Value Packs / Manufacturing / Process Control Parameter Optimisation / Brief 01

Process Control Parameter Optimisation · Brief 01

Line 1 quality incident on 2025-07-31

A running-process excursion, not a stop window

DataGenie Brief · autonomous
Line 1 · SKU-4417 · 03:00–09:00 UTC · daily line read with hourly PLC drill-through · in your cloud

The one line you configure

Which lines and products are running defect rate above their learned band today, and is the cause upstream process or the product itself? Read it across the 19 hourly PLC parameters, quality and conveyor speed.

In a nutshell

This is a running-process excursion, not a stop window. Line 1 is the affected line because line-level defect rate reached 537.50K against 168.91K expected (+218.2%) — the only requested KPI anomaly visible at line level. In the selected Line 1 × SKU-4417 context the PLC read shows wash tank 3 temperature breaking out at 50 against a 39 band by 03:00, peaking twice at 56 vs 39 at 05:00 and 06:00 (+43.6%) and staying above band through 49 at 09:00, with a late secondary move in wash tank 1 at 48 vs 39 at 19:00. Conveyor speed near 47.00K vs 48.00K (−2.1%) says the line kept running while the parameter drifted.

At a glance

Defect rate · line level537.50Kvs 168.91K · +218.2%the deciding line selector
Defect rate · drill context537.50Kvs 496.12KLine 1 × SKU-4417
Quality yield % · drill context87.08vs 79.85 · +9.1%elevated — not the anomaly
Peak PLC mover56 vs 39↑ +43.6%wash tank 3 · 05:00, repeat 06:00
Conveyor speed47.00Kvs 48.00K · −2.1%in running range
Above band through09:00from 03:00wash tank 1 echo at 19:00

PLC parameters by band index · 100 = on band, higher = above band

On bandWatchAbove bandExcursion
Wash tank 3 temperaturedrifting144
Wash tank 1 temperature123
Hot rinse temperature102
Curing zone 3 temperature101
Rinse stages 1–4100
Cooling stages 2 / 399
Conveyor speed98

What moved

Wash tank 3 temperature · Line 156 vs 39 at 05:00, repeated at 06:00 — the root cause+43.6%
Wash tank 1 temperature · Line 148 vs 39 at 19:00 — late secondary move, same line-product+23.1%
Conveyor speed · Line 147.00K vs 48.00K — stayed in running range, not a downtime artefact−2.1%

Connected signals — what else moved, and what didn't

Conveyor speed47.00Kvs 48.00K · −2.1%running range
Wash tank 3 temperature56 vs 39↑ +43.6% peakexcursion
Wash tank 1 temperature48 vs 39↑ +23.1% at 19:00late echo
Quality yield % · drill87.08vs 79.85 · +9.1%elevated
Defect rate · line537.50Kvs 168.91Kthe selector
Curing zones 1–5in bandflatcuring fine

Conveyor speed stayed inside its running range and the whole curing stage held — the discriminators that rule out a stop window or a curing fault. Quality yield % is elevated, not depressed, so it is context rather than the anomaly. Only the wash stage moved.

Wash tank 3 broke band at 03:00 and stayed above it to 09:00 · Line 1, hourly

6246.53115.5002:0003:0004:0005:0006:0007:0008:0009:00
Wash tank 3 temperature · °C
Learned band · °C

Break-out at 03:00, a twin peak of 56 vs 39 at 05:00 and 06:00, then a slow decay that never returns to band before 09:00 — a long high band, not a momentary spike. A daily read would have shown only the aggregate.

Where the excursion sat · PLC parameters × hour (above learned band)

03:0004:0005:0006:0007:0009:0019:00
Wash tank 3 temperature+11+15+17+17+13+100
Wash tank 1 temperature000000+9
Rinse stages 1–40000000
Cooling stages 2 / 30000000
Curing ovens 1–2 · zones 1–50000000
Conveyor speedin rangein rangein rangein rangein rangein rangein range

Two parameters move all day and both are wash-stage on the same line-product: wash tank 3 across 03:00–09:00, then wash tank 1 once at 19:00. Rinse, cooling and the whole curing stage never leave band, and conveyor speed never leaves its running range — which is what makes this a process item rather than downtime.

What the connected view adds

Each source looked ordinary alone: the historian showed a warm tank inside its hardware limit, the quality stage picked a line, and OEE showed the line still running. Only reading them together on the same line × product × hour slice isolates a long high wash-tank-3 band on the line quality had already selected — surfaced during the shift, not in the next morning's quality review. It is also why quality yield % printing 87.08 vs 79.85 (+9.1%) is context, not the anomaly: it is elevated in the drill slice and did not select the line.

So what

Line 1 is the affected line because line-level defect rate landed at 537.50K against 168.91K expected (+218.2%) — the only requested KPI anomaly visible at line level. On the selected Line 1 × SKU-4417 slice the hourly PLC read isolates a long high wash-tank-3 band: break-out at 03:00, a twin peak of 56 vs 39 at 05:00 and 06:00 (+43.6%), still above band at 09:00, with a late wash-tank-1 move at 19:00. Conveyor speed near 47.00K vs 48.00K (−2.1%) says the line kept running while the parameter drifted, so this is a running-process excursion and not a stop window.

The points that matter

The line was selected by defect rate, not by quality

Line-level defect rate at 537.50K vs 168.91K is the only requested KPI anomaly visible at line level — that is what picked Line 1.

+218.2%defect rate vs expected

Quality yield % is context, not the anomaly

In the drill slice quality yield % printed 87.08 vs 79.85 — elevated by 9.1%, so it confirms the slice but did not select the line.

+9.1%quality yield · elevated

A long band, not a spike

Wash tank 3 breaks out at 03:00, peaks twice at 56 vs 39, and is still above band at 09:00 — six hours of drift on one circuit.

56 vs 39+43.6% peak

The line kept running

Conveyor speed near 47.00K against 48.00K (−2.1%) stayed in running range, which rules out a downtime artefact and makes this an engineering item.

−2.1%conveyor speed · running

Recommendation

Send maintenance to the wash-tank-3 circuit on Line 1 — the controller setpoint, the sensor and the steam valve, in that order — and alarm the learned band rather than the hardware limit. 56 against a 39 band was legal for the equipment and still ruinous for the product. Watch wash tank 1 on the same line-product next: its 19:00 move is the same circuit family.

Questions it already answers

Is this the process or the product?

The process. Quality picked the line and the hourly PLC read then isolates wash tank 3 on that same line-product across 03:00–09:00; the product context itself prints an elevated quality yield %, so it is not the product failing.

What can the data not tell us here?

Not why the tank ran hot — a controller setpoint, a failing sensor or a steam-valve fault all look identical in the historian. It pinpoints the circuit, the hours and the running state so maintenance checks one thing, not nineteen.

Where else should we look?

Watch wash tank 3 against its learned band hourly on both lines, and alarm the learned band rather than the hardware limit — 56 against a 39 band was legal for the equipment and still ruinous for the product. Wash tank 1's 19:00 move on the same line-product is the one to watch next.