Out of the Woods Granite

As Granite Operations Manager at Out of the Woods Granite (OOTW), Jim Schwitzer is dialed in with his shop’s production. When he heard about how Park IQ™ Machine Monitoring & Reporting allows him to connect into his Park Industries® CNC machines data, he eagerly gave it a try.

After a simple setup, completed remotely by Park Industries®, Jim was ready to start using Park IQ™.

A new level of communication

After years of fabricating digitally with their CNC machinery, including a FUSION® CNC Sawjet and two TITAN® CNC Routers, OOTW was ready to take the next step forward to optimize their countertop production.

Jim and his team felt the impact of Park IQ™ right away. He shares, “We use Park IQ™ every day. It helps you stay in constant communication with your shop’s biggest employee – your machines. And you can do this from your office, home, anywhere. It saves me four or five trips out to the shop floor each day.”

Jim highlights the dashboard feature as an excellent tool to get a snapshot of what is happening real time on your shop floor. He can see the current machine status, any alarm codes, what program is on each table and how much time is remaining before the program is complete.

He can also easily view the shop’s daily and weekly production at a glance. Jim shares, “It helps me plan out the schedule for the next day or rest of the week.”

More production time than ever

Another area Park IQ™ has helped Jim and his team is with keeping his machine’s running at maximum levels.

Between multiple users checking the machine status dashboard, and customizable machine alert notifications, if a machine’s program is interrupted – Jim or his team can act immediately. He can also see the amount the idle time and table turnover time, helping him understand when and why a machine is not running when it should be.

Before Park IQ™, it was up to an operator to catch if the machine had been interrupted. Meaning they couldn’t be off working at something else or at lunch. Jim would also have no way of knowing how long the machine had been sitting in that alarm or idle state. Now Jim has a direct communication line with his machines.

Lastly, the mechanic at OOTW also utilizes Park IQ™ for their machine care needs. Upcoming maintenance work orders and tool wear monitoring allows him to plan for this work, instead of having them spring up the second they are due. They are then completed at a time convenient for the shop, not during precious production hours.

“We use Park IQ™ every day. It helps you stay in constant communication with your shop’s biggest employee – your machines. And you can do this from your office, home, anywhere. It saves me four or five trips out to the shop floor each day.”

Jim | Out of the Woods Granite

The results

In just a few months, Park IQ™ has helped OOTW increase machine run time, manage maintenance, and understand what’s going on in the shop, anytime from anywhere. It’s also provided them an automatic system for metrics reporting and understanding production trends.

To see how Park IQ™ can help your shop, book a demo today!

(Photos courtesy of David Foote | OOTW)