by Gary Mintchell | Aug 2, 2024 | Manufacturing IT, Operations Management, Productivity
How refreshing to talk to a true evangelist of American manufacturing. While I believe in international cooperation and market expansion, I recognize that as long as we have countries those countries will need a solid manufacturing base to survive.
The other day I received a pitch about a new company in the US trying to bring digital solutions to manufacturing—from small to large enterprises. This led to a conversation with Ryan Kuhlenbeck, CEO of Pico MES. His enthusiasm and evangelical fervor was a refreshing change from the usual corporate conversation. That was beyond even just a sales pitch.
Let’s set the stage. Human errors cause 80% of manufacturing defects, impacting employee retention, slowing efficiency & costing the industry $1T. On the brink of a huge labor shortage, factories need solutions that reduce headaches while improving quality standards.
Bosch-backed factory floor tech Pico MES is digitizing, error-proofing & increasing efficiency for the small/mid-sized factories (98% of the industry) at the heart of the American supply chain & providing a blueprint for how to transform our factories.
Ryan has worked at GM and Tesla. He told me that Elon drove an emphasis on data, something that he brings to his new company. He wants to fill the gap between enterprise and supply chain software.
The MES in the company name basically tells prospective customers that Pico’s application resides between the control/HMI layer and the ERP layer. He told me that their MES is bottom up rather than top down. They don’t try to use the complex integration of ISA 95. That requires too much custom code (and I’d add, too many consultants).
The Pico MES no code application (a recent theme) builds on a library of tools used in discrete manufacturing. The library is a digitization of all the information relevant to the tool. (Another thing he learned from Elon—the more digitizing, the better.) As they talk with prospects, “We see a lot of paper,” says Ryan.
Pico provides process workflows, worker guidance, traceability. The library includes videos to assist training and setup. The goal is to minimize setup and maximize work. The software is built on modularity for ease of use. Pico’s customers range from 6-person shops to large manufacturers—including some who manufacture semi-trucks.
Nothing theoretical here. All nitty-gritty shop floor tested systems.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 19, 2024 | News, Personal Development, Productivity, Workforce
- • ResumeTemplates.com Survey Finds ChatGPT Helps 4 in 10 Users Get Raises, as Workers’ Fears of AI Fizzle
- Workers report that ChatGPT helps them save time, complete tasks more efficiently, and increase their productivity
Everyone performs surveys these days. This company would not normally hit my radar. ResumeTemplates (think CV, not beginning again) provides a platform for free professional resume templates and examples. It recently surveyed 1,666 employees in the United States in order to determine the extent of usefulness or fear of Large Language Model (LLM) AI. Namely they questioned use of ChatGPT.
600 of the 1,666 reported using ChatGPT at least once a month. The survey is based on results of these 600.
According to the survey, 36 percent of workers use ChatGPT at least once a month at work. Specifically, 22 percent use it daily, 12 percent weekly, and 2 percent monthly. Workers primarily use ChatGPT to summarize documents, summarize topics, and write emails. Other common uses include brainstorming, interpreting data, writing articles or content, and translating text.
These types of results often drive my skepticism meter toward red, but they are interesting. Define saving time…
These ChatGPT users claim the AI tool has helped them save time at work. Notably, 16 percent of workers report saving one to two hours per week, 22 percent save three to four hours, and 30 percent save five to eight hours. Additionally, 11 percent save nine to 10 hours, and 18 percent save more than 10 hours per week. With the time saved, 94 percent of respondents say they reinvest “all” or “some” of that time back into the company.
“Workers report that ChatGPT assists them in completing assignments more quickly and delivering higher quality results,” says ResumeTemplates’ executive resume writer and career coach Andrew Stoner. This combination creates a win-win scenario for employers and workers, and I believe signals an eagerness on the part of workers to learn and adapt to new technology.”
Survey findings also suggest a significant impact of ChatGPT on respondents’ professional careers. In fact, 38 percent report earning a raise as a result of using ChatGPT. Furthermore, workers say ChatGPT has led to faster task completion, increased productivity, reduced stress levels, and enhanced problem-solving capabilities. Looking ahead, workers believe ChatGPT will continue to benefit their careers by helping them secure promotions, raises, more advanced roles, and better job offers.
