Steel, Aluminum & Metals Processing
In metals processing, downtime isn't an inconvenience — it's immediately expensive. High-speed or semi-continuous operations need accurate equipment data, strong maintenance coordination, and the ability to find the constraint before it limits the whole line.
What makes this environment demanding
Lines that run near capacity leave little tolerance for unplanned stops. When one piece of equipment fails, the cost accumulates immediately and cascades to downstream operations.
Scheduling preventive maintenance around continuous production is difficult. Without a clear PM record, teams defer work until something breaks — and by then the cost is much higher.
It's common for supervisors to believe the bottleneck is one place when OEE data shows it's somewhere else. Without accurate equipment-level data, improvement efforts land in the wrong spot.
Critical process parameters — temperatures, pressures, speeds — need to stay within spec to produce consistent quality. Monitoring these manually or not at all creates blind spots.
Visibility into what's actually limiting output
10in6 connects directly to your production equipment to capture real OEE data, log every downtime event with a reason code, and build an equipment history that helps maintenance teams stay ahead of failures. The constraint module helps supervisors identify where improvement effort actually has an impact.
- Equipment-level OEE — actual availability, performance, and quality rates from the equipment, not estimates
- Downtime logging with reason codes — every event captured with duration, category, and shift
- Constraint and bottleneck analysis — identify which equipment is actually limiting throughput
- PM scheduling and work orders — maintenance workflows built around your equipment list
- Maintenance inventory — parts stock with consumption tracking and low-stock alerts
- SPC for process variables — monitor critical parameters with control charts and automated alerts
OEE improved from 20% to 58% at an aluminum extrusion plant over 12 months after implementing 10in6.
Read the case study →"We install 10in6 on each new line, it helps us get them up to speed quicker. We can track all the downtime reasons and react to the biggest issues first."
Built for high-intensity manufacturing
OEE from equipment signals, not manual entry
Real OEE requires real data. 10in6 connects to PLCs and equipment directly, so the numbers reflect what's actually happening on the line — not what operators remember to record.
MES and CMMS in one system
Production performance and maintenance history live together. When a machine's OEE drops, the maintenance record is right there — no switching between systems to diagnose the cause.
Improvement focused on the right constraint
10in6 constraint analysis shows where time is actually being lost. Improvement effort goes to the machine that's limiting output, not the one that gets the most complaints.
The platform capabilities that matter most for metals processing
Common questions from metals processors
- Can 10in6 track OEE on presses, mills, and continuous lines?
- Yes — 10in6 connects directly to press and line PLCs and calculates OEE from real machine signals, not manual estimates. An aluminum extrusion customer tripled OEE from 20% to 58% in their first 12 months by making downtime and performance losses visible by equipment, shift, and part number.
- How does 10in6 help reduce scrap and metal waste?
- Real-time SPC on process variables — temperature, pressure, dimensions, density — alerts operators the moment a process drifts toward its limits, before scrap is produced. Specific billets at risk can be flagged automatically from changing process trends. The same aluminum extrusion plant cut metal waste from 5% to 0% this way.
- Does 10in6 work with the older equipment common in metals plants?
- Yes. We routinely connect equipment that is 20 or more years old using Modbus, serial protocols, and custom hardware interfaces when standard options don't exist. Some of our most significant deployments have been in plants where the equipment had never shared data with any system.
- Can 10in6 manage preventive maintenance for critical equipment?
- Yes — the CMMS module handles PM checks on any interval, work orders triggered from floor events, parts inventory, and per-asset maintenance history. For metals processors, where every unplanned stoppage has a direct dollar cost, that history is what turns maintenance from reactive to planned.
Need this configured around your actual equipment and workflows?
Every 10in6 deployment includes our team — connecting your equipment, configuring your workflows, and supporting your operation long after go-live.
See 10in6 applied to your metals operation
Tell us about your equipment, your production challenges, and where visibility breaks down. We'll show you how 10in6 fits.