Tag Archive for: productivity

Preventative Maintenance

Caddis Systems is the perfect system to ensure your business avoids unplanned downtime by using data to address potential problems prior to machine failure. Caddis comes equipped with discrete inputs and a type-k thermocouple port out of the box while the 0-10v analog input allows for a variety of off the shelf sensors to be integrated.

 

Machine Monitoring

Temperature monitoring allows the user to control process parameters or monitor machine health while analog input is user-configurable. All the data is streamed to the user dashboard for monitoring, and multiple digital outputs allow for visual/audible alarms to be fired.

 

The system can be set up in minutes:

• Power up device
• Connect device to network
• Provide input signal
• Log into dashboard
• Start monitoring facility

 

Preventative maintenance is all about being prepared. Caddis has been used in a wide variety of applications to allow businesses to stay running and keep their equipment in excellent working order which decreases capital expenses and increases revenue.

 

Current Caddis Preventative Maintenance Applications:
• Coolant Pumps
• HVAC Systems
• Packaging Conveyors
• Mining Conveyors
• Boilers
• Compressors
• CNC’s
• Plastic Molding Machines
• Rolling Machines

 

The cost to integrate Caddis Systems into your company is minimal when compared to the lost revenue due to machine shutdown.

Below is a cost breakdown:
Device Cost: $1,500 per device (one time)
Data Storage & R&D Cost: $200 (per year)

 

Contact us to request a free demo! 

 

Remote Facility and Warehouse Monitoring

 

If you need to monitor the HVAC systems, boilers, air compressors, and any other piece of equipment at large warehouses or storage facilities, Caddis is the perfect machine monitoring system. Caddis connects directly to these machines to allow you a view of one facility or an entire network of facilities. You will have real-time data displayed in an intuitive dashboard that indicates if your machines are fully functioning and what the temperature is at each location.

 

Find out more about this trial by clicking here.

If a machine shuts down or violates a pre-set threshold, you will immediately be notified by text or email. There are also multiple digital outputs that allow for visual/audible alarms to be fired when thresholds are exceeded for those facilities that may have staff on-site.

 


Take advantage of trialing Caddis Systems at your location or multiple locations for one month at no cost. During the trial phase, you will receive all the support you need to fully integrate Caddis into your environment and feel confident that your assets are protected.


The system can be set up in minutes:

  • Power up device
  • Connect device to network
  • Provide input signal
  • Log into dashboard
  • Start monitoring facility

 

The cost to integrate Caddis Systems into your company is minimal when compared to the lost revenue due to machine shutdown. Below is a cost breakdown.

Device Cost: $1,500 per device (one time)

Data Storage & R&D Cost: $200 (per year)

Work Place Distractions

10 Workplace Distractions And How to Manage

As we slowly transition back to our offices and “new normal”, we’ll need to once again get used to working around and with other people. We were finally getting into the groove of working from home and managing our pet, kids, and spouse distractions, and now we are heading back to the workplace!

Below are some tips on how to better manage workplace distractions in a bustling environment, and it always comes back to productivity!  Here are 10 workplace distractions:

  1. Email
  2. Office Phones
  3. Smart Phones
  4. People Stopping By Office or Cubicle (complainers, gossipers, chatty)
  5. “Watercooler Chat”
  6. Social Media
  7. Meetings
  8. Too Many Bosses
  9. Report Redundancy
  10. The “Too Many Question” Guy

 

Not every suggestion below applies to every workplace environment, nor will it apply to every situation. Some may be required to constantly monitor email, answer phone calls, or speak with guests and customers. But, by doing just a few of these tips below will help everyone be more productive and successful in completing their work. The number suggestion I actively take part in is The Pomodoro method.

 

  • The Pomodoro “tomato timer” method
    • Work in 25-minute increments on only one task. Set a timer. When the timer goes off, take a short break and resume again with another 25-minute increment. Do not multi-task, one task only. This has worked wonderfully for many people by helping them stay focused, and producing more quality work.  If you chose to do any of these ideas on reducing workplace distraction, I like the Pomodoro Method.

 

  • Close down your email and check only once per hour, not every time a notification dings on your computer or smartphone.

 

  • The same goes for social media. Only check at designated times, don’t have social media tabs open on your desktop or smartphone for easy access. It’s too tempting and is distracting to have social media tabs open all day.

