Andon Display & System Software for Real-Time Response
Integrates visual alerts, operator notifications, and downtime tracking into one platform. Improves production uptime, OEE, and rapid response on the factory floor.
Schematic
Andon call and escalation
How a call travels from the station to the person who can clear it, and what the system records on the way.
Real-time visual alerts that cut downtime at the source
MileSoft Andon is a shop-floor alert and response platform built on the lean-manufacturing principle that the fastest way to reduce downtime is to collapse the time between a problem occurring and the right person responding. Operators flag quality, material, or machine issues via call buttons; machines trigger automatic alerts via PLC fault signals or cycle-time deviation; sensors trigger alerts on out-of-spec readings. Every event routes instantly through an escalation workflow — supervisor, maintenance, quality, material handling — until it's resolved.
The platform accepts signals from PLCs (Siemens, Allen-Bradley, Mitsubishi), machine I/O, and MES systems alongside operator call buttons, so a single Andon event stream represents every relevant disruption on the line. Large overhead LED displays, line-side monitors, supervisor desktop dashboards, and mobile app notifications all share the same real-time event stream. The mechanism that reduces response time is the escalation ladder: tiers are paged automatically as configured thresholds elapse from the raise timestamp, so an unacknowledged event climbs without anyone deciding to escalate it.
The real ROI shows up after the first few weeks of data. Every event is logged with reason code, line, station, shift, and resolution time — so dashboards expose the recurring issues that cause chronic downtime and quietly erode OEE. MTTR trends, top downtime causes by shift and station, and OEE movement all become queryable, feeding SPC and lean improvement programs. Andon integrates with MES and ERP, supports barcode and RFID handshakes, and scales from single-line pilots to multi-plant deployments. For manufacturers serious about OEE, Andon is the single highest-ROI Industry 4.0 investment available.
What gets measured
Why one mean time to repair tells you nothing
The number most andon systems report is two different problems added together.
A plant reporting a single mean time to repair of eight minutes knows almost nothing actionable. Those eight minutes might be seven minutes of nobody noticing followed by a one-minute fix, or thirty seconds of response followed by seven and a half minutes of genuine repair work. The two situations call for opposite interventions: one is a staffing and notification problem, the other a spares and skills problem.
Separating them is not a refinement of the metric. It is the difference between a number and a diagnosis.
| Interval | Measured between | Answerable function | What moves it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Response interval | Raise → acknowledged | Supervision and notification | Staffing, shift cover, who gets paged and how fast the ladder climbs |
| Repair interval | Acknowledged → resolved | Maintenance | Spares holding, skills coverage, access to the machine |
The response clock starts at raise, not at acknowledgement. That single detail is what makes the measurement honest. Both intervals are differences between system-generated timestamps — neither is typed in by a person, and neither can be adjusted afterwards. A response interval reconstructed at shift end is biased toward the incidents nobody was too busy to record, which are the good ones.
Reporting both changes what a target means. A plant can set a response-time target its supervisors control and a repair-time target its maintenance function controls, and each function is answerable for a quantity it can actually move.
Andon display software
What a light tower cannot record
The display is the visible part. The record underneath it is the part that changes anything.
An andon display makes line status visible to everyone at once — overhead LED boards, line-side monitors, supervisor dashboards and mobile alerts, all driven from one live event stream, so the andon board on the floor and the dashboard in the office never disagree about what is stopped and who is responding.
A stack light does the first half of that and none of the second. These are the things it structurally cannot do:
No raise timestamp
Without a system-generated start, the response interval is reconstructed after the fact — and reconstruction is biased toward the incidents that were not urgent enough to distract from recording them.
One combined interval
Response and repair collapse into a single mean time to repair, so the plant cannot tell whether to change staffing or stock spares.
Inferred time state
Availability computed against a shift calendar charges planned breaks and no-demand intervals as downtime whenever the calendar and the day disagree.
Uncoded reasons
Events recorded without a reason code produce a downtime total with no Pareto structure — and therefore no maintenance programme.
Escalation by convention
Who responds, and when, lives in people's heads. A ladder that is not configured cannot be measured, and cannot be changed deliberately.
Standards
One event stream, and an OEE figure that is comparable
ISO 22400-2 defines the ratios. The denominator is where implementations go wrong.
Three trigger classes produce identical events. Operators flag quality, material or machine issues from call buttons. Machines raise alerts automatically through PLC fault signals or cycle-time deviation. Sensors trigger on out-of-specification readings. Normalising all three into one stream is what makes the analytics coherent — a plant whose operator calls and machine faults live in separate systems has two downtime records that cannot be ranked against each other, and the largest single cause is frequently the one split across both.
Overall equipment effectiveness decomposes into three ratios, each isolating a different loss class, exactly as ISO 22400-2 defines them:
OEE = A × E × Q
where A = operating time / planned production time, E = (reference cycle time × produced quantity) / operating time, and Q = good quantity / produced quantity.
The formula is the easy part. The failure is architectural rather than arithmetic: applying the correct formula to a wrongly bounded denominator produces a number that is standards-shaped but not standards-conformant, and the error is invisible in the result. The time state has to be recorded when the stop happens, not inferred from a shift calendar afterwards. That is the difference between an OEE figure comparable between two plants and one merely computed with the right formula.
Downtime cost also concentrates: a small number of reason codes typically account for most lost minutes. Ranking them is what lets effort follow the concentration rather than the complaint volume.
Standards referenced: ISO 22400-1 and ISO 22400-2 (manufacturing KPIs), IEC 62264-1 / ANSI-ISA-95 (enterprise–control integration), IEC 62541 (OPC UA) for machine connectivity, and IATF 16949 where andon events feed an automotive quality system. The full derivation is in the Andon method paper.
Features
Key Features
Built-in capabilities that set our software apart
Andon displays
overhead LED boards, line-side monitors, supervisor dashboards and mobile alerts, all driven from one live event stream
Three trigger classes
operator call buttons, PLC fault signals and cycle-time deviation, and out-of-spec sensor readings, normalised into one record
Escalation state machine
raised, acknowledged, resolved, with tiers paged automatically as thresholds elapse from the raise timestamp
Two intervals, measured separately
response and repair timed from system-generated timestamps, never reconstructed at shift end
Reason-coded event log
downtime ranked by cause, shift, line and station, with ISO 22400-2 availability, performance and quality ratios
Benefits
Key Benefits
What your team gains from adopting our platform
Integrations
Works with the systems you already run
Reads PLC fault signals and machine I/O, and hands every event to the systems already on your floor.
Testimonials
What Our Clients Say
Trusted by industry leaders across manufacturing, HVAC, and logistics.
"The software features, such as real-time monitoring and alerts, have proved invaluable in optimizing machine operations. MileSoft team's professionalism, technical expertise, and dedication to meeting our requirements have been impressive."
FAQ
Andon Display & System Software — FAQs
Answers to the most common questions about this product. Need more? Book a demo or reach out via Contact.
What is an Andon system?
How does Andon reduce downtime?
Can Andon integrate with our MES, PLCs, and machine signals?
What reports does Andon provide?
Where can the Andon displays be mounted?
What is Andon display software?
Can Andon run on our existing displays and operator workstations?
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Related Reading
Go deeper
Explore the long-form story behind this product.
Two Clocks, Not One: Escalation Timing, Time-State Capture, and What a Stack Light Cannot Do
Architecture, Computational Methods, and Field Evidence from the MileSoft Andon System
Read the paperRead the full Andon Display & System Software for Real-Time Response deep-dive
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See your downtime split into response and repair
Bring a week of downtime records. We will separate the response interval from the repair interval and show which of the two your line is actually losing time to.