Share2Act: State-of-the-art tools open up new possibilities

 

What Share2Act is, why we developed this application and what it can do: regular readers will already know all this from my last article – but if you’re new to the blog, you’ll find the relevant background information here.

So Share2Act interlinks staff and machines at a production facility or links several different facilities to each other – and thus creates quite a few advantages for our clients. 

  • Routine for production operations – and thus fewer opportunities for error. 

Every authorised user can create what are called Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Using a combination of photos and/or videos, this enables standardised working procedures to be visualised ­– and that’s a big help not only to our new colleagues: the knowledge available in the company can be quickly and easily shared, and rendered accessible to every user. Without having to laboriously leaf through user manuals or instructions.

In order to find the relevant information as quickly as possible, the use of QR codes is an obvious option: you can create an individualised QR code for each production unit or each post. This QR code can then be affixed to the physical machine. When the QR code is scanned into the app, the user is immediately passed to the digital machine page. There’s also an option for assigning QR codes to individual posts such as SOPs, so that they are displayed directly.

And if something does happen to go wrong and difficulties are encountered: Share2Act is ideally suited for creating trouble-shooting instructions in response to problems. On the timelines of the production units, you see, problem scenarios and their solutions can be explained step by step, and even illustrated with photos and videos. The users can then share their solutions with each other and all the staff involved benefit from this pooled knowledge.

  • Fast, open communication between the staff.

Firstly, users can themselves post contents on the timeline, and thus share their knowledge with their colleagues. What’s more, users can post comments and likes for other people’s contributions – something they will perhaps be familiar with from the social networks. This creates interaction between staff, and everyone can benefit from other people’s experience and knowledge. This information exchanged on the platform can then be viewed by all staff possessing the appropriate position and user role – so staff are always up to date with the very latest information.

Meanwhile, it’s no longer just staff at our clients who can use this application, but also project managers and service personnel at Krones AG – which means communication between Krones and the clients is also speeded up and simplified.

  • Organising tasks and appointments.

Share2Act provides an option for setting up and using a diary. Here, you can create to-do lists, display reminders, plan appointments with other users, and organise meetings. 

There’s more: to ensure that the information shared actually arrives where it’s needed, Share2Act features a notification function. As soon as some new content is shared in the system, all logged-in users for whom this content is relevant will receive a push message.

I’ve listed below a few points concerning Share2Act, and the answers to the most frequently asked questions:

What can Share2Act do?
Quite basically, it’s like this: how our clients actually work with the application is up to them – because the app offers abundant scope for individualised use. But generally, (as I’ve already outlined) the platform offers options for …

  • … tracking events in the production operation in real-time;
  • … swiftly finding a fit-for-purpose, tried-and-tested solution in the event of a malfunction;
  • … solving problems together in a team, and optimising working procedures;
  • … supporting colleagues – even if they are working at different facilities or even in
    different time zones;
  • … rendering personal insights usable by everyone – as texts, videos or photos.

On what devices can Share2Act be used?
Here, too, it’s our clients who decide: as a multi-platform app, Share2Act runs on smartphones, tablets and stationary computers.

How is Share2Act installed?
The application’s hosting is chosen so as to meet the client’s needs to optimum effect: each client chooses between the two variants of “cloud hosting” and “on-premise hosting”.

With the “cloud hosting” variant, the Share2Act backend is hosted in the cloud as “software as a service”, with the following advantages for the client:

  • system maintenance by Krones
  • updates are easy to install
  • reliable, failsafe environment
  • daily backup of the data
  • memory limit can be expanded at any time

With on-premise hosting, the entire Share2Act backend is installed in the client’s own computer centre on servers or in virtual environments. The client will then himself be responsible for regular system maintenance, data backup, updates, etc.

Is it possible to integrate other systems as well?
But if you’re now starting to worry that Share2Act is a platform designed solely for manually generated data, then I can set your mind at rest: the truth is the exact opposite.

Share2Act has been created in order to provide communication with other systems through appropriate interfaces. This means information can be automatically posted in the timeline concerned, without having to be inputted by hand. For example, it’s possible to integrate …

  • … the Krones Line System, in order to
    • automate the provision of key statistics;
    • alert operators to machine and line standstills;
    • effectively document limit value violations;
    • alert operators to shortages of raw, processing and operating materials;
    • monitor media consumption levels.
  • … Krones’ asset management software for care and maintenance (KAM), in order to
    • assign maintenance tasks to the appropriately qualified personnel;
    • render instructions for maintenance activities efficiently accessible to the maintenance staff;
    • publicise spare part proposals;
    • in the medium term replace purely preventive maintenance plans with their condition-based counterparts.
  • … the Krones.shop, in order to
    • check spare parts for availability, delivery time and prices;
    • trigger purchase orders.
  • … the Digital Krones Academy, in order to
    • render training material and videos more easily accessible for the operators.

 

Do you have any other questions about Share2Act? Then please feel free to use the comment function underneath the article!