Introduction

The ability to create a hierarchy for Downtime Reasons with Parent reasons followed by Subcategories allows more granularity in reporting downtime events. This article explores where you can set these up and how they will appear in the Operator Dashboard. 

Topics covered in this article

• Getting Started
  • Adding multiple layers within your hierarchy 
  • Adding Downtime Categories while Using Machine Groups
• Using the Downtime Hierarchies in the Operator Dashboard 

Getting Started

First, navigate to Settings by clicking Settings in the sidebar navigation and select Downtimes.  Under Downtime Categories, you will be able to manage the parent and subcategories for downtime categories.

If you choose Add Category, you will be able to add more downtime reasons using the parent | subcategory format.  You also have the option to dictate the Behavior when this category is selected.

You will notice the separation of the parent and subcategory by a pipe (|), which associates the parent category with the subcategory(s), example:  Inspection | Calibration.  You can create any number of subcategories under each parent category, but each will require its own Downtime Reason be added as an individual entry. To use the pipe (|), find it on the key with the backslash (\) on your keyboard. 

Adding multiple layers within your hierarchy 

In order to add multiple layers to your hierarchy, you can use the same structure and add additional subcategories. For example, you could use the following structure to create multiple layers in your hierarchy: 

Tool | Complete Break | End of Life

Tool | Complete Break | Rework

Tool | Chipped | End of Life

Tool | Chipped | Rework

The above would list Tool as the parent category with second layer sub-categories Complete Break and Chipped, and third-level sub-categories End of Life and Re-work for each of the second layer sub-categories. 

Adding Downtime Categories while Using Machine Groups

If you have set up any Machine Groups, the new downtime categories you create will not be available or selectable for any machines within a group until you add them to the machine group's unique settings.

Using the Downtime Hierarchies in the Operator Dashboard 

When a downtime event is triggered, Operators will receive a notification in the lower right corner of the operator dashboard. Operators will then have the option to categorize the downtime. 

Operator Dashboard

After choosing to categorize the event, the Operator will be presented with the Parent categories, shown below. 

If there are subcategories associated with the Parent category selected, those will be presented on the next screen. 

Once the parent and any subcategories are selected, the Operator will arrive at the Planned or Unplanned selection screen.  On this screen, the user will be able to see the Parent category and all subcategories listed at the top, as shown below.

Categorizing downtime in a hierarchical manner allows for more fine-tuned information which will also be represented in reports.  For example:  Rather than having all tool-related downtime categorized as Tooling, they can be further defined as Tool Change, Broken Tool, etc.  For more information about the Downtime Report, please click here.

If you encounter any problems or have questions regarding downtime categories and hierarchy please reach out to us at support@machinemetrics.com.