Workflows: Triggers – MachineMetrics

Introduction

Workflows offer a powerful way to add automation to your factory floor. By configuring triggers and actions, you can make sure the right people or systems have the right information at the right time to take action and optimize production.

Workflows include a trigger that drives a specific action. This article will focus on the different Triggers that you can choose from in MachineMetrics. To learn more about Actions, check out this article: Workflows 101: Actions.

Learn more about Workflows here.

How to get there:

Login to MachineMetrics > Automations > Select Workflows > from this page you can create a new Workflow or edit an existing one.

Topics covered in this article

There are a variety of different Trigger types you can choose from when configuring a Workflow:

Alarm Occurs
Downtime Categorized
Machine Reports Inactive
Scheduled
Enter Activity
Leaves Activity
Operator Triggers Manually
Condition Monitor

Below, we go into more detail about each of these Triggers and how you can use them to automate portions of your factory. After selecting Triggers, you will select the Action(s) that you wish to trigger.

1. Alarm Occurs

This Trigger is based on an Alarm Code that occurs on your machine(s) that are selected for this Workflow.

Alarm Code:

Is Equal To: An alarm code that is equal to what contains in this field

Starts With: An alarm code that starts with specific letters/numbers. For example, if you input code "tm" any alarms that have "tm1, tm2, tm3" will trigger the action.

Contains: An alarm code that contains letters/numbers.

2. Downtime Categorized

When the Downtime Categorized As Trigger is selected, you then select the specific downtime category you would like to apply this Workflow to.

How manufacturers use this Trigger: This Trigger is great for downtime categories that may require maintenance or additional personnel to help an Operator. The Operator categorizing the downtime as the selected reason can be configured to trigger a notification or incident to make sure the right person knows about the issue.

3. Machine Reports Inactive

Choosing this trigger requires that you input a bit more information, as outlined below:

Delay/Minutes of Downtime: In this field, you will enter the number of minutes of downtime that must pass before the Workflow is triggered. Enter 0 to trigger the alarm immediately when the downtime event starts.
Operations are scheduled: Selecting this checkbox will only trigger the downtime Workflow if the downtime event occurs when a job is scheduled to be running on the machine.
Shifts to Monitor: Select the checkbox associated with each shift that you want to apply to the Workflow. At least one shift must be selected.

4. Scheduled

A Scheduled trigger will automatically trigger an Action based on the time and day selected.

5. Enter Activity

An Enter Activity trigger will allow you to choose an Activity is entered from the drop-down below. These Activities include:

Job Setup
Job Production
Any Activity

6. Leaves Activity

A Leaves Activity trigger will allow you to choose an Activity that is ended from the drop-down below. These Activities include:

Job Setup
Job Production
Any Activity

7. Operator Triggers Manually

A manually triggered workflow to initiate an action based on the configuration

How manufacturers use this Trigger: This Trigger is great for events that may require maintenance or additional personnel to help an Operator at their machine. An Operator can manually trigger a notification or incident based on the configuration without leaving their machine unattended to make sure the right person knows about an issue, send a call for help, request materials or other events as desired.

8. Condition Monitor

*Condition Monitor Triggers are only available when targeting an individual machine

A workflow triggered when a monitored data item reaches a specified threshold. To setup a Condition Monitor trigger, select the data item you want to monitor, then set the threshold conditions.

How manufacturers use this Trigger: One key use case of this trigger is the ability to track when a machine's feedrate override drops below a certain % value.

Have Questions?

Reach out to our Support Team at support@machinemetrics.com.