A few weeks ago, all the employees here at SYSCON came together for a fire extinguisher training. Two experts joined us in our lunchroom for a thorough explanation of the different kinds and uses of fire extinguishers. We watched a video about proper actions in case of fire and instruction in routine safety procedures to prevent fires or hazards from occurring.

Then we all stepped outside into the delivery bays for some hands-on experience. Each of us was required to demonstrate appropriate technique in deploying an extinguisher to put out a fire.

The day was sunny and beautiful, and we all took turns pulling the pin and sweeping back and forth across the base of the fire. Coworkers cheered each other on and in some cases there was good-natured teasing about one or another employee's (apparent lack of) capacity to save others from danger.

The experience built camaraderie and fostered interdepartmental engagement while we all focused on workplace safety.

Speaking of safety, did you know that SYSCON PlantStar's manufacturing execution systems can help operators in your facility stay safe on the job?

Our system allows managers to enter helpful or essential information that becomes available in real-time to operators right at their work station, on our human-machine interface (HMI).

The feature is called Setup Sheets, and its flexibility is a huge benefit over static boards like this one.

Whatever an operator needs to know can be entered into Setup Sheets (for the current running job or any jobs in queue):

• machine use/training protocols
• in-house or YouTube instructional videos
• spec sheets
• process alerts to watch for
• tolerance parameters to monitor
• product images...

anything you can think of to help shop floor personnel do their jobs well and safely.

Setup Sheets is capable of rendering plain text, HTML, clickable URLs, internal docs stored on a server or in the cloud, audio and video files.

PlantStar 4.0 is an event-based system with customizable permissions access utilizing any combination of four security models. If one of your operators isn't quite ready to handle a certain job or machine, you can block access to operations that may put that employee (or others) in harm's way.

If you just landed a new customer and all your operators will need training before starting the first work order, you can monitor their readiness and adjust system permissions accordingly to ensure understanding of and adherence to safety protocols.

Minimize hazards while you optimize throughput with PlantStar 4.0 MES.

And stay safe out there! We are making a difference for you.