In manufacturing, transparency is not an option; it's a necessity. Yet, many companies operate with a "black hole" on their shop floor. While financial and sales data are often available at the click of a button, the most valuable information—what is actually happening in production—remains hidden. Manual reports, outdated Excel sheets, and incomplete records create a distorted picture of reality.
Shop Floor Data Collection (SFDC) is the bridge across this information gap. It's about systematically capturing data directly at the point of action to turn assumptions into certainty. This guide shows you how to create complete transparency by intelligently combining machine and operational data, thereby laying the foundation for efficient, data-driven manufacturing.
Effective Shop Floor Data Collection (SFDC) relies on two complementary pillars: Machine Data Acquisition (MDA) and Production Data Acquisition (PDA). Only together do they provide a complete picture.
Machine Data Acquisition (MDA): The Voice of the Machine MDA is the automated collection of data directly from your equipment, machines, and sensors—without manual intervention. It provides objective, unvarnished facts about the status and performance of your equipment in real-time.
Typical MDA Data: Machine run times, downtimes, cycle times, produced quantities, energy consumption, process values (e.g., temperature, pressure).
Production Data Acquisition (PDA): The Human Context PDA (also known as BDE in German) captures all organizational and process-related data that gives context to the machine data. This data is often entered by employees via terminals or mobile devices.
Typical PDA Data: Order information (start/end), personnel times, assigned employees, reasons for downtime, reasons for scrap, quality checks.
Why You Need Both: The Perfect Interaction MDA alone tells you that a machine is down. PDA tells you why it's down (e.g., "material shortage" or "tool change"). The difference is in the details: MDA provides the exact downtime to the second, while PDA provides the reason, which is crucial for problem-solving. The seamless integration of MDA and PDA into one system is the key to making the entire production process transparent and traceable.
Many businesses still rely on paper forms and Excel spreadsheets. This method is not only inefficient but also a source of serious problems:
Prone to Errors: Manual entries are susceptible to human error, typos, or forgotten entries.
Delayed Information: Data is often digitized only at the end of a shift or day. Decisions are therefore based on outdated information.
Subjectivity: The recording of downtime reasons or scrap quantities can be inaccurate or embellished.
Low Acceptance: Employees see data collection as a tedious additional task that distracts them from their actual value-adding activities.
Automated SFDC systems solve these problems by capturing data in real-time with high accuracy and providing employees with simple, intuitive interfaces for necessary inputs.
Once you have reliable real-time data, entirely new optimization opportunities open up:
Accurate OEE Calculation: As described in the previous article, precise SFDC is the indispensable foundation for a meaningful OEE analysis.
Real-Time Production Monitoring: Visualize live KPIs on dashboards and detect deviations immediately, not the next day.
Precise Job Costing: Determine the actual costs per order based on real run times and material consumption, instead of estimates.
Foundation for Industry 4.0: Connected data from the shop floor is the basis for advanced concepts like Predictive Maintenance or the Digital Twin.
The digitalization of data collection doesn’t have to be a mammoth project. A flexible low-code platform enables a step-by-step and adaptable approach – as with the Heisenware platform, which has been specifically developed for the easy integration and visualization of production data.
Connect Old and New Machines: Integrate data from a wide variety of sources—from modern controllers with OPC UA to older machines connected via retrofitted sensors or I/O modules.
Digitize Manual Processes: Replace paper checklists with simple digital forms on tablets that guide your employees through processes.
Custom Visualization: Use drag-and-drop to create the exact dashboards your teams need to keep an eye on their most important metrics.
Shop Floor Data Collection is more than just collecting data. It is the first and most important step to regaining control over your manufacturing. By creating a single, reliable source of truth, you enable data-driven decisions, foster a culture of continuous improvement, and build the foundation for the smart factory of the future.