Applications / Operations Intelligence
Bottleneck Detection
Identifies where work is queueing, where stations are starved and where flow is constrained, and reports how long each constraint holds.
See it in action
The constraint moved three times in one shift
Video slot — awaiting upload.
What it detects
The bottleneck is rarely where the plan says it is, and it moves during the shift. Fogsphere locates it from queue, dwell and waiting time measured directly.
Growing queues between stations
Detects queue build-up between stations, and how quickly each queue grows.
Conveyor backups and material accumulation
Detects conveyor backups and material accumulating ahead of a constraint.
Empty downstream stations
Flags stations sitting empty downstream of the constraint, which is often the clearer signal.
Waiting periods and operator inactivity
Measures how long operators wait, and separates waiting from active work.
Work split into active, waiting and delay
Splits station time visually into active work, waiting, tool delay, material delay and cleaning.
WIP accumulation and station occupancy
Reports work-in-progress accumulation and station occupancy across the whole flow.
Material shortage signals
Detects the visual signals of a material shortage at a station before the station stops.
Idle robots and cells behind a constraint
Surfaces robots and automated cells idling because the flow ahead of them is blocked.
Aisle and pick-path bottlenecks
Locates congestion hotspots in aisles, pick paths and people-and-MHE flow across warehouses.
Bottleneck duration
Reports how long each constraint held, and how often it recurred across the week.
Clinical pathway bottlenecks
Detects bottlenecks across clinical pathways, corridors and treatment-area handovers.
Where it applies
A constraint is a queue in front and an empty space behind, whatever the process. The Q3 papers describe the same shape on assembly lines, in pick aisles and along clinical pathways.
How it works
Edge inference on the cameras you already have
Queue, dwell and waiting-time measurement runs on the edge device across the cameras covering the flow. Constraints are located by comparing adjacent stations rather than instrumenting each one.
Zones, thresholds and schedules you configure
Draw each station, buffer and aisle, set the queue depth and dwell that count as a constraint, and set the hours the rule applies. A packing line and a warehouse aisle can each hold their own thresholds.
Every event carries its own evidence
Each detection is logged with a timestamp, the camera and zone it came from, and a short clip. The record can be reviewed, exported or attached to an investigation without trawling through hours of footage.
Feeds the systems already in place
Events surface in Fogsphere Manager and route outward to the MES, WMS, planning dashboard, shift-report pack or messaging channel operators already watch.
Risk & control objective
The control objective is locating the constraint while it still matters. Throughput reports say the line missed its target; they do not say which station held it, or that the constraint moved after the break.
The value is that the measurement covers waiting, which is where most of the loss sits and where none of the instrumentation points. A station idle for material and a station idle for a decision look identical in a throughput number, and completely different on video.
Bottleneck data also settles arguments about investment. A constraint evidenced for forty hours across a month, with its causes broken out, is a different case to make than a supervisor’s impression of where the line hurts.
Related solutions
Locate the constraint, not just the shortfall
We will show you queue measurement, waiting-time breakdown and constraint-duration reporting on your own camera estate.