View the complete report.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 12, 2024 | Productivity
A longtime media contact wrote that she had a new gig. Unlike most media people who contact me over the past few years, she actually knows what I cover. But this new company had never been on my radar. In fact, the entire category had not been on my radar. The category is document management, in this case specifically eSignatures.
I love eSignatures. The healthcare app uses them when I go through the pre-visit questionnaire. These save time and grief.
This company is called Foxit. It has been cruising under the radar since startup and has decided it’s time for a public unveiling. Especially for a distributed workforce, their plans streamline document workflows, ensuring global compliance, and integrating seamlessly with existing tools like Google Workspace and Salesforce. These plans offer cost-effective, secure, and legally binding solutions, simplifying contract signing, payment collection, and compliance management.
Foxit announced launch of two new eSignature subscription plans: Foxit eSign Essentials and Foxit eSign Business. These new offerings cater to the unique needs of individual users and enterprises, providing comprehensive solutions for efficient and legally binding document workflows.
Both plans include global compliance settings, simplified document tracking, robust automation, integrations with popular platforms, payment collection, notary services, and advanced workflow tools.
“Foxit has introduced a revolutionary new plan for their eSign service, emphasizing unmatched transparency and value,” said Susana De Abrew, CSO at Foxit. “This ‘all-you-can-eat’ plan offers unlimited envelopes and templates, alongside the complete suite of advanced workflows and compliance features, all without hidden costs. This unique approach ensures that users can fully leverage Foxit eSign’s capabilities without worrying about additional charges, setting it apart from other eSign solutions currently available on the market.”
Foxit eSign Essentials includes reusable templates for collecting legally binding signatures and Foxit Pay, allowing signers to complete agreements and make payments seamlessly.
Foxit eSign Business features unlimited envelopes and templates, tracking, reminders, notary services, signature certificates, and Foxit Pay. It also includes global compliance features, API access, and advanced workflows, ensuring a comprehensive and flexible document management experience.
Foxit just published a blog on this subject titled, “Employee Remote Job Seeking Is Going Up: Here’s How PDF and eSign Tools Can Help,” written by Symphony Ragan, Content Planner, Foxit.
The shift toward remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic was unprecedented, and the trend shows little sign of reversing. As organizations transition to a predominantly remote workforce, efficient digital solutions have become indispensable. PDF and eSign tools, in particular, have proven essential for businesses across numerous sectors.
Remote and distributed work contribute to several situations that management may not have planned for. Secure document handling may have been one.
These technologies are crucial in maintaining productivity, ensuring secure document handling, and streamlining workflows. Businesses focused on growth must understand how PDF and eSign tools integrate into the broader context of remote work, recognize their advantages, and examine the options.
A few benefits:
Users may easily generate, edit, and distribute documents thanks to powerful tools such as Foxit PDF Editor. This software provides a comprehensive collection of functionality, such as text editing, annotation, and form filling, all required for any remote work configuration.
For example, remote workers in the manufacturing industry must manage various documents, including contracts, project plans, reports, and presentations. PDF solutions make these files more accessible and customizable, saving time on administrative procedures and allowing staff to focus on their primary responsibilities.
Pick your tools:
With the increased demand for remote and hybrid work solutions, selecting the appropriate PDF and eSign tools is critical. While Adobe has long been popular, rivals such as Foxit PDF Editor and Foxit eSign provide robust capabilities at affordable prices.
Get a free trial of Foxit PDF Editor and eSign today to keep your remote and hybrid work on track.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 4, 2024 | Productivity
Gray work is all that administrative busy work that we become entwined within. Tasks such as updating Excel spreadsheets or finding data somewhere.
This LinkedIn page as a bit of parody has fun with a company enamored with this gray work. It would be enough to make Cal Newport run for cover. (Author of Slow Productivity)
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 2, 2024 | Automation, Process Control, Productivity, Software, Sustainability
Fero Labs has developed software to help certain types of process manufacturing plants improve quality output economically when given a random mix of feedstock. I wrote about the company last August—A Better Way to Control Process Quality.
