True machine runtime—a metric that didn't exist before
The challenge
You can measure how many pieces a station produces, but measuring exactly how much time the needle was actually running—engaged in value-adding work—has been impossible without constant human observation. This fundamental gap means you never knew the true utilization of your most expensive production assets.
Why it happens
Industrial sewing machines have no internal clocks or activity logs. They run when the operator presses the pedal and stop when they don't. No system has existed to measure the cumulative runtime of the needle itself—the only time that actually creates value. Start-of-shift to end-of-shift gives you scheduled time, not productive time.
Our solution
OpenSeam's seambit sensors detect every needle movement with millisecond precision. We measure actual runtime—the exact duration the needle was in motion, engaged in sewing. Not scheduled time, not attendance time, not "time at station"—actual productive needle time. This metric has never been available before because there was no practical way to capture it at scale.
The outcome
You now see the difference between scheduled production time and actual production time at every station. A station scheduled for 8 hours might show 4.2 hours of actual needle runtime—the rest lost to stoppages, material handling, quality checks, and other non-value-adding activities. This visibility reveals exactly how much productive capacity you're losing and where recovery opportunities exist. You can set realistic efficiency targets based on achievable runtime increases rather than guessing.
How we deliver
Runtime tracking requires no configuration or setup. The moment a seambit is installed, it begins measuring needle activity. Runtime appears in your dashboards alongside other metrics, accumulating throughout the shift and available for historical analysis. You can compare runtime across stations, lines, shifts, and operators to identify patterns and improvement opportunities that were completely invisible before.