A 40% reduction in product wastage

Glass vials on a production line, pharmaceutical.

Background

A high-value product was being manufactured at a rate of 600 units per minute. Line stoppages were becoming more frequent and were damaging product, with the annual cost impact estimated at nearly £6 million.

Challenge

At full production speed the failure could not be seen by the human eye or captured through conventional measurement techniques.

The line ran at 600 units per minute, leaving no room for manual observation or visual checks
Failures occurred suddenly, making close investigation impractical under live conditions
Conventional inspection produced no usable evidence of what happened in the moments before a failure
Because the event itself was unobservable, engineers lacked the evidence needed to identify and correct the root cause

Solution

PurpleSector deployed a race-derived vision and vibration system, to monitor the line at the critical points where the failure was likely to occur.

Recordings were triggered by events rather than running continuously, concentrating the analysis on the moments that mattered instead of hours of uneventful footage. AI filtration then distinguished normal machine behaviour from non-normal events, revealing the failure mechanism that conventional monitoring had missed.

Engineers testing a sustainable marine powertrain system designed for reduced emissions and faster delivery.

A sustainable marine powertrain system designed for reduced emissions and faster delivery.

Results

PurpleSector's Digitally Observed Insights reduced downtime and increased revenue by more than £3 million per annum.

The failure was recorded during the first production shift, allowing the root cause to be identified and rectified. The intervention delivered a 40% reduction in product wastage and returned the line to stable, predictable operation.