WHITEPAPER

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Forward by Don Korfhage

President of IGear

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OCT 21, 2025

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Contents

 

FORWARD

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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THE MISSING LAYER IN SMART MANUFACTURING
 

TURNING RESPONSE INTO DATA

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FROM EVENT TO INSIGHT

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A NEW STANDARD FOR OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

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ABOUT THE IGEAR SQUEAKS PLATFORM

 

                                                                                                                                                     

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Foreward​

 

As manufacturers continue their digital transformation journey, most have achieved remarkable visibility into their machines, processes, and performance data. Yet one essential element remains largely invisible — the human response. What happens in those critical moments after a fault occurs still lives outside the digital record. We know when machines fail and when they are restored, but not how they got there — who responded, how quickly, or what actions were taken to resolve the issue.

At IGear, we believe that closing this visibility gap is the next frontier in manufacturing intelligence. Every event on the plant floor tells two stories — one written by the machines, and one written by the people who keep them running. By capturing and connecting both, manufacturers gain a complete and continuous picture of performance.

This whitepaper explores that missing layer of data — the human response — and how SQUEAKS bridges the gap between machines and people. The insights that emerge are not just about faster response times or better communication; they’re about empowering teams, reducing downtime, and driving a culture of continuous improvement that defines the future of smart manufacturing.

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Executive Summary

 

Despite decades of investment in smart manufacturing technologies, a critical blind spot remains on the plant floor — what happens between a fault and its resolution. Machines, sensors, and HMIs capture and display when a problem occurs, but manufacturers have little to no visibility into the human response: who acted, how quickly, what steps were taken, and how effectively the issue was resolved.

This missing layer of insight carries a heavy cost. Delays and inefficiencies in human response can cost manufacturers up to $32,000 per minute in lost productivity, scrap, and downtime. Without a clear understanding of these response dynamics, opportunities for improvement remain hidden and costly inefficiencies persist.

SQUEAKS fills this gap by capturing, digitizing, and analyzing every step of the human response process — from alert to resolution. It transforms invisible actions into measurable data, creating a single source of truth that connects people, machines, and processes. The result is faster response times, streamlined communication, and actionable insights that drive continuous improvement and operational excellence.

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The Missing Layer in Smart Manufacturing

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Manufacturers have invested heavily in smart technologies — PLCs, sensors, HMIs, MES, ERP, and CMMS systems — all designed to capture and connect machine and process data. These systems have transformed how we measure and manage equipment performance, but they still overlook one of the most critical and variable components in production: the human response.

Every minute counts when an unplanned event occurs. Machines stop, production stalls, and
valuable time slips away. Studies show that downtime can cost as much as $32,000 per minute, yet
most manufacturers still have no visibility into how quickly teams respond or how efficiently they
resolve issues. While the machine data is clear, the human data is missing — and that’s the hidden layer of loss in even the most advanced smart factories.

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​Turning Response into Data

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SQUEAKS closes this gap by capturing the full narrative of what happens after a fault occurs. It records the human side of the event — who responded first, how long it took to acknowledge, what actions were taken, and how the issue was ultimately resolved. These once-invisible activities are now transformed into structured, time-stamped data that integrates seamlessly with existing plant systems.

By turning human response into measurable data, SQUEAKS enables manufacturers to reduce response times, streamline communication, and accelerate problem resolution. But it doesn’t stop there — this same data becomes a powerful resource for continuous improvement. Once the fire is out, teams can conduct informed post-mortem reviews, learning from every event to prevent future occurrences and refine best practices.

In short, SQUEAKS doesn’t just make problems visible — it makes them understandable, measurable, and improvable. It introduces a missing layer of intelligence that connects the people, the process, and the technology, creating a truly closed loop of awareness and action on the factory floor.

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From Event to Insight

 

Every fault or disruption on the plant floor generates two stories: the one told by the machines, and the one lived by the people. Traditional systems capture the machine’s story — alarms, fault codes, cycle times, and downtime — but the human story remains unwritten. Without that layer, it’s impossible to understand why certain events take longer to resolve, which teams perform best under pressure, or how communication flows during critical moments.

SQUEAKS brings these stories together. By connecting to existing automation, maintenance, and communication systems, it builds a complete, contextualized record of both machine and human activity. When an event occurs, SQUEAKS captures every relevant interaction: who acknowledged the alert, when they responded, how they collaborated, what actions were taken, and how the issue was resolved.

This new, unified dataset transforms raw activity into insight — enabling teams to analyze patterns, benchmark performance, and identify opportunities for improvement. Supervisors gain visibility into response times and ownership clarity. Maintenance and quality teams can measure the effectiveness of communication and escalation workflows. Leadership can finally quantify the human contribution to uptime and the impact of faster resolution on production efficiency.

The benefits extend beyond the moment of crisis. After an event, teams can conduct post-mortem response reviews, leveraging the data to learn what worked, what didn’t, and where gaps occurred. Each incident becomes an opportunity to fine-tune procedures, strengthen accountability, and improve the collective response for future events.

SQUEAKS turns every disruption into a data-driven feedback loop – closing the gap between response, resolution, and review, and creating a culture of continuous improvement built on visibility, speed, and learning.

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A New Standard for Operational Excellence

 

Manufacturing excellence has always depended on three things: visibility, speed, and accountability. Modern systems have delivered unprecedented visibility into machines and processes, but the human dimension — the decisions, actions, and communication that ultimately restore production — has remained out of sight. SQUEAKS changes that equation.

By transforming human response into data, SQUEAKS establishes a new standard for operational excellence. Every event becomes measurable and traceable, providing a real-time understanding of how people, machines, and systems interact during critical moments. Instead of relying on assumptions or incomplete reports, manufacturers gain a factual, time-stamped history of every incident and its resolution.

This comprehensive visibility enables proactive management. Teams can identify patterns that lead to delays, spot recurring bottlenecks, and recognize high-performing responders. Leaders can benchmark performance across shifts, lines, or plants, and make informed decisions that directly improve uptime and productivity.

Ultimately, SQUEAKS doesn’t just enhance communication — it digitally transforms it. By integrating seamlessly with existing PLCs, HMIs, MES, and CMMS systems, SQUEAKS connects people to data and data to action. It turns fragmented information into a single, trusted source of truth that powers continuous improvement and sustainable operational excellence.

With SQUEAKS, manufacturers move beyond reacting to downtime, product quality issues and employee safety concerns — they gain the intelligence to anticipate, learn, and lead.

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