Over its 30 years in business, Sightline has only once seen a period of time wherein there was so much potential revenue trapped by antiquated technology and operations that weren’t utilized to their fullest capacity – at its founding in the late 80s when the computer revolution was just taking place. At the time companies were finally beginning to switch from their old analog systems to take advantage of mainframe systems.
Today, Sightline sees the same trends, but in a different space – data. The company has helped clients across industries from manufacturing to finance each recognizes millions of dollars of savings through improved operations by taking a sensor agnostic and data-driven approach. Unlike some Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that insist on a rip-and-replace of all control systems and hardware, Sightline’s flagship platform works with, rather than against, your existing control infrastructure to augment your operations.
Leveraging state-of-the-art technologies like big data visualization, machine learning, and predictive analytics, Sightline is helping manufacturers improve operations, remain competitive, and achieve ROI gains while also fulfilling quality and compliance requirements.
Tackling the Challenges of IIoT
According to Brandon Witte, the CEO and President of Sightline Systems, the company is on a mission to tackle a some of the most pressing issues faced by manufacturers today. These issues include the digital engineering skills gap, shortages of employees, and increasing bottom-line pressure. A study from the McKinsey Global Institute has found that the skills gap for data science professionals is enormous; only 22 percent of companies hire and onboard data analysts with adequate skills. Sightline is on a mission to bridge this disconnect; the company incorporates easy-to-use, real-time big data visualization capabilities into its manufacturing analytics platform that is designed for nontechnical users to understand historical trends and data patterns.
Sightline minimizes the need for manufacturers to hire specialized data scientists to determine which processes are causing performance problems, production losses or safety issues. Sightline additionally analytics that allow organizations to take advantage of all that Industry 4.0 has to offer while providing distinct competitive advantage over manufacturers that have not taken steps to benefit from the Industrial Internet of Things.
Sightline EDM: All-In-One Manufacturing Data Analytics Solution
The Fairfax, VA-based company is emerging as an innovator in the manufacturing industry. The company has built its platform for interoperability and is hardware agnostic. Sightline’s Enterprise Data Management™ (EDM) platform fulfills the requirements of manufacturers searching for an all-in-one data analytics solution that will integrate and communicate with solutions in place without disrupting existing systems. EDM for Manufacturing automatically captures, stores, analyzes and correlates thousands of data tags in real-time from temperature sensors, remote sensors, pressure gauges, SCADA, historians, PLCs and more in millisecond increments.
The data collected is displayed on a centralized, user-friendly web-based dashboard, providing an accurate picture of the overall manufacturing operations. Furthermore, EDM provides manufacturers with advanced reports, customizable notifications, and real time visualization of IIoT machine data, including alerts, tolerances, variances, electrical usage, speeds, feeds and vibrations.
Sightline EDM uses advanced machine learning techniques to provide predictive maintenance. Proactively identifying problems and uncovering hidden patterns leads to reduced downtime, faster response time, increased Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and decreased Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) Anomaly detection, root cause analysis and easy compliance reporting.
Enhancing Productivity for Manufacturers
Today, manufacturers large and small are using Sightline EDM across individual and multiple production facilities, plants and factories around the globe. The platform has aced the expectations of global manufacturers by providing high-speed data collection and analysis of manufacturing processes. After implementing the Sightline software, customers have seen benefits both short-term and over time. They have been able to simplify operations, manage much more efficiently, and save money by using Sightline EDM instead of the multiple applications they were using previously. They have documented millions of dollars in savings from the real-time analysis of manufacturing operations.
This includes:
An auto manufacturer conducted an analysis of their production line to understand the reason for high defects on car doors during the painting process. The company saved $2 million USD/year by reducing paint defects using EDM’s root cause analysis (Clairvor).
A chemical company saved $1.2 million/year in waste elimination and increased throughput by using EDM’s advanced forecasting (ForSight).
A steel processing plant identified pressure issues resulting in ~13% shorter Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), improving the speed of production and lengthening equipment lifespans.
A global appliance manufacturer chose EDM to provide real time visibility into their operations, resulting in 10 hours/month (massive single line) of additional uptime.
A Multifaceted Leader Aiming to Be an Industry Pioneer
With a demonstrated history of working in the computer software industry, Sightline CEO Brandon Witte is responsible for the definition of corporate strategy, maintenance of corporate culture, allocation of capital, and outlining marketing strategy along with the framing of new product lines. Brandon holds a BA in Management Science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and is skilled in requirements analysis, enterprise software, enterprise architecture, IT strategy, and professional services.
Under Brandon’s leadership, Sightline helps customers from diverse sectors such as retail, energy, government, security, finance, telecom, travel, and manufacturing turn mountains of data into meaningful and actionable insights, preventing costly downtime by delivering the best of breed IT monitoring and analytics solutions. For more than 12 years, Sightline has achieved a 95% renewal rate from customers including Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies. On its journey toward Industry 4.0, the company has made significant strides forward, creating a real-time manufacturing data analytics solution for its manufacturing clients.
To continue its successful track record as an industry leader in technology, Brandon and his team have nurtured a culture of innovation, working with customers to continuously improve Sightline’s award-winning performance analytics platform by implementing innovative new technologies that provide business value.
