Case study · Iron pole manufacturer · Customer name withheld by request
From whiteboards to a live operating picture — and 15% more throughput.
- Industry
- Iron pole manufacturing
- Scope
- One assembly line
- Platform
- Ignition by Inductive Automation
Results
Line throughput
+15%
Client-reported
Additional annual revenue
$5.3M
Client-reported
Time to find a maintenance part
45 min to 0 min
Client-reported
Maintenance-part stockout rate
2% to 0%
Client-reported
Results reported by the client from a single engagement. Customer name withheld by request. Outcomes vary by application.
Situation
The client, an iron pole manufacturer, runs a single assembly line. An initial WCG review found performance recorded by hand: production counts written on whiteboards each hour, and paper notes left for the next shift. There was no live view of what was happening on the line, and no record of the working life of the equipment on it — how many hours a motor had run, or whether a gearbox was running hot or vibrating abnormally. When something failed, troubleshooting started from zero, and the plant was always reacting.
What changed on the floor
Hourly counts on a whiteboard
Live counts and status at every station
Notes left for the next shift
Alarms with history, so failures carry context
No record of equipment run-time
Operating-life tracking for motors, pneumatics and hydraulics
Hunting for parts
An inventory system that shows what’s on hand and where
Before
After
+15% line throughput · client-reported
System
WCG built a custom SCADA application on Inductive Automation’s Ignition platform. It gave the plant live visibility, reporting, and alarming, and tracked the operating life of motors, pneumatics, and hydraulics at each station. A custom application for the maintenance team and an updated inventory management system put parts, work orders, and equipment history in the same system. An automated reporting system delivered production results to management on its own — nothing extra was asked of the crew, so their time stayed on the line.
What we delivered
Customer-ownedCustomer-owned: code, project files, databases, documentation
Plant floor
- PLCs: Rockwell (Allen-Bradley), Siemens
- Drives
- Sensors
- Existing HMIs
Ignition gateway
- Tags
- Historian
- Alarming
- Reporting
- Scripting
SQL database
Your team uses
- Operator & supervisor screens (desktop, TV, mobile)
- Maintenance & inventory apps
- Automated reports by email
- Private AI assistant (on your infrastructure)
DEMO SYSTEMS
How we build it — the same kinds of screens, on a demo line
Client screens stay private. These are WCG-built Ignition Perspective screens running on a simulated packaging line with simulated data, showing the same capabilities we delivered for this client.
Demo · Simulated dataActual vs. expected cycle time at every station, with fault and delay timers and the current constraint.
Demo · Simulated dataHourly target vs. actual by shift, with variance flags and cause notes — the whiteboard, live.
Demo · Simulated dataRun-hours, life used, vibration and temperature per component — a warning becomes a work order in one click.
Demo · Simulated dataSearch a part, see exactly which bin it’s in, and turn anything below minimum into a reorder request.
Demo screens are WCG-built Ignition Perspective applications running on simulated demo systems (a packaging line, lift stations, well pads and a crusher circuit) with simulated data. Client screens remain private.
What the client owns
- Project files
- Tag structure
- Databases
- Documentation
- Training
Start with the constraint
Where is your line losing time?
Tell us what’s costing the operation; we’ll tell you in one call whether there’s a return worth chasing.
No sales presentation required. A short conversation is usually enough to determine whether there’s a real opportunity.