BACKGROUND

The industrial revolution has brought with it many benefits. At the same time, however, an increasing disconnect between workers and their work has manifested itself. It is not uncommon for individuals to view their job as a series of repeated tasks without meaning beyond the immediate requirement of completing the task at hand. If it were possible to bring a greater sense of ownership and satisfaction to such individuals, their lives may be enhanced and their employers would benefit in a variety of ways.

While a variety of approaches to monitoring manufacturing processes have been developed many are targeted at providing management an overall assessment of productivity or efficiency. None seem to address the individuals performing the tasks on a daily basis in a meaningful way. Those that include feedback for an individual do so on a very limited basis, such as a green light when a production goal is met or a red light when there is a problem. While such feedback can be useful it does not provide the type of information that allows the individual to recognize what they do well and that which they might be able to improve upon.

Some performance monitoring is possible but usually in limited situations in which a machine was designed with monitoring capabilities or a relatively complicated or expensive retrofit was required to incorporate monitoring equipment. A retrofit installation of monitoring equipment typically requires an electrician or other specially trained personnel and can only be accomplished while the machine is taken off-line or otherwise not used, which adds costs and decreases output at least during the installation phase. Any complications involved with a retrofit installation may compromise a machine or warranty coverage for the machine. These and other factors have inhibited productivity monitoring operations.

SUMMARY

An illustrative example system for monitoring productivity includes at least one monitoring device that obtains data regarding at least a selected one of production events. A reporting device receives the data and provides a report regarding the monitored events to an individual involved in the production. The report includes information regarding at least one characteristic of the monitored event. The information in the report is presented to the individual in a way that makes various aspects of performance apparent that may not otherwise have been observable or known. One example includes a graphic display of productivity over the course of a work day in a manner that shows how much of that day was spent in a productive manner and the level of production at various times.

In a disclosed example embodiment, the monitoring device is readily incorporated into a machine's environment without requiring any modification to the machine and without requiring any complex installation procedures. An example monitoring device has an adaptor portion that is configured to be situated in a strategic location relative to a machine. A detector is configured to detect at least one electrical characteristic of machine operation. An interpreter portion interprets the detected electrical characteristic and provides an indication of at least one feature of productivity based on the detected electrical characteristic.

An illustrative example method of monitoring productivity includes positioning a detector near a selected portion of a machine using a clip for situating the detector in a position where the detector can detect at least one electrical characteristic associated with operation of a machine; communicating an indication of the detected electrical characteristic between the detector and a user interface; and displaying a visual representation of productivity information based the indication.

An illustrative example system for monitoring productivity includes a detector and a user interface. The detector includes a sensor configured to detect at least one electrical characteristic, a transmitter for communicating an indication of the detected electrical characteristic to another device, and a clip configured to position the detector near a selected portion of a machine where the sensor can detect the at least one electrical characteristic. The user interface includes a receiver for receiving the indication of the detected electrical characteristic, a processor that generates an output based on the received indication, and a display that is configured to show a visual representation of productivity information based the processor output.

Various features and advantages of at least one example disclosed system and method will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. The drawings that accompany that description can be briefly described as follows.

