# Connect machine activity to production visibility. Use OT data to frame factory monitoring software around production flow, interruptions and the decisions a shift needs to make. Canonical: https://vieox.com/solutions/production/ Publisher: VIEOX Published: 2026-10-19 Updated: 2026-10-25 ## What information helps a team investigate a production interruption? A useful starting point combines the timing of the interruption, recorded equipment activity, the production plan and the team's observations. Together, these help distinguish what is known, what remains uncertain and which question to investigate next. Production visibility begins with the machines and processes doing the work. Connect their recorded activity with the plan, product and operator observations so a production dashboard can show both the flow of work and the questions behind an interruption. ## Begin with the interruption A shift can finish below plan for several different reasons. A planned changeover, a wait for material and an equipment fault each call for a different conversation. Before comparing totals, agree what the team counts as an interruption and how its beginning and end will be recorded. Keep the observed event separate from its proposed explanation. A machine stopping at a particular time is an observation; the reason may still need confirmation. Invite operators to add the circumstances they saw. This gives the review room for experience, uncertainty and learning. ## Put activity in its operating context Choose information that answers the question at the relevant level: a machine, a line or a wider process. NIST's manufacturing research highlights the value of collecting necessary data at appropriate times and production levels. More readings are useful when they improve the team's understanding of the event. Check that records can be compared meaningfully. Time zones, recording intervals, product changes and gaps in available information can all affect a review. If the equipment history is incomplete, make that gap visible before drawing conclusions. When evaluating a real-time production monitoring dashboard, agree how current each view needs to be for its intended decision. Ask to see the source, last update and any collection gaps alongside the production measure. Evaluate that behaviour with representative machine data before treating a screen as a reliable view of the current shift. - Equipment and process: where did the interruption occur? - Time and duration: when did it begin and end? - Planned work: what product or activity was expected? - Local context: what did operators observe around that period? Sources: [1](https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/prognostics-health-management-and-control-phmc) ## Give the shift a useful next step Finish the review with a specific question, an owner and a way to check the answer. That might be confirming a recurring material wait, reviewing changeover records or asking maintenance to examine an equipment concern. Record whether the proposed explanation was confirmed when the team returns to the issue. Production visibility is one application of VIEOX's OT-first approach to industrial technology. ConverEDGE is designed to help teams understand operating conditions and review recorded activity. A discussion starts with the machines, the production question and the information available, then establishes an appropriate scope for connectivity and analysis. ## A stop tells you where to look. Consider a recorded pause during a production run. Keep the event and its explanation distinct as the review develops. ### What the record may show - A change in the recorded equipment state. - The period counted as an interruption. - The activity logged before and after the pause. ### What the team still needs to establish - Whether the time boundary matches the actual event. - What the equipment, material and operator context can explain. - Which proposed cause is supported by the available information. ## A recurring pause after changeover Hypothetical operating example. Hypothetical example: a packaging team notices repeated interruptions near the start of a particular run. The team uses the same review approach across several comparable runs. 1. Mark the changeover and interruption periods in the available records. 2. Check which product was running and what the operator observed. 3. Compare similar runs and note missing or inconsistent information. 4. Agree the next investigation and revisit the explanation at the following review. ## Practical starting points - Choose one line or process and one recurring production question. - Bring a representative record, the relevant plan and the people who can explain them. - Agree what a useful answer would allow the team to do next. ## Questions, answered ### Is a downtime total enough to explain lost production? A total describes the time counted under a chosen definition. The explanation needs the events behind it, their timing and operating context. Keep planned activities and unconfirmed causes clear so the discussion starts from a shared understanding. ### What if some interruption reasons are recorded manually? Include those observations and identify where they came from. Agree simple terms, ask people to record uncertain explanations as uncertain, and compare their notes with the available equipment history. Automatic and manual records should be assessed together. ### Does this require every machine to be connected first? The first conversation can focus on one process and the information already available. Any proposed deployment would need a separate assessment of equipment, data access and the requirements of the people using it. ### How should we evaluate factory monitoring software? Choose a production decision first, then follow the evidence from the machine to the review. Check equipment identity, event definitions, time coverage and how manual observations are included. Ask how a dashboard exposes stale or missing information and compare its account with a shift your team understands. These are evaluation criteria; the proposed implementation and scope should be agreed for your site. ## Sources and further reading - [NIST — Prognostics, Health Management, and Control](https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/prognostics-health-management-and-control-phmc) ## Related reading - [From a stop to a supported explanation](https://vieox.com/insights/investigating-production-downtime/) - [Equipment condition and maintenance](https://vieox.com/solutions/maintenance/) - [Operational review](https://vieox.com/solutions/operations/) - [Why operational data needs context](https://vieox.com/insights/operational-data-context/) - [Explore ConverEDGE](https://vieox.com/converedge/)