 

  • If you are not required to answer the phone as a core function of your job, i.e. you aren’t the info desk, put your phone on Do Not Disturb (DND) while working on one focused task.

 

  • Close your office door for a few hours each day, close the blinds, and state “out of office” or “do not disturb”. Sometimes folks don’t pay attention to the door sign so I opt for the “I’m not in the office” option.

 

workplace distraction

  • Don’t engage in gossip and meaningless chit-chat. This is doesn’t say “don’t be social”. Simply stop engaging with this type of conversation, and people will stop approaching you with trivial information. Again, socializing is a good thing at work. But how you socialize matters.

 

  • Block out chunks of time on your shared Outlook calendar. This will motivate you 1) work on these tasks during these designated times and 2) lets others know you wish not to be disturbed during these timeframes.

 

  • Take a short walk one time per hour. This means, get away from your desk! At a minimum, stand up at taking some deep breaths. Getting some fresh air, I promise, will help you to think more clearly.

 

  • Don’t take work home with you at night. Sometimes, this is unavoidable. But it’s my experience if I don’t take a break from thinking about work-related projects and tasks, I do not perform optimally. Sometimes the best ideas come up when you aren’t thinking of those 101 things you have to do!

 

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the luxury of an administrative assistant who can screen our calls, answer our emails, and intercept the “stop by”. By being proactive and setting some boundaries with the tips above you’re sure to see an uptick in your productivity and overall job satisfaction, and less distraction in your daily work life!

Tips For Successfully Working From Home

 

 

machine monitoring system

Have a routine. Get up and get going. Take that shower, do your workout, and get dressed for work! It’s so tempting to stay in your sweat pants and just roll out of bed to your laptop. Trust me when I say you’ll feel better, be more productive, and have more energy if you stick with a routine. It helps to get into a groove and be in “work mode” at the same time, every day.

 

Designate your own workspace. It’s hard, I know! But do try to find a small corner of your home to designate as your own, for your work only. I have a friend that uses her closet! She claims it helps with acoustics and noise while on calls, and her family will leave her alone. Everyone needs to be able to walk away from their work as it’s easy to start the bad habit of work and home blending into one. Designate your space and keep to that space for work only.

 

Have the right tools in place. Depending on your type of business, different software and tools can help you to stay organized and efficient. Zoom is a hit for connecting with co-workers; if you’re not Zooming, you aren’t connecting! CRM systems and ERP software are essential in keeping organized with sales and prospects, especially while working remotely. If your business is manufacturing, Caddis offers the best system for remote machine monitoring with real-time alerts.

 

For more info on how Caddis can help your company please contact us

 

Establish a start and stop times. Some of us have this automatically built into our day. For example, if you are in support services you will log in to your phones and system at 8:00 AM and log off at 5:00 PM. Done. But for others, like my friend who is a college recruiter, start and stop times are not always set in stone. It’s crucial you define your working hours, especially if you have a family in quarantine with you. Establishing your designated work hours will help you from working more than you should, and help you set good, healthy boundaries.

 

Machine Monitoring

Handle interruptions before they start. Working from home you would think your interruptions would be less. Not true during quarantine! Especially if your spouse and kids are in lockdown with you. The kids are hungry, the dogs need to go outside, and your spouse wants your attention to watch another YouTube clip, all before 8:45 AM. You need a plan in place for handling interruptions, otherwise, you won’t get your work done! Set clear expectations for who and when your family can interrupt your work. It will help you all manage the day so much better.

 

Everyone has the same struggles when it comes to working at home during quarantine and “shelter in place” orders. We are all trying to find ways to manage our work-life balance in this unprecedented time. The tips above revolve around routine, productivity, and communication. Do your best each day to manage expectations, and don’t be afraid to invest in tools that will help you be successful while working remotely.

Achieve Work-Life Balance With Caddis’ Machine Monitoring System

We’ve all heard the buzz term “work-life balance”. What is work-life balance, and what does a machine monitoring system have to do with it?

Work Life Balance

 

Work-life balance means different things to different people and industries. To some, it means having time for family and friends. To others, it means having a flexible work schedule or the ability to work from home. And still, to others, it means not taking work home at night and not checking emails at all hours. It means maintaining boundaries.

 

The idea of work-life balance is similar to what Caddis can do for machines; taking care of monitoring efficiency and productivity for each machine. Any machine in any industry is eligible for use with our system. Let us show you how!  Most people don’t want to be plugged into their job 24/7, and investment in a machine monitoring system for businesses gives peace of mind; it gives the necessity to be constantly plugged is in the past!

