PICO MES, a software company enabling digital transformation for all factories, has worked to modernize factory floor operations at Winston Industries. Inside the Louisville, Kentucky facility, Winston Industries is relying on PICO MES’ digital worker guidance to enhance manufacturing productivity, employee training, and retention for its multi-generational workers.
But beyond the industries viewpoint, workers of Winston Industries have been shifted to adapt to a new series of work instructions and stations in new ways. In the midst of a major workplace shift, part of the story relies on workers to utilize the new technology presented and become comfortable with the method, regardless of their workplace history and knowledge.
In this Q&A, Shaun Tanner, the President and CEO of Winston Industries, as well as Ryan Kuhlenbeck, the Co-founder and CEO of Pico MES, gave their perspectives on the partnership, workplace shift, and futures of each company, respectively.
Shaun Tanner: President and CEO of Winston Industries
Devon Verbsky (DV): How did the partnership with PICO come to be?
Shaun Tanner (ST): “I created a plan five years ago with the initiative to find work instructions for every assembly area in the company. We began the full search process in 2021 and in 2022, we came across PICO.
I explained that I can’t have something that is words only, but needs photos, graphs, and demonstrations to intuitively understand. PICO gave a presentation to our engineering team upon that presentation came our partnership. PICO went forth and created work instructions for every area on the production floor from small beginner stage to in-depth, advanced work.
DV: How has the workforce grown to accept this change?
ST: “They loved it. I was not as much worried about my younger generation as technology is a strong-set for most in that demographic. The older generation rather is somewhat anti-change. And that’s not just here, but rather in general, as the way you might have done things over and over again has always worked. But they’re embracing it instead, saying that it simply makes it easier for them to do their job. It has become so much easier to train someone new coming in as they no longer have to learn individually from another person, saving time for both parties.
DV: How much time is being taken out of the training process?
ST: This is sheerly an assumption as it has not been fully broken down, but say I take a new hire on. I say it takes about 2 months to get them fully trained and integrated. Fifty percent of that time is someone doing that with them.
But now, I’d say someone can come in and within two to three weeks, they have fifty percent for that first week, and then the other two weeks, it is by themselves with that tool. So in total, you are going from 60 days with 2 people, to 30 days with half a person.
DV: Have you seen a change in mistake counts?
ST: “We are still too early to tell. Historically, we take a look at warranty claims. That data comes in 12 to 18 months after production starts, so that data is not yet available. What I will say is we have a measurement called first pass yield. It’s a final quality check after the product makes it to the finish line to see where you sit, making sure that the product is fully functional and good to go.
That metric has seen a 10 percent increase in the last 2 years. I can’t say that’s 100 percent on PICO and the work instructions, but it’s of course making a tremendous difference.
DV: As an outsider coming in, seeing this advancement at Winston in the technology department, are workers more inclined to jump into a position like this?
ST: “Absolutely. If you are a Gen-Z or Millennial, chances are good that you’ve had a perception that manufacturing facilities are rough spots you maybe wouldn’t want to be. That goes away when you see the technology at hand. It’s no longer an old, archaic system, but rather a place where workers can come in knowing they can accomplish what’s needed.”
“Additionally, to speak on generational factoring and training, if you are of an older generation coming in and being trained by someone younger, chances may be that that does not go quite as well as planned. It goes a lot smoother when you are learning from a computer and a diagram and everyone is in the same headspace at the same time.”
Ex. “It’s a whole lot less about efficiency than you might think. If you take a broad look at the workforce, we have a population issue in the United States. The population from the ages of 18 to 62 started to go down in 2020 statistically, and will continue to drop through 2031.
It used to be that you would train someone and that person would stick around and trade the next, handing down the process. But it’s a process you can’t always trust. So the question becomes, what are you going to do today to fix that problem tomorrow.”
Ryan Kuhlenbeck: Co-founder and CEO of Pico MES
Devon Verbsky (DV): What was your side of the partnership with Winston like?
Ryan Kuhlenbeck (RK): “We found each other through a mutual tool partner. We came together rather quickly as they were looking for a plethora of different integration options. Over the course of two years after we paired from there, we’ve built up hundreds of processes within the system. Now that does not look like much on the floor, but it’s intended to be that way to help them do their job. With Winston especially, it’s been neat to see how people can progress. We will of course watch in constant support for years to come, but we anticipate additional processes coming to life as we go.”
DV: With the additions as you go, do you see yourself being the key player in the processing with Winston?
RK: “Usually, and hopefully. A big problem we face in the industry is what we would call ‘dead ends.’ Two years ago, if you were buying work instructions, you’d like strictly digital instructions with no PowerPoint presentation type. Most companies cannot connect to tools, so you can get the instructions in place, but when it’s time to go error-proof, you need to be able to turn off a tool and turn on another, moving to the right settings and measuring good or bad.
If you have to then go in and integrate a whole new system to do that, it can be quite a burden. With PICO however, that exists, so they will be able to operate in that format. And if they wanted to connect to their ordering system so that product automatically comes to the shop floor, they could do that. And when they reach the limits of PICO, we have already built further integrations so they can get what they need for leverage such as artificial intelligence or advanced cameras, it can all work optimally for them.
Our stance on this is we want to give people access without forcing them to use something. Given that they are in a competitive industry, we have to go about ensuring that we are giving the right thing.
Anything we add to the PICO platform for one factory becomes available to every factory. So if we integrate a new tool or bring in a new feature of video display, or even connecting the CAD mode to the system, they will be able to take advantage of that without having to go out of their way to pursue that individually.”
DV: How many facilities do you work with at PICO?
RK: “A few dozen at this point and growing pretty rapidly. They are scattered throughout the U.S. and we have a few overseas, heavy in the automotive industry, aerospace, as well as industrial equipment. Semiconductor equipment as well has become a big deal that we can work with.”
DV: What separates PICO from other MES Software companies?
RK: “Affordability is a big key, and then the ease of use. Those two can be tied together as you make it affordable when you don’t have a ton of custom work that needs to be done. Technically, PICO has a lot of differences. From behind the scenes, we run a bottoms-up MES rather than a top-down. Instead of starting with your high level factory routings and big picture from day one, you can start with one station, one process, and build up from there.
We have a free version at PICO, and that can be scaled all the way up to running full automotive OEM factories. But you can take advantage of whatever chunk you like from PICO. In the case of Winston Industries, they use the work instructions. Other factories are focused on tool connections. Some need advanced business system connections, but each factory can choose what they want.”
“PICO is a Series A company, and we have raised over $21 million dollars to build up the company. And that’s another key piece of PICO, as we’ve invested millions of dollars into a product so these companies don’t have to work one by one, but the product can rather be amortized across all of these facilities.”
DV: What are you pushing for next at PICO?
RK: “For us, as you have these digital backbones at this factory, there is a digital thread coming off of each and every station. They know when an assembly went into that station, when it was produced, what operator produced it. But if you can take that data that each factory has, being 20 or 30% of factories having this, you can connect the supply chains to each other. And now that data can be shared, where a supplier can send data to the next and so on in the chain before it gets to the end product.
If you can see data across each of the suppliers, you can solve issues faster and improve your logistics. Rapid deployments in all of these factories means we can join them together. This factory has their solution, while the one across the street might still be using paper instructions. And the factory next to that might have a full robotics line. But they are not connected. If you can connect them together then people can build applications on top of that data, enhancing efficiency.”