Right now, the world is experiencing an unparalleled stress test because of the global pandemic. An air of uncertainty is constantly looming over us and businesses alike. It goes without saying that the present crisis is forcing every business to shift its gears into survival mode. Terms like ‘self-preservation and resiliency’ are not just mere words of motivation; they now hold the key to sustainability during this turbulent time of COVID-19.

Consider the manufacturing sector, for instance. The current industrial operations are amid a seemingly endless struggle. To aptly describe the current situations, Edward Dickson, the President of a global manufacturing solutions provider, Tutelar Technologies, says: “It’s ‘feast or famine’ for companies; they are either overburdened with work or they are shutting down operations and laying off people.” And, in the middle of such uncertainties and risks, the manufacturers are continuously being haunted by several questions.

- How do we minimize, if not completely avoid, face-to-face human interactions to ensure worker safety?

- How do we support manufacturing operations remotely?

- How do we ensure better and more transparent supply chain collaboration?

A company that is steadfastly helping manufacturers realize answers to these questions is Tutelar Technologies. With its unique shop floor solutions, the company is aiding manufacturing companies to remodel shop floor operations, improve workflow efficiencies, and streamline product lifecycles so that they can stay viable in this competitive business environment.

“Imagine a manufacturing engineer connected to a plant floor server base, configuring assembly lines, or conducting other manufacturing processes from any part of the world. He doesn’t need to be on the shop floor,” describes Dickson. That’s what Tutelar Technologies’ shop floor offerings is bringing to the table by implementing innovative thinking, Industry 4.0 capabilities, IIOT, and Artificial Intelligence into every stage of their client’s process development cycle.

Notably, this can be vividly corroborated through Tutelar’s unique suite of solutions. The company’s Ujigami Product Directed Manufacturing System (PDMS) assists an operator in streamlining the workflow, from scheduling to device control and advanced mistake-proofing, with interactive graphical work instructions. This not only makes the coordination methodical and operations more productive but also eliminates physical handoffs of paper-based documents, which can be a potential source of disease transmission for COVID-19.

With its advanced shop floor solutions, the company is aiding manufacturing companies to remodel shop floor operations, improve workflow efficiencies, and streamline product lifecycles so that they can stay viable in this competitive business environment

“With our paperless solutions, there is no need for any physical interaction at all, making our offerings timelier than ever,” expresses Dickson. Another essential component of their offering is the Ujigami Warehouse Management System (WMS). With this, a floor manager can manage the movement of material through the plant remotely; from receipt at the dock to its storage in the plant, all the way until the finished product is out the door. Both PDMS and WMS software suites are offered under the name, “Ujigami,”—the Japanese term for ‘guardian spirit,’ rightly depicting Tutelar’s role in guiding manufacturers to succeed.

Complementing Ujigami PDMS and WMS is Tutelar’s Ujiboard World Class Manufacturing (WCM) system. Ujiboard’s comprehensive behavioral management suite, combined with industry-leading connectivity and real-time monitoring, drives plant-floor collaboration and ensures that it performs seamlessly even during peak times. At its core, Ujiboard’s competencies lie in the automatic collection, calculation, and reporting of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Hence, all the aspects of equipment availability, productivity, and quality are provided through Ujiboard to help equipment operators and managers understand the key drivers of performance and ways to improve it. “And, the last piece of our offering is an integrated visual management system to help management teams collaborate with the workforce better through regular meetings, performance reviews, and follow up of action items – all capable in a virtual environment,” explains Dickson. These facets are what transpires a ‘factory’ into a ‘smart factory’—a marriage between digital and physical technologies—and Tutelar Technologies is continuously ensuring that all facilities can achieve it.

While the convergence of the virtual and physical technological realm is definitely propelling the manufacturing industry forward amid the pandemic, another crucial ongoing trend right now is reshoring manufacturing processes. Tutelar has the capabilities and experience to support this booming trend as well.

A case in point is renowned Fortune 1000 manufacturer of gasoline engines, Briggs and Stratton—one of the early adopters of the trend. The company recently reshored its premium engine manufacturing units back to North America. The company’s manufacturing lines are fully integrated with Tutelar’s Ujigami suite of solutions. Because of this, when the COVID-19 pandemic took a hit at the manufacturing sector, neither their production nor their supply chains were affected as they would have been if manufacturing had stayed in Asia. Underlining the success behind this endeavor, Dickson says, “The key to bringing manufacturing processes back to the U.S. rests on two parameters: offering high-quality products and being cost-competitive, and our Ujigami software helps our customers deliver both with ease.”
However, what truly makes Tutelar a go-to name in the manufacturing sector is its more than 20 years of rich industry experience. “We have been providing advanced manufacturing solutions long before today’s manufacturing buzzwords of ‘Industry 4.0’ and ‘Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT),’” notes Dickson, upholding the notion that his company has always been ahead of its time. “Our solutions not only reflect visionary technologies but also excellent usability and sustainability.” One doesn’t need programming skills to operate Tutelar’s Ujigami software. All they need is an understanding of what tasks they want to accomplish, identify the business rules to apply, and quickly configure Ujigami. The software then has the intelligence to interpret the current status of the plant floor operations and current part status, and automatically make decisions to ensure the highest productivity, worker safety, and quality standards are met.

Ujigami SAFE: Setting the New Standard for Industrial Hygiene Traceability

Building upon the success of Ujigami’s next-generation capabilities, Tutelar has recently launched Ujigami Safe Access For Employees (SAFE). With the help of this cloud-based application, a company can easily monitor and manage their employees’ health. They can track the access of employees within the plant, check their test results, and comply with other government-mandated requirements to ascertain safe working conditions amid the pandemic. “To show our support toward ensuring such industrial hygiene, we are offering this application free of cost,” informs Dickson. Any manufacturing company looking to leverage UjigamiSAFE can sign up on safe.watchover.us and help their business continuity even in this trying time. These innovative and timely additions serve as a testament to Tutelar’s continuous zeal for reinstating industrial sustainability, for now, and for the future.