 

Machine Monitoring System Helps Achieve Work-Life Balance

With the country currently practicing social distancing, having the ability to monitor productivity off-site, is yet another reason investing in a real-time remote monitoring system like Caddis can benefit your business!  Caddis’ System alerts are sent when critical issues arise, which are customized for each customer and business need. No longer does one need to worry about human error, data is continually recorded for historical observation, or can be monitored in real-time too.

 

Caddis is cloud-based, so having to be on-site to monitor machines and productivity is no longer an issue! Simple and quick alerts are sent, or, just check-in and monitor the machines’ data in real-time. All of this allows for the freedom of work-life balance. For more information on what Caddis machine monitoring system can do for your business, click here and we’ll be in touch! 

Who is CADDIS?

Machine Monitoring

Caddis Systems evolved out of necessity. The system’s concept was hatched to become a leading innovator in machine monitoring software and utilization.

We observed a growing need for real-time data monitoring to help businesses collect quality data to increase productivity. The “old” model of machine monitoring is dependent upon human and manual observations, which creates a lag-time in communication and can be inaccurate.

In addition to productivity and efficiency, critical issues need to be addressed in the present, not after the fact. This prompted our investment in creating an affordable, durable, and reliable machine monitoring system.

 

So, where does the name “Caddis” come from?

The name Caddis was initially inspired by a type of fly that is used in fly fishing. The founder of Caddis, Andy Moore, saw the similarities between how the Caddis fly is attracted to light, similar to how the Caddis device can pull a signal from a stack light, and how its’ wings beating can represent the cycle times of a machine.

 

It also makes a pretty cool logo that combines nature with manufacturing!  

 

Contact us for more info or to request a demo! and to learn more about our machine monitoring software!

 

 

Machine Preventative Maintenance

 The Caddis device is capturing each machine cycle, as well as sending temperature data with alarms set “on” to send text/email if the temperature exceeds 140 degrees. The devices that are attached to the machines, and sending this data, are very robust, easy to integrate, and easy to scale throughout a facility which may have a variety of types/vintages of machines. 

Give us a call or click here to contact us for more info! 

 

machine monitoring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holiday Machine Monitoring

With the holidays upon us and staff schedules changing, it’s very important your production environment remains efficient. With the Caddis Machine Monitoring System, you have the ability to monitor one machine, one department or your entire operation from any device. Everyone needs a vacation to recharge and spend quality time with friends and family so spending time in front of any screen for extended periods of time kind of defeats the purpose of a vacation. Caddis gives you the ability to quickly view your machine up-time dashboard while relaxing on a warm beach or sitting in front of a toasty fire. Knowing that your machines are running will give you the reassurance you need to fully enjoy a much deserved vacation.

Caddis Machine Monitoring

Holiday Up-time Monitoring

Measuring Machine Up-time by Measuring Conveyor Speed

Monitoring a machine’s up-time can be extremely valuable data when analyzing the overall utilization of your production environment. However, this can be extremely difficult when your machine is technically running all day but at different rates . CADDIS Systems recently encountered this hurdle while working with a packaging company in Wisconsin. Our customer is a leader in creating all types of packaging such as corrugated, honeycomb and other specialty packaging products. Our customer had a number of conveyors throughout their numerous facilities that ran from the beginning of the day until the end of the day without stopping. Our customer was interested in better understanding machine up- hashtagconveyors hashtagproduction time as well as the speed of the machine. By leveraging the analog input built into the Caddis device, we were able to transform the output signal from the existing VFD (variable frequency drive) driving the conveyor into a ft/min metric that could then be monitored to finally give this company the data they needed to increase their productivity and operations management. This is one example of how CADDIS Systems stands behind its message of being able to monitor Any Machine, Anytime, Anywhere and on Any Device.

CADDIS Case Study – Jim Cole – Production Manager

Jim Cole is a Production Manager with LeClaire Manufacturing and has been utilizing the CADDIS device for the past two years. Jim currently has CADDIS monitoring  Permanent Mold, Sinto, CNC’s and Shot Blasting machines throughout his department.  CADDIS has helped Jim increase overall productivity and better manage  start times, cycle times, up-time and overall machine utilization.

CADDIS Machine Monitoring

Monitoring machines in aluminum casting foundry.