Analyzing Machine Operation with Video

Several other posts have focused on the performance of human operators in a production environment. However video can also be used to better understand how machines operate. The following video clip shows how dough is extruded and then cut off…

Assembling a View of Multiple Operations

At the end of the Hartybake production process there is an automatic bagger. Waffles are placed on a conveyor with small moving pegs to control spacing. Workers transfer the waffles that exit from the oven and insert them in the conveyor. The naturally…

The Magic of Special Cases

In a previous post, I showed a way to extract detailed operational data from a video clip of human-paced operations. As I did the tagging, I saw some situations where the operator deviated from the normal pattern. They happened when the…

Analyzing Customer Behavior from Video

A lot of customer service functions involve complex interactions between employees and customers. Studying and analyzing these interactions is complicated and time consuming. In the retail world, however, there is often a steady source of high quality video of those…

Using Video to Measure Process Variation

In a previous post, I described a novel way to use video to capture visual evidence of process variation and make it far more evident to potential stakeholders. The technique used the Dartfish Analyzer video blending feature from the Dartfish…