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Escalating Alerts is a new feature of Guidewheel’s FactoryOps can now alert an expanding group of people, with increasing frequency, if an alarm condition is not responded to within a certain time. (Photo: Guidewheel)

A new machine monitoring system tailored for simplicity and affordability has a new feature to ensure quick response to adverse events that could sap productivity if ignored. San Francisco-based is a relatively new firm whose FactoryOps machine-monitoring platform is designed for plants of any size with any type of machinery, new or old (for details, see Dec. ’21 Close-Up). It uses clip-on sensors that measure current flowing through a power cable as a means to monitor machine status and “health.” Current fluctuations can indicate a machine is down, running slower than usual, or drawing excess power due to a maintenance issue. Sensor data are uploaded to the cloud, where users can monitor their machines on a customized dashboard via phone, tablet, or computer.

FactoryOps is programmed to alert designated personnel in case of problems. But instead of relying on just one person to respond, the new “Escalating Alerts” feature can be set to notify additional people, with increasing frequency, after a certain time as elapsed. Managers can define an escalation process just once and easily implement it across the entire organization.