Help and Documentation

Resources

• Introduction
• Data Flow and Hierarchy
• Walk-Through Video
• Getting Started Guide
• Contact Support

Introduction

Tool Life is an end-to-end system for machining.

Purpose:

• To continuously drive process adherence, analytics, and optimization
• To facilitate cross-functional transparency, collaboration, and feedback between
  Sales ⇆ Engineering ⇆ Management ⇆ Production
• To enable training, monitoring, and reporting

Mission:

• To maximize the benefits of a cloud-based, integrated system while minimizing data entry time
• To support rather than replace the art of machining
• To provide a complete picture in a single platform

Concept: Sales works with engineers on quotes and with production managers on orders. Engineers work with operators on parts, tooling, and process. With the help of automatic sensors and trackers, operators log production data at their machines. Then the production data loops back to engineers, production managers, and sales. Repeat.

Walk-Through Video (8:49)

Getting Started Guide

• Load your shop Resources
  • Create Machine Types and Machines to match the shop floor
  • Import or input your data library of Tools
  • Create your Tool Builds from your tool library
  • Document your Shifts
  • Register the Operators who attend the machines
• Create and Track your Sales
  • Import or input your Customers
  • Create Quotes and Estimates for your customers
  • Track the Status of each quote to Won or Lost
• Detail your part Engineering to support both Sales and Production
  • Create the Parts you are actively quoting or manufacturing
  • For each part, document the most recent part Revision, which will contain all aspects of the part and the processes used to make it
  • In the part Revision, document the feature Specifications of the part and the required inspection frequency
  • Lay out the Operations involved in sourcing, manufacturing, and shipping the part
  • For any production/machining operation, input the machine's Tool Setup, Process Sequence, Maintenance Frequency, and Control Limits
  • For each Tool Build in the Tool Setup, set the Tool Life of any perishable Tool
• In Management, manage your Orders (Quotes that have been Won)
  • Create Jobs that organize your Orders into logical chunks, for example, one week of production across five machines
  • For each Job, schedule and prioritize Production sessions to run at Machines
  • Track your Jobs and Orders to completion as parts are logged with your Active production sessions
• Run Production
  • Open a Production tab to interact with an active production session running at a machine
  • Log Tool Changes as the Operator performs them, according to the Tool Life schedule or otherwise
  • Log Offsets whenever the Operator inputs a new or different offset value for the machine
  • Log part Inspections whenever the Operator performs them, whether because of the required schedule or otherwise
  • Log Scrap whenever one of more parts are determined as not meeting specification
  • Log Notes about any observations, status, or actions taken at the machine that could be helpful to document, perhaps for the sake of other operators, management, and engineers
  • Log operator Attendance to accrue labor costs, analyze for trends, and improve resource efficiency
• Leverage the value of Tool Life's Monitoring and Analytics features
  • Monitor all machines in real-time with Tool Life's Dashboard
  • Investigate all logged events and actions with Tool Life's detailed Monitor & Review features
  • Compare daily Summaries of production at either the shop level, the job level, or the machine level
  • Analyze Tool Life from your tool change logs to find opportunities for process improvement, downtime reduction, and cost savings
  • Analyze production data Trends to find correlations and infer causation for regular and unique problems

Questions? Contact us: info@theory168.com