Every station on your floor, measured from video

Get in touchSet up in a week. Results in week two.

A ceiling camera's view of the roll, fit-up and weld stations: each unit boxed in blue as it moves, and beside each station a column showing how its time splits.

Where does the time go?

Cobalt counts every unit at every station, times each operation, and splits each station's shift into the work that changes the part and everything around it.

Three stations on a fabrication line, each unit marked with a blue box, and beside each station a glass column split into value-added work, handling, waiting, walking and idle: 41%, 39% and 26% value-added.

Example line

Per unit at fit‑up: 49min
Value-added at weld: 26%
Units off the line: 3.3/hr

Units finished: Counted at each station, with the start, the end and the frames behind each one.
Time per unit: Minutes per unit for every operation, from the fastest unit to the slowest.
Where the time goes: Value-added work, setup and handling, waiting, walking and idle, by station and shift.
Product mix: Each unit's size or family, told from the video, so times compare like with like.

Process improvement

What's holding the line back?

The video shows which station sets the pace, where units pile up in front of it, and what gets sent back.

A fabrication line where the floor along the conveyor glows amber in front of fit-up, where units queue.

Example line

Units queued at fit‑up: 4
Lost to crane waits a shift: 1.6h
Shells sent back from NDE: 6%

The bottleneck: The station that limits the whole line, and how far past capacity it runs.
Lost time by cause: Waiting for the crane, for parts or for an inspector, and the walk to the tool crib.
Rework: Units sent back after inspection, where they went and the time they cost.
Questions, answered from video: Ask why a shift finished short. The answer comes with the clips behind it.

Process improvement

What should we change, and what's it worth?

Changes are ranked by what they add and priced against a model of the floor before anything is spent. The ones that stick are written into standard work.

Overhead view of the plant with a consumables crib's proposed position beside the weld booth, and the old and new walking routes on the floor.

Close-up of a head being fitted to a steel shell, with numbered markers on the work points.

Ranked changes: Specific changes, ranked by what they add, each linked to the video behind it.
What each change is worth: Units a week and cost per unit, estimated on a model of the floor.
Layout options: Layouts compared for throughput, walking and crane lifts before equipment moves.
Standard work: Step-by-step instructions and value stream maps, written from the fastest method on video.

Plant layout simulation Process documentation

Did it hold?

The cameras keep measuring after the report, so the plant sees whether each change stuck and whether the number moved. The same video is reviewed for unsafe conditions.

A forklift in the aisle of a fabrication bay, with amber zones on the floor under a crane load and at a walkway crossing.

Example line

Units off the line, week 6: 4.5/hr
Forklift crossings a day: 34
People identified: 0

Tracking: The measures keep updating, so you see whether a change was adopted and whether it paid.
Unsafe conditions: Forklift crossings, loads overhead and missing protection, by area and shift.
Process, not people: Everything is measured per station. No one is identified, scored or reported on.

Safety monitoring

“After the first results, I was able to go straight out and change three or four things.”

Vice president of operations at a US steel fabricator that had to triple its output

Cameras up: 3 days
First results: 2 weeks
Throughput expected: +40%

Read the case study

Get in touch

Tell us what you make. We reply within one business day.

Day 1A call and a walk-through
Week 1Cameras, the plant's or ours
Week 2First results