How can you manage operational pauses without losing data?
In industrial manufacturing, temporary interruptions of the production cycle are a daily reality.

However, when these moments are not properly tracked, they can compromise both the optimization of production processes and the quality of the collected data. In this blog post, we analyze the case of a company specialized in pharmaceutical packaging that, thanks to the Zerynth Industrial IoT platform, successfully addressed a critical issue related to production progress management.

Operational Context

During a work shift, production cycle interruptions may occur due to technical or operational reasons. For example, an operator may stop the machine for a quality check, to change a tool, or to perform minor maintenance. Once the reason for the pause is resolved, the work order is resumed and completed.

Main Challenge: Data Continuity and Traceability in Work Orders

A company in the pharmaceutical packaging sector handles highly regulated production processes on a daily basis, where operational accuracy and data traceability are essential requirements. During work shifts, temporary interruptions of the production cycle are common, caused by operational needs such as quality checks, tool replacements, micro-maintenance, or planned breaks.

In these cases, the operator temporarily halts activity and later resumes the same work order on the same machine. While this dynamic management is natural in production environments, it presents significant challenges in terms of data consistency and continuity.

The company faced frequent temporary interruptions during work shifts. Each time an operator stopped a machine for checks or maintenance, the system interpreted the event as the definitive end of the work order, automatically generating a new order upon resumption.

This caused:

• Data fragmentation and lack of consistency in reports.

• Difficulty in accurately measuring downtime.

• Distorted performance metrics, affecting overall process efficiency.

Implemented Solution: An IoT and AI Platform for Monitoring and MES Integration

To address this challenge, the company chose to implement the Zerynth Platform, an Industrial IoT platform directly connected to both the machinery and the company’s ERP/MES system.

Specifically, the Work Order Management app was introduced, designed to:

• Accurately track operational pauses.

• Maintain the integrity of the original work order even after an interruption.

• Allow operators to explicitly communicate activity status via HMI installed on the machine.

Throughout all work phases – even during pauses – the platform continues to collect status data, creating a clear, chronologically ordered map of operations.
This solution enabled full integration with the MES, avoiding duplications and providing real-time visibility of the production cycle.

Achieved Results

The adoption of the Zerynth Platform enabled the company to manage operational pauses smoothly and consistently, maintaining the continuity of the production cycle even in the presence of interruptions. This approach eliminated previous issues related to duplicated work orders and significantly improved the quality of aggregated data.

The system provided a detailed and accurate view of the entire work shift, allowing production teams and analysts to access coherent, easy-to-interpret reports aligned with actual operations.

The implementation of the Zerynth Platform led to measurable improvements:

• 📈 +18% in accuracy of downtime measurement

• ❌ -22% in work order recording errors

• 🧾 +15% in report readability for both shop floor staff and production managers

Thanks to these improvements, the company achieved:

• Continuous and reliable monitoring of the production cycle, even during pauses

• Accurate processing times, excluding operational interruptions

• Greater control over operational efficiency, supporting both optimization decisions and audit requirements

Final Considerations

This case demonstrates how proper use of an Industrial IoT platform can solve complex production process monitoring challenges, ensuring continuity and traceability even in highly dynamic manufacturing contexts.

Thanks to MES integration and the ability to register every event, even operational pauses become part of a valuable information flow that supports optimization of production processes.

If you too are looking for a solution for advanced production progress management, get in touch: the Zerynth team is ready to help you improve your factory’s efficiency.