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Machine shops run thanks to a combination of skilled professionals and advanced technology. Advanced CNC machines run G-code produced by CAM systems or programmed by experts. Simulation software prevents collisions, automation systems keep parts moving through production at a predictable speed, with specialized cutting tools carving money out of solid billets and castings. At every stage, expert machinists and engineers check and re-check their work to ensure every part is in spec. But all this technology and expertise means little if no one sent the latest update on work instructions to the machinist who just hit start on his machine tool. The most advanced technology and most skilled engineers cannot make the parts produced from that run sellable.

Communication may be the most underappreciated skill in an industry dominated by the mathematically inclined, but it is vital to ensuring that the skilled machinists and high-tech equipment produce parts the customers want. When discovered Harmoni — a system that combines machine monitoring with shop management by integrating with ERP, the company found that technology could support better human communication.

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The DL on MSI

MSI began in 1969 as a contract manufacturer and has developed into a major supplier of aerospace and defense parts, in addition to some work in medical and consumer goods. It has expanded multiple times, now residing in a 150,000-square-foot facility in Whitsett, North Carolina, where around 300 employees tend dozens of machine tools, including five-axis machines, multi-spindle machines, Swiss-type lathes, CNC grinders, and both cylindrical and centerless grinders. It works with various steels, stainless, hardened steel, Inconel, titanium and other difficult-to-machine materials.

The company prides itself both on its excellent technology and on the quality of its workers, offering engineering services in addition to machining parts. Because the company has great faith in its people, it openly courts difficult parts, leveraging the quality of its personnel to tackle those projects, according to VP of Operations Jessica Covington. “If there are ten shops that can do a job, we probably won’t win it,” she says. “Our product is our people: We’re selling our ability to make the most complicated parts on the market.”

To support this key selling point, the company has invested a great deal into an apprenticeship program, with 65 apprentices being active at the time of my visit in the summer of 2024. The program takes four years to complete, covering various aspects of machining and providing an associate’s degree at the conclusion. In testament to the success of the program, many graduates go on to work for MSI, including the entire maintenance crew. Much of the company’s equipment is purchased used, then refurbished by the maintenance team, including some DMG MORI NT mill-turn machines. In a facility the size of MSI’s, with dozens of machine tools, this saves a great deal of money and ensures the company can handle any mechanical hiccups as they come. “We’ve had great success with this strategy,” Covington says.

Additionally, the apprenticeship program also offers an IT path, as the company maintains its own IT team. “If we were handcuffed to off-the-shelf IT,” Covington says, “We couldn’t move at our pace.” With an in-house IT team, MSI can address issues quickly with a staff that knows the needs of the rest of the team. Half the IT team are alumni of the apprenticeship program, and Covington is proud the company has been able to retain so many of its apprentices. “We want people who are motivated and skilled, and we do what we can to be the kind of place where motivated people want to work.” This includes supporting the continuing education of any employees looking to improve their skills at the company.

Because the company is so heavily invested in the capabilities of its teams, it is only natural that its investment in machine monitoring grew out of a desire to improve internal communication.

Disciplined Change

At first, MSI was hesitant to fully embrace the machine monitoring technologies it had explored, but it partnered with Harmoni in late 2023 to run a trial using its technology to monitor a set of 10 machines. Like traditional monitoring systems, Harmoni provides access to real-time machine data, but it also integrates with ERP systems to automate time-charging activities and provide easy access to schedules, work instructions, labor hours and digital checksheets, providing a multifaceted look at the rate of production. The system is also designed to connect shopfloor personnel to engineering and QA, clarifying data to provide a clear snapshot of production to management.

MSI’s primary ERP is Epicor, which it uses for managing orders, quotes and shipping data. With Harmoni, however, the data in Epicor is directly connected to the data from machine tools. “I think of Harmoni as removing a barrier between what I see and what the operators see,” Covington says.

