4.0 Knowledge

Factory Silos: How to reconnect your teams around data

Written by Author | 9/26/25 8:17 AM

In the industrial world, everyone knows this: production doesn’t run by itself.
It depends on (and impacts) quality, maintenance, supply chain, methods…

 

But in reality? These departments often communicate too late, poorly… or not at all.

 

Welcome to the world of organizational silos. Each team moves forward in its own lane, with its own logic, tools… and version of the truth. The result? Loss of agility, misunderstandings, stress, and decisions made far too slowly.

 

👉 What if real-time shared data became your bridge between departments?

 

Invisible Silos… Yet very real

  • The quality department discovers scrap… far too late.
  • Maintenance doesn’t know a machine has been malfunctioning… for 3 days.
  • Procurement plans without visibility on downtime.
  • Operators don’t understand why instructions keep changing.

Concrete consequences of disconnection

  • Reaction time too slow in case of problems.
  • Poor coordination between production and inventory.
  • Over-maintenance or under-reaction on the technical side.
  • Unnecessary stress: people spend time chasing information instead of producing.

In short, everyone ends up "working more to compensate", when sometimes… simply talking to each other would be enough.

 

Data as the common language between departments

With a solution like KEYPROD, every department gains access to a shared, reliable, real-time view of what’s happening on the shop floor:

 

Department What they see with KEYPROD
Production Machine status, pace, disruptions
Maintenance Automatic alerts, downtime history
Quality Scrap rates and variances by product/series
Supply OEE tracking and delays at the source

 

No more interpretations or numbers cobbled together after the fact. Just facts.

 

A real example: SA2M breaks out of the Silo thanks to shared data

The case of SA2M, an SME specializing in aluminum profile machining, illustrates perfectly how to move from isolation to collective coherence.

Before KEYPROD, the company suffered from a lack of visibility into real productivity, with imprecise manual tracking that was poorly suited to short cycles. They needed a simple tool to improve OEE and engage their teams.

With KEYPROD, SA2M digitized its monitoring, improved OEE, reduced wasted time, and streamlined its machine fleet to increase productivity: OEE jumped from 40% to 75%!

 

Why It works

  • Real-time shared data, accessible to all departments.

  • A common interface: one tool, readable by everyone.

  • Automated exports: simplified quality reporting, maintenance, and planning.

  • A neutral tool that aligns perspectives and fosters agility.

The result: fewer corrective meetings, more preventive actions.

 

In Summary: To break down silos, Start by sharing the right information

The key to smooth operations isn’t a mountain of tools—it’s clear, reliable, visible information for everyone, at the same time.

With KEYPROD, you step out of the "everyone has their own truth" mindset, and finally align production, maintenance, quality, and supply around a single shared database.

 

🚀 Want a factory where departments cooperate (without stepping on each other’s toes)? Connect your teams seamlessly!

 

 
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