Your Production in ENLYZE
Learn how to structure the ENLYZE App to best fit your needs and your production
When starting to work with ENLYZE one of the first challenges is deciding how to model your production inside our system. This page helps you to get familiar with the ways we can structure your data at ENLYZE and decide which one suits you best.
Understanding the data hierarchy: Sites, Machines and Data Sources
1. Site
A Site in ENLYZE is the top-level grouping of your production environment. It can represent:
A physical production plant
An individual factory
A sector or department within a larger facility
Why it's important: Sites allow you to isolate and manage data based on physical or logical production zones. Each site is clearly separated within the ENLYZE App, enabling you to focus on the performance of a specific area.
2. Machine
Within each site, we define one or more Machines. In ENLYZE, a machine can mean:
A single physical machine
A logical representation of multiple physical machines (e.g., a production line)
Peripheral equipment that does not serve a production purpose but influences the production (e.g., an energy meter for the whole shop floor or sensors that measure air temperature and humidity)
Use cases:
If your production is organized along lines (e.g., filling → labeling → packaging), each step can be modeled as a separate machine.
Alternatively, you can model the entire line as one machine if your tracking and reporting are done at the line level.
Machine-level insights:
OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is calculated per machine.
Downtimes are recorded and categorized at the machine level.
Production runs are also mapped to machines, which allows for precise tracking of what was produced where and when.
3. Data Source
A Data Source represents the raw source of data – typically a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) – that feeds operational data into ENLYZE.
Key characteristics:
A machine can have multiple data sources (e.g., multiple PLCs controlling different parts of the process).
Data sources are used to retrieve variables such as temperatures, speeds, and counters.
Digital Clones: ENLYZE supports digital clones of PLCs as long as the connection type allows for parallel readouts. This is especially useful when:
One PLC contains variables for multiple machines.
You want to assign a subset of variables to different machines for cleaner tracking and reporting.
Keep in mind that the feasibility of cloning PLCs has to be evaluated on an individual customer basis and is not always possible.
Example 1: Line as a Single Machine
Scenario
You operate a plastic extrusion line with the following components:
Extruder
Calibrator
Haul-Off
Cutter
These components always run together as a tightly integrated unit, and you track performance at the line level rather than per station.
ENLYZE Modeling
Site: “Main Extrusion Plant”
Machine: “Extrusion Line 1”
Data Sources: Multiple PLCs (e.g., one for extruder, one for haul-off & calibrator, one for cutter), all linked to the single machine
Production Runs: Assigned directly to “Extrusion Line 1”
Benefits:
Simplified tracking
Aligned with business logic when line performance is assessed as a whole
Easier to attribute OEE losses holistically
Example 2: Line Split into Multiple Machines
Scenario
Your extrusion line consists of the same four components, but:
Downtimes are often isolated (e.g., the cutter stops while the extruder continues producing scrap)
You want to optimize individual steps in the process (e.g., reducing calibration time or haul-off slippage)
ENLYZE Modeling
Site: “Main Extrusion Plant”
Machines:
“Extruder”
“Calibrator”
“Haul-Off”
“Cutter”
Data Sources:
Each PLC is linked to its corresponding machine (or cloned if needed)
Production Runs: Mapped to one designated machine (e.g., the extruder), while others are auxiliary
Benefits:
More granular visibility into weak points
Enables station-specific optimizations
Useful when partial line stoppages are frequent
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