This week Shoestring showcased a range of low-cost digital solutions at Factory Expo, including a temperature monitoring solution on a coffee machine.
Over 100 people working in manufacturing came to see the solutions at Shoestring’s exhibition stand at Factory Expo during Digital Manufacturing Week, which was held at Liverpool’s Exhibition Centre 16 and 17 November.
Three demonstrations featured on the stand, as well as a large screen displaying a dashboard showing live data from the sensing system on the coffee machine in operation on the University of Cambridge / IfM stand round the corner.
A low-cost sensing system (pictured in the image on the left above, situated under the blue milk jug) was used to monitor the milk temperature during the production of over 300 coffees for delegates at DMW 2022. Each time the milk was heated, the jug rested for a seconds on the sensing platform, where the jug’s temperature was taken and a count was made. The results from the milk sensing system were then displayed in real-time on a dashboard mounted on the Shoestring stand (right). The top dial displayed the temperature, which at this moment is the ambient temperature of the room as no milk jug was resting on the system, while the bottom dial displayed the number of hot milk jug preparations that have been made.
Shoestring demonstrators on the stand (above), from left: Job tracking set up to run across 4 locations using 4 bar code scanners and job cards; a drill set up to monitor equipment utilisation using a vibration sensor mounted on the side of the drill; a 6-sensor board which demonstrates how a range of sensors work including ones to measure light intensity, an encoder (for dial movement) and distance.
Shoestring at the SME Growth Summit: Shoestring’s founder, Duncan McFarlane also delivered a keynote presentation at Digital Manufacturing Week’s SME Growth Summit on 17 November which sparked some interesting questions on how Shoestring can help support the much needed development of digital skills in the UK workforce.
Shoestring demonstrations can be seen live at the Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge at the next Shoestring workshop. Register on our contact page for updates to receive an invitation to the next event.
Interested in seeing some Shoestring solutions in action?
Ask your local manufacturing network, or local business development advisor, to contact Shoestring to arrange for a demonstration to be shown to small and medium sized manufacturing companies in your region by sending an email to contact@digitalshoestring.