Intermittent Material Jams
Material jams occurred 2-3 times per 8-hour shift during the material acceleration phase. Each jam required brief stoppage and manual reset. The jam cause was unknown—material quality seemed fine, equipment seemed fine, but jams persisted.
What Became Visible
Micro-stop data + feed-rate telemetry revealed that jams occurred when feed rate exceeded 2.3% acceleration rate during the first 100ms of the feed cycle. At lower acceleration rates, jams never occurred. The material-feed control system was slightly over-accelerating during the transition, causing material skid and jam.
Feed-Rate Parameter Adjustment
Feed-rate acceleration reduced from 2.5% to 2.1% during the initial phase. This reduced stress on the material feed mechanism and eliminated jamming.
How it worked: Process telemetry + micro-stop correlation revealed the specific parameter causing jams. Parameter adjustment eliminated the cause.
Results
no feed jams
from jam elimination
Material jams are often caused by sub-optimal process parameters, not material or equipment. Parameter tuning eliminates the root cause.
Operational Reality
The feed system was operating slightly outside optimal parameters. Tuning revealed by micro-stop + telemetry correlation solved the problem.