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Introducing The Productivity Accelerator Toolkit
Welcome to the Productivity Accelerator - a structured continuous improvement programme that uses FourJaw data to uncover and implement productivity improvements.
To accompany the accelerator, we have put together a toolkit - the first part of the toolkit is a comprehensive spreadsheet that is connected securely to your FourJaw data via our API.
This article contains everything you need to set up and use this toolkit spreadsheet.
If you hit any issues or require help, don't hesitate to contact the FourJaw team by emailing support@fourjaw.com or by contacting your dedicated Customer Success Manager.
Data Permissions and Settings
The first time you use the spreadsheet, you may need to configure specific security settings. You will only need to do this once, and all your data will remain safe and secure when using these settings.
Enable External Content
You may come across a banner that alerts you to External Data Connections - this is correct as the spreadsheet automatically pulls data from the FourJaw API. Click "Enable Content".
Web Content Access
If you are asked about accessing web content, simply keep the default setting of "Anonymous" and click "Connect". All connections are secured using an API key so we can simply use the default here.
Referencing Other Steps
You are likely to come across the following error about one query referencing another.
This is nothing to be worried about and can be solved using the following steps.
1) Go to the "Data" tab in the Ribbon.
2) Select the first item in the ribbon menu called "Get Data".
3) In the dropdown, click "Query Options". You will see the popup below.
4) At the bottom left, select "Privacy".
5) Tick the second box for "Ignore the Privacy Levels and potentially improve performance".
Whilst this is worded somewhat seriously, it is perfectly safe to do in this situation and is required for this spreadsheet to pull data securely from the FourJaw API.
Enter Your API Key and Subdomain
In the first tab of the spreadsheet, you will need to enter your API Key and Subdomain.
To generate an API Key, navigate to FourJaw Classic and go to Settings > General
At the bottom of this page, you can generate an API key. It will look something like this: 667b6cd9-3b7a-4be1-be7e-4cab3179973c
Important: Keep your API Key safe as it grants access to your FourJaw data. Do not share it anywhere public.
Paste your API Key into the relevant cell in the spreadsheet.
For the subdomain, this is the part of your FourJaw web url represented in bold below.
https://precision-machining.fourjaw.app
https://sheffieldproducts.fourjaw.app
https://demo10.fourjaw.app
Refreshing Your Data
Now you have a valid API Key and subdomain, you can refresh the data. Go to the "Data" tab in the ribbon and click "Refresh All". Whenever you click this button, it will pull in fresh data from the API.
Choosing Your Configuration
You can choose several configuration options in the Configuration section. Whenever you change one of these, you need to click "Refresh All" again. This will be indicated by the red message under Data Refresh Guidance. 
Asset Selection (Dropdown): This is the area of the factory that you are interested in - it could be a cell/line, a specific machine or the whole factory. If you're unsure, start with the whole factory. This selection will filter everything else in the spreadsheet to only look at your selected asset/area.
Shift Selection (Dropdown): Decide whether to see 24/7 data or filter it to only inside your FourJaw shifts.
Baseline Start/End: The date range to load data for.
Machine Hourly Revenue Potential: The amount of revenue the business can earn by running a machine for 1 hour.
Machine Hourly Running Cost: The cost to run a machine for an hour.
Scale Downtime Labelling: This setting removes "Unlabelled Downtime" by scaling up your existing downtime labels to cover 100% of downtime. This allows you to see the full impact of continuous improvement projects, even if you haven't got all your downtime perfectly labelled. This assumes that your Unlabelled Downtime has the same reasons (in the same proportion) as the downtimes you have labelled.
Do not change the Baseline Duration (Weeks) as this is automatically calculated (like all blue coloured fields).
After changing your inputs click Data > Refresh All.
Baseline
The Baseline page allows you to see the overall Utilisation, Productive Activity and Downtime Labelling. Please note this is scoped to your selected asset from the data inputs.
You can also see the per-machine values in the bottom left table. The bottom right table shows you how each machine compares to the overall baseline values. This helps you spot over/under performers very quickly.
The aim of the Baseline page is to give you a solid understanding of your overall performance, and how each machine contributes towards it.
Downtime Heatmap
The Downtime Heatmap is a useful way to visualise the biggest sources of machine downtime. Along the top are the downtime reasons, with the largest on the left and the smallest on the right.
Down the side are your machines with the largest downtime contributors at the top, and the smallest ones at the bottom.
You can also see grand totals at the end of each row/column.
The cells show number of downtime hours per week, averaged across the baseline period. The larger the value, the darker the red colouring.
There are two things to look for...
Widespread Downtimes are downtimes that happen on the majority of machines. They are systemic and widespread across the shopfloor. These downtimes are highly impactful when solved, but can require a significant effort.
Downtime Hotspots occur when a small number of machines account for most of a downtime reason. These are isolated issues that are simpler to solve but typically less impactful.
You can use the heatmap in conjunction with the Project Overview tab to get an understanding for which projects might be worthwhile.
Choosing A Project
The final tab in the spreadsheet is the Project Overview where you can select a list of machines and a list of downtime reasons for a continuous improvement project.
You can tick/untick different combinations and see the values on the righthand side update in real-time. The top right box "Total Downtime Selected For Project" shows the total amount of downtime for your selected machines/reasons.
You can change the Reduction Target to decide how much of the selected downtime your improvement project will eliminate. It is unusual for a downtime to disappear 100% so choose this number carefully. If in doubt, start small with a 10% - 20% reduction to give a quick win.
You can also see the live-updating values for Monthly Capacity Unlocked, Revenue Generation Potential and Cost saving Potential.
Revenue Generation Potential is when we use the production hours unlocked by the improvement project to increase throughput and drive revenue.
Cost Saving Potential is when we use the efficiency improvements to make the same number of parts in a reduced number of production hours, and therefore reduce costs.
Next Steps - Set Up A Dashboard
Once you have chosen your project, and are confident of the impact it will have, you can set up a FourJaw dashboard to track this project through time. You can do this in the FourJaw webapp by visiting the widget library and adding a Downtime Trend widget that targets your project.
Conclusion
We're excited for you to be participating in the Productivity Accelerator programme and the FourJaw team is always here to support you along the way. We hope this spreadsheet is a valuable part of the toolkit that enables you to discover and action continuous improvement projects.