Nutriex increases machine availability by 117% with data-driven industrial management
Nutriex is a manufacturer in the health, hygiene, and protection segment, marking 25 years in business in 2025 with a focus on product quality and consumer responsibility. Today, the brand is present in more than 20 countries besides Brazil, with a portfolio of over 300 products spanning its own and licensed brands, workplace safety, and hospital lines.
The plant began feeling the growing pains of rapid expansion in production volume and product portfolio. Processes that had never been fully optimized were causing microstops that hurt equipment performance. In short, the production chain wasn’t ready to keep up with the new strategies the company was adopting.
Most processes were tracked manually, which produced unreliable data. On top of that, there was no consistent visibility into what was happening across the production flow, particularly around performance, availability, capacity, and efficiency.
The answer was a platform that could collect and display the information industrial management needed, updated in real time. Here’s how Nutriex is accelerating and transforming its operation in partnership with Cogtive.
The challenge
The cosmetics industry typically works with a broad range of products serving different needs and segments, and Nutriex is no exception, delivering variety to consumers while upholding quality across every line. On the other hand, managing so many different products can be a considerable challenge when processes aren’t aligned and running smoothly.
Like any industrial operation in the middle of expansion, Nutriex was still relying on manual tasks, with data recorded on paper and spreadsheets.
That data wasn’t reliable, since it was highly prone to errors and omissions, creating inconsistencies that made it impossible to properly assess efficiency.
The lack of visibility was a critical bottleneck for management, hiding strategic information within the process that would have been essential for running the plant efficiently. It also made it harder to spot opportunities to grow the operation as a whole. In short, the plant lacked the transparency needed to track day-to-day production and monitor its performance.
Nutriex team reviewing indicators in the Operational Excellence System (SEON)
The solution
Ensuring and tracking the effectiveness of the strategies put in place requires clear, accurate information. Proving out results is the first step toward growing the operation in a sustainable way and justifying the effort involved.
Both management and operators stand to benefit from standardized processes and a digitized shop floor.
Cogtive proved to be the ideal solution to help managers and operators fully digitize the shop floor. Some employees already had experience using the platform at other plants, which made the selection and implementation process easier. The learning curve could be shortened, delivering faster, more accurate results.
The plant’s routine was transformed by bringing Cogtive’s tools into every stage of the process:
- Indicators available on screens: data pulled from the shop floor became accessible to everyone involved in the operation, making it easier to follow progress daily at the start of each shift.
- Daily management meetings: discussions and analysis of operational data led to faster fixes, sharper strategies, and continuous improvement.
- OEE analysis and kaizen creation: with performance indicators in hand, management was able to identify stops that ran longer than necessary, as well as microstops that could easily go unnoticed. That made it possible to apply methods and action plans that adjusted the process in ways that saved on machine components and the money that would have been spent on them.
Cogtive dashboard displayed on a screen on the Nutriex shop floor
Cogtive Equipment Dashboard screenshot (Real OEE, Pareto, FIFO, Status, OEE History, Maintenance, Speed, Setup)
The results
When the visibility and continuous improvement strategy was first put in place, the indicators were below expectations. OEE, for example, averaged just 31% at its best. Microstops were a major obstacle to reaching the equipment’s expected performance and availability.
The goal was set at a 19 percentage point increase within 30 days, based on identifying the problems and mapping out the necessary solutions. The plan included reallocating labor, standardizing the flow from sequencing through to packaging, building out Cogtive’s kanban, and monitoring machine stability.
Among the results achieved:
- Machine availability up from 45% to 97.7% (a 117% increase);
- Process performance up from 68.8% to 84.54%;
- Savings of approximately R$38,000;
- OEE now averaging 50%.
Nutriex team during onboarding training for the Cogtive platform
Nutriex has taken the first step toward growing and expanding its business possibilities with production processes that are standardized, efficient, and replicable across other plants. The expected rise in demand can now be absorbed more easily, with fewer chances of errors and financial losses caused by inefficiencies.
In partnership with Cogtive, the Nutriex team transformed daily operations on the plant floor with data collection and processing technology, unlocking opportunities that had been hidden by unreliable data. The plant is now even better positioned to absorb future demand with ease.
COGTIVE
Cogtive is a SaaS (Software as a Service) company expanding the productivity potential of the manufacturing industry, revealing the hidden capacity on the production line, changing how leadership sees the shop floor, increasing production efficiency, and driving business results. Built on IoT and Artificial Intelligence, our software drastically reduces line stops, improves productivity rates, optimizes time for operators and managers, and helps plants reach peak performance.
