Vision in the palm of your hand and increased productivity: the digital transformation at Altenburg through LiveMES

About Altenburg: With over 100 years of history, Altenburg is one of the largest manufacturers of bed, bath, and table linens in Brazil. With a trajectory marked by innovation and quality, the company has always sought to improve its production processes to maintain its market leadership. Altenburg’s Unit 2 has been using LiveMES for some time, achieving excellent results in terms of efficiency and production control.

Factory Visit and Interview with the Industrial Manager:

As part of monitoring this transformation journey, we conducted an in-person visit to Altenburg’s Unit 2, where we had the opportunity to speak directly with Marcus, the unit’s Industrial Manager. During the interview, Marcus shared his impressions about the impact of LiveMES on daily operations and his own work. Below, we present the main insights from this conversation and the results achieved with the system’s implementation.

The Challenge:

Before the implementation of LiveMES, production monitoring was a time-consuming process based on individual experiences and intuition. Supervisors relied on manual checks and ERP system reports at the end of shifts to evaluate machine performance and identify production problems. This resulted in a longer response time for fault correction, impacting operational efficiency.

The Solution:

Altenburg found in LiveMES the ideal solution to optimize the monitoring and control of its production. The system’s implementation began in the company’s Unit 2, where LiveMES technology was integrated with key production resources. Subsequently, Unit 1 also adopted the system.

LiveMES offers a real-time monitoring platform, accessible directly on mobile, tablet, or computer, which allows supervisors and managers to instantly track all production indicators, such as OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), cycle times, and machine downtimes.

Impact and Results:

The implementation of LiveMES brought a true transformation to Altenburg. The impact was felt on several fronts:

Real-time vision:

Marcus, Industrial Manager of Unit 2, describes that, for the first time in over 100 years of the company, it is possible to “have a vision of production in the palm of your hand.” Supervisors and managers can monitor all production parameters in real time, allowing for immediate adjustments and quick problem-solving, without waiting for the end of the shift or the next day’s meeting.

Increased productivity:

One of the most impressive results was the increase in pillow production. By adjusting machine cycle times based on data provided by LiveMES, Altenburg managed to increase its production by 1.5 more pillows per minute. This productivity gain directly reflects in increased efficiency and delivery capacity.

Data-driven decision making:

LiveMES allows Altenburg to use historical data to plan present and future actions. Data analysis over the months makes it possible to predict failures, improve processes, and optimize resource utilization.

Team engagement:

With continuous monitoring and instant performance visibility, operators and supervisors are more engaged and proactive. As Marcus highlighted, “when you know you are being seen, the tendency is to deliver your best.” This created a culture of continuous improvement in the factory.

Watch Marcus’s full testimony: In the video below, Marcus shares his impressions about the impact of LiveMES on daily production and how the tool has helped optimize Altenburg’s operational efficiency.

Conclusion:

Altenburg is a clear example of how digital transformation, with LiveMES, can bring significant gains in productivity, efficiency, and operational control. By enabling real-time monitoring and increasing the ability to make decisions based on precise data, Altenburg has taken an important step in its journey towards Industry 4.0.

The success achieved in Unit 2 was so significant that the company expanded the use of LiveMES to Unit 1, and continues to reap the benefits of this modernization.