often does not lead to success in the long term: This method is also time-consuming and does not offer nearly the possibilities that fully digital solutions provide. With ENLYZE's Manufacturing Data Platform, companies benefit from a low-threshold solution without lengthy IT projects that nonetheless digitalize the entire shop floor within a few weeks.