Real-Time Monitoring
OpenMES Real-Time Monitoring shows you a live view of every production line and workstation. No need to walk the factory floor or wait for shift reports. You can see right now which lines are running, which are idle, where problems pop up, and how your shift is doing against its targets.
Line Overview
The Line Overview screen shows all your production lines at a glance. Each line appears as a row with timeline bars for every workstation. You get a live map of your whole factory that updates as machines start, stop, and run into issues.
Workstation Activity Timelines
Each workstation shows a horizontal timeline bar for the current shift. Colored segments show what the station was doing at each moment. This tells you much more than a simple "running/stopped" label – it reveals patterns like frequent micro-stops, long changeovers, or slowing cycle times.
The timeline updates continuously as new data comes in from the shop floor. Data can arrive through machine connections (OPC-UA, MQTT, Modbus) or operator input via the Operator View terminal. The right edge of the bar always means "now." When the shift ends, the full timeline is saved and available in Reports & Analytics.
Color-Coded Status System
The timeline uses three simple colors. You can read them even from across the room on a wall-mounted screen:
| Color | Status | What It Means | Typical Causes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | Running / Producing | The workstation is making good parts on time | Normal production |
| Gray | Idle / Standby | The workstation is on but not producing | Changeover, waiting for materials, break, no work order |
| Red | Down / Fault | The workstation stopped unexpectedly | Machine fault, quality reject, emergency stop, sensor alarm |
This simplicity is on purpose. Factories are busy, noisy places. A supervisor walking past a screen should instantly spot "Line 3 has a red segment on Station 4" without stopping. The green-gray-red system works like a traffic light – everyone gets it right away.
Hover over any segment to see the exact start time, duration, and – for red segments – the reason code from the operator or machine. Click a red segment to jump straight to the related alert or downtime record.
A supervisor notices Station 2 (the carton erector) has lots of tiny red segments mixed with green all morning – frequent micro-stops. Each one lasts only 10-30 seconds, too short for an alert. But together they eat up 45 minutes of production time. The supervisor checks and finds a dusty sensor misfiring. A 5-minute cleaning fixes the problem and recovers almost an hour of daily output.
An operations director manages three factories in different cities. She opens the Line Overview for each plant in separate browser tabs. At 10:30 AM, she sees Plant B's Line 2 has been solid red for 25 minutes – way longer than any planned maintenance. She calls the Plant B supervisor, who confirms a motor failure. The director approves overtime at Plant A to cover the delayed orders – all without leaving her desk.
Shift Monitor
The Line Overview shows the whole factory. The Shift Monitor zooms into one specific production line during the current shift. Shift leaders use this view all day to check if their line is on track to hit its production target.
LIVE Indicator
A pulsing "LIVE" badge at the top confirms the data is updating in real time. You always know you are looking at current data, not a stale snapshot. If the connection drops, the badge changes to "STALE" with the time of the last update. No one makes decisions on old data by mistake.
Data typically refreshes every 5 to 15 seconds. Machine-connected lines using OPC-UA or MQTT can update every second for critical values. Lines using manual operator input update as the operator enters data. The LIVE indicator means the numbers on screen match reality within a short delay.
OEE Sparkline
The OEE sparkline is a small chart that tracks the line's OEE score throughout the current shift. Unlike the Dashboard gauges that show a single snapshot, the sparkline shows the trend – is OEE stable, going up, or dropping? A rising line means the line is warming up nicely. A falling line means something needs attention soon.
Next to the sparkline, you see the current OEE percentage as a big number. It is color-coded: green if at or above target, amber if close (e.g., within 5%), and red if below. Together, the sparkline and the percentage answer two questions at once: "Where are we now?" and "Which way are we heading?"
Shift Quantity and Current Batch
The shift quantity counter shows how many good units you have made so far versus the target. A progress display like "3,450 / 5,000 units" tells you instantly if you are on pace. If the shift is 60% done but output is only at 55%, you know you need to speed up a little – or let the planner adjust the schedule.
The current batch indicator shows which batch is being produced right now. It includes the batch number, product name, and progress (e.g., "Batch B-2026-0842 – Widget Assembly X7 – 340/500 units"). This helps with traceability and lets supervisors estimate when the batch will finish and the next changeover starts.
Hourly Timeline Breakdown
The bottom of the Shift Monitor breaks the shift into individual hours. Each hour shows a stacked bar with running time, idle time, and downtime. This helps you see exactly when problems happened and how long they lasted. If the 9:00-10:00 hour shows 35 minutes of downtime, you can check the alert log and operator notes to find the cause.
You also see the production count per hour. Steady counts mean a smooth process. Big swings between hours point to issues you might miss in the overall shift numbers. This hourly view is great for spotting shift-start slowdowns, post-break ramp-ups, and end-of-shift fatigue – common patterns you can fix once the data makes them visible.
A shift leader reviews the Shift Monitor with the incoming leader at shift change. The hourly breakdown shows production always dips between 2:00 and 3:00 PM. It turns out materials from the warehouse arrive late every afternoon. The shift leader asks the warehouse team to stage afternoon materials before lunch. The dip disappears, and daily output goes up by 4%.
Put the Shift Monitor on a big screen or TV near the production line. When the whole crew can see the OEE sparkline and shift quantity in real time, they naturally stay on track. Many OpenMES customers see real OEE improvements just from making the data visible to everyone on the shop floor.