They sent a new press release, and I must admit that I understood almost nothing in it:
Fero Labs, the only Profitable Sustainability Platform for industrial optimization, announced the release of their ground-breaking feature ‘ExplainIt for Live Predictions’ which expands a factory’s production knowledge in real-time. This advanced feature for cross-functional teams increases trust in AI predictions by disclosing real-time text explanations about abnormal factors influencing their live production.
There were way too many marketing-type phrases in there. Worst of all was the concept of “trust in AI predictions.” So, I asked the very patient publicist. She suggested that I talk with Berk Birand, Fero Labs Co-founder and CEO. And, I did. He was most helpful.
We caught up from my last article about their ability to use the huge data sets manufacturers have accumulated over the past decade using advanced statistical methods and “white box machine learning (ML)” to help engineers optimize their plants. Make them more profitable and reduce waste (sustainability). Therefore the “Profitable Sustainability” company.
Birand took me through an example that I could understand, since I had a customer in the 90s who did this sort of process.
Imagine a plant with piles of scrap steel in a yard. They have an electric arc furnace that melts all that disparate steel that will be poured out eventually to make their final product. Given that the feedstock has high variability as to the composition of the steel, the typical plant overdesigns the process to allow for variations. This, of course, is wasteful on the surface. But if the final chemical analysis shows that the output will not make the desired tensile strength or other spec, then the waste is even higher.
What if you accumulated the data (feedstock, process, finished steel) over time built a modern AI model? Its predictions could be used to drive profits, reduce waste, save time. But, would anyone trust yet another advanced process control system? We all know that models eventually goes out of whack sometimes and sometimes gets the wrong answer.
Here comes the “trust” part of the trust in AI model. They built an explainable model from the beginning. It can predict characteristics, say tensile strength of the mix because of chromium or carbon levels and so forth. Since we know that every model is wrong sometimes, they built in confidence levels in the prediction engine. Their AI looks at the material composition and suggests adding chemicals to the mix, but it gives an explanation and a confidence level. The engineer looks at the confidence report (I am confident in this prediction or I’m not confident in this prediction) and can decide whether to go with the AI or to go with gut feel based on years of experience.
He convinced me. Fero Labs has developed an AI engine that gives the engineer a level of trust in the prediction.
More explanation from the press release:
Expanding on Fero Labs’ white-box ML, which provides full transparency of Fero’s powerful machine learning models, the new ExplainIt feature provides a contextual explanation of anomalous factors involved in each live production optimization.
This type of analysis is typically addressed through linear Root Cause Analysis (RCA) tools. Unlike traditional methods, Fero Labs’ solution is non-linear, much like process operations, and delivers results in seconds rather than the hours or days typically needed. Traditional methods generally require the engineer to preselect a small sample of factors to investigate, which can introduce potentially misleading biases. Fero Labs’ software has the power to evaluate all relevant factors which improves insight and prediction accuracy.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 14, 2024 | Personal Development, Productivity
Are you the type of person who is known for getting things done? Is yours the first name that comes to mind when someone in the organization needs a report written or a light bulb replaced? Is “no” a seldom used part of your vocabulary?
In other words, do you always feel busy yet not accomplishing the work that would most boost your career or inner peace?
When you feel the need to focus on the things that really matter needing a way to say “no” more—or better stop being the name everyone thinks of first—then you need to dive into Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport (author of Deep Work, A World Without Email, Digital Minimalism, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, and more).
We know what productivity is relating to our production and manufacturing plants. But knowledge-worker productivity cannot be readily defined.
Influenced through reading about the Slow Food movement in Italy, Newport thought about how our decades long obsession with productivity has led to what he calls pseudo-productivity—busy-ness just for the sake of appearing to be, well, busy.
He will show you a few calendar tricks to help you say “no” or at least something like “I’d be glad to help if you see where on my calendar I could get to it.”
How do I get to Slow Productivity?
- Do Fewer Things.
- Work at a Natural Pace.
- Obsess over Quality.
If you do what you’re supposed to do and do it well, how can anyone complain?
