India's largest medical device manufacturer boosts plant efficiency by 36%
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Published Jan 18, 2026
The Problem
A global medical device manufacturer with over USD 200M in annual revenue, operates highly disciplined, Lean-driven factories. After years of 5S programs, Lean initiatives, and engagements with top-tier industrial engineering consultants, efficiency improvements began to plateau. Gains were incremental, difficult to sustain, and heavily dependent on manual audits and observations.
While strong standards existed, there was no real-time visibility into operator productivity on the shop floor. Performance was reviewed only after the shift—once the opportunity to intervene had already passed. The challenge was not inefficiency, but invisibility into day-to-day execution.
The Old System
Manual production whiteboards
Operators and supervisors spent significant time updating whiteboards at in the middle and end of shifts. Data was delayed, inconsistent, and vulnerable to manual errors—making it difficult to trust reported output.
Stopwatch-based time studies
Performance was measured through periodic sampling rather than continuous observation. These snapshots failed to capture variability, micro-stoppages, and real operating conditions, leading to decisions based on incomplete data.
Lean workshops and improvement reviews
Improvement initiatives relied heavily on historical data and assumptions. While workshops generated strong presentations and action plans, the lack of continuous measurement limited sustained impact on the shop floor.
Visual supervision
A single supervisor was responsible for monitoring 50+ operators across multiple workstations. This made consistent oversight impossible, allowing deviations, idle time, and process drift to go undetected for long periods.
As a result, issues were identified too late, root causes were unclear, and productivity improvements were difficult to sustain.
The Team Used Optifye AI Cameras to
Automate production reporting
Optifye automated operator productivity tracking with 98.5% accuracy, uncovering a 12% variance between actual output and manually reported logbook data. This closed long-standing visibility gaps in performance reporting.
Monitor actual operator output live
Production teams tracked actual vs. standard operator output in real time, enabling immediate course correction instead of end-of-shift reviews. Issue resolution time dropped from days to minutes, helping the team consistently meet production targets (6 out of 6 days).
Ensure SOP adherence
The industrial engineering team defined SOPs & used Optifye to monitor real-time operator adherence. Once deviations became measurable, teams were able to systematically improve compliance and standardization.
Quantify idle time
For the first time, the team accurately measured workstation idle time and identified that operators were idle for ~1.3 hours per shift on average. The analysis revealed that micro-stoppages and short idle periods were a major driver of efficiency loss.
Results in the first 7 weeks
36% increase in efficiency
49% increase in operator SOP compliance
34 minutes reduction in idle time / operator
Today, this leading manufacturer operates with continuous, real-time operational intelligence layered onto its Lean systems & is by far the most efficient in its industry.