Transparent Reporting with ZOLLER TMS Tool Management Solutions

To maintain a clear overview of a large inventory of tools, measuring, and testing equipment and to reliably plan their use in production, technical and administrative staff require continuously updated information. This can be achieved with ZOLLER’s reporting service. Selectable data from a wide range of modules within the ZOLLER Tool Management Solutions software is collected at programmable intervals and output in various data formats. Robin Bender, Project Manager for the ZOLLER TMS Tool Management Solutions software, comments: “Our ZOLLER reporting service is easy and flexible to configure. Data output can be configured according to individual requirements, allowing it to be precisely tailored to specific needs and process requirements. This enables manufacturing companies to choose whether reports are generated at set intervals or triggered by events. The latter applies, for example, to minimum stock levels in the Warehouse Management software module. When the programmed event occurs, the designated individuals and departments receive reports and lists in the selected format.“
  

Qualified Data Basis for Optimization 

The information provided by Reporting Service serves more than just transparency. As Robin Bender emphasizes, it is particularly well-suited for specifically optimizing individual processes in manufacturing facilities. This applies, for example, to tables generated at intervals that specify minimum stock levels, quantities, and the frequency of repeatedly procured tools. A concentration of certain tools can be quickly identified from this. On the one hand, this can lead to optimizing inventory levels and minimum order quantities, and thus logistics. For example, one can benefit from volume discounts. 

On the other hand, the regular reports can also help optimize manufacturing processes. If, for example, individual drilling, turning, or milling tools are procured exceptionally frequently in large quantities, this may indicate above-average wear on the tools during specific machining operations. This provides solid data for technically optimizing these processes to operate much more economically in the future.
  

Reliably meeting deadlines 

“Manufacturing companies benefit from the reporting service, particularly when it comes to measuring and testing equipment,” Robin Bender continues. Measuring and testing equipment must be calibrated at specified intervals. The ZOLLER reporting service makes it much easier to keep track of this. Once programmed, the function automatically generates reports at set intervals—such as monthly or weekly—listing the measuring and testing equipment requiring calibration. These reports are distributed to the responsible individuals and departments and can also be centrally stored as documentation. ZOLLER’s Reporting Service also flexibly generates reports based on individual criteria, such as the type of measuring and testing equipment or their measurement methods. This provides quick and reliable overviews of calibration dates for specific measuring and testing technologies, such as gear measuring equipment or surface measuring instruments.
  

Flexibly and freely programmable 

Robin Bender highlights as a particular advantage that ZOLLER’s optionally available reporting service can be flexibly adapted to specific needs in every respect. This includes the reporting service sending data, for example, via email to designated individuals. The text and text format of the email can be created in advance as a template and predefined. Alternatively, reports can be created as tables with freely definable column contents in data formats such as PDF and CSV, among others, and exported to selectable data storage locations. The latter includes storage drives on individual computers as well as cloud storage locations (accessible via web addresses). 

In addition, individual reports can be configured and initiated as needed to retrieve specific information. The general settings can then be saved for subsequent reports and retrieved as needed.
  

Automatic Benefits 

“Another key ZOLLER advantage of the Reporting Service is that all processes for collecting data, as well as the output of reports, lists, and tables, run automatically in the background without manual intervention,” explains Robin Bender. Selected specialists automatically receive the reports intended for them. This ensures that processes deemed necessary are carried out reliably and consistently. In addition, the Reporting Service helps to continuously scrutinize, evaluate, and improve internal processes. The automatically generated reports serve as a reminder to use data to repeatedly optimize individual commercial and technical workflows. This proves particularly profitable for manufacturing companies, as users of ZOLLER’s Reporting Service confirm after a few months.