As much as the company was willing to give the trial a chance, MSI realized that the full benefit could only be achieved by implementing the system shop-wide. The core of Harmoni’s approach to digital manufacturing is in the way it connects disparate data sets and makes them more accessible across the company. If only a few machine tools are looped into that, it cannot deliver its full value. “It’s hard to be partially committed and see the results that you want.” After touring a facility that had fully integrated Harmoni into its production cycle, MSI saw the benefits of an interconnected management system and decided to take the plunge. “It was a bit of a leap of faith,” Covington explains. “But we said, ‘We’re MSI. We can do anything.’”

In January 2024, MSI went all-in on Harmoni, first focusing on clocking in and out and charging time to jobs, then scaling up. Harmoni President and Co-Founder David Caputo applauds this approach. “Too much change at once results in chaos,” he says, “but disciplined change makes success much more achievable.”

The Bleeding Edge

Harmoni terminals are now located at every machine tool on MSI’s floor, making it easy for workers to input and receive information. “I don’t want my people to have to walk across a shop to input something into an ERP,” Covington says. “I want people to be able to claim parts at their station.” Because the system functions as a bridge between machine data and the ERP system, it can connect the employee and machine to the job they should be working on. Work orders arrive at their screen, with only the most up-to-date work instructions appearing, a major improvement over paper travelers.

“Paper travelers are only as up-to-date as the day they’re printed,” Covington says. “Harmoni puts work orders, setup sheets, and quality instructions right there, always with the latest version.” This helps prevent the cost in both work hours and material of producing an outdated version of a part. “I want there to be exactly one option for how to run the part,” Covington continues. Harmoni can even load the program directly to the machine control. “It was hard to integrate, but saves time and effort.”

Being at each machine also makes it simple for MSI to utilize alarm lights: green for running efficiently, red for not. “Harmoni tracks production in real time, and can compare the production rate to the estimate in the quote,” Caputo says. “It’s not just giving space for people to put part numbers in at the end of the day. So managers have the information they need to manage effectively.” Using the light system to gauge efficiency, managers can tell at a glance if something needs attention. The company considered more complex alerts, but ultimately discarded the idea. “If it needs a manager’s attention, it doesn’t matter what exactly is going wrong,” Covington says. “The important thing is that the manager knows something’s wrong.”

RFID antennae keep track of who is at the machine and where equipment is located within the facility. This helps ensure that the correct jobs are being loaded for the correct operators, in addition to ensuring accountability. While some workers might feel squeamish about carrying an RFID tracker, in practice it often helps employees communicate with management. “If we see that a spindle is regularly stopping and the operator for that machine is constantly there to fix issues, it’s a lot easier to corroborate that there’s a problem with the process and not the operator,” Covington explains.

Over time, the collation of both machine data and ERP information has enabled MSI to pursue more efficient strategies. For example, the company has stopped treating spindle activity as the most important metric. “Earned hours, not spindle time, is the best metric,” Covington says. “Scrapped parts use spindle time, but don’t add profit.” This is easier to identify when spindle time is directly connected to the information on the order kept in the ERP. The company also tracks overall equipment effectiveness, comparing machining time to the estimates from senior machinists.

Looking at the full implementation, MSI found the results more than satisfying. “We almost eliminated errors in part counts,” Covington says. While the company did not want to go into specific dollar amounts, with the company’s goal of producing complex parts that most other shops cannot handle, the savings provided by eliminating errors more than made up for the cost of the system. “When you’re working at the bleeding edge of technology, you can’t remove human error. We rely on skilled machinists, and if we can take minor decisions away then they can focus on the value they add instead of the paperwork.”

Harmoni CEO Adam Ellis is proud of this success. “With Harmoni, you’re replacing multiple systems with one system,” he says. Machine data, ERP data, and information from quality, engineering and operations all come together on one screen, accessible from terminals all over the facility. “Once you’re fully adapted, all these inputs feed together to provide you with the full context.”