Ojala Estonia OÜ is an Estonian sheet metal components manufacturer. They are a subsidiary of the Finnish Ojala Group. Due to the economic effects of the coronavirus, Ojala Estonia OÜ started to seek clients on its own. Previously they focused mainly on subcontracting. Around 75% of the company’s clients come from energy production/electrical networks, 20% from manufacturing, and 5% from healthcare. They have a ~4,000m2 production plant in Tabasalu, Harjumaa.
The plant site houses the entire manufacturing cycle. Beginning with the production of components to powder coating. Alongside that, almost 100 employees are currently working there. Ojala Estonia OÜ’s main target markets are Scandinavia, Finland and Estonia.
GOALS
Derek Vaide, manager of Ojala Estonia OÜ, turned to GlobalReader in 2019. With the intention to improve the efficiency of manufacturing processes through data collection. “You can only improve what you measure”, Vaide explains the decision. The best solution for Ojala Estonia OÜ was worked out in collaboration with the team at GlobalReader. Taking into account Ojala Estonia OÜ needs and purpose of the measuring. At first, measuring devices were attached to many more machines than was actually necessary. But soon turned out that it is possible to reach the goal by using fewer devices. However, since GlobalReader offers a monthly fee, removing extra hardware was not a problem for either party.The machines that remained equipped, the data received from there was consciously observed. The significant focus went for analysing the machine’s efficiency thoroughly. “It is important to analyse the interruptions, to figure out why and how often they come about. After that, take conscious steps to shorten, reduce or eliminate them,” Vaide says while clarifying his management principles. GlobalReader’s solution provides the manager with real-time information about whatever is going on on the shop floor. With that comes the possibility to react instantly and on time.
THE CHANGE
Introducing innovation can be a little complicated in any company. Despite the field of activity or size of the business. Even more so, if the innovation consists of additional control over the work of employees. Resistance is bound to take place. To prevent this kind of in-house conflict, Indrek Jaal, the manager of GlobalReader recommends avoiding the collection of too much data at first. “Identifying one or two bottlenecks is a good place to start with,” he suggests. It can take some time to collect and analyse the data. Along with locating and removing the bottlenecks. But, as soon as the staff has experienced that first success story, company culture will start to change. Alongside that, resistance among employees will decrease. More monitoring devices are possible to progressively add on the other machines if needed. It will give the employees time to get used to the idea of being monitored in real-time by their managers.
Improving the company work culture was one of the main objectives why Ojala Estonia OÜ decided to start using monitoring devices. “If the real-time data shows that machines start to produce less or even switch off before the end of the shift – it is something to think about, for the employees as well. Is this the kind of performance their employer is really expecting from them,” says Ojala Estonia OÜ’s manager Derek Vaide.
GlobalReader software & hardware combination creates a unique real-time data based online eco-system to monitor and plan factories production. If you also would like to have insight into your manufacturing processes and gain 30% rise in efficiency –
Request Proof of Concept (30-days free) here:
https://globalreader.eu/machine/
