When the Camera Count and the Machine or Operator Record Disagree: Which Is Right?

Key takeaways

• Two lists, two kinds of stop. Paper keeps the long ones; the machine signal also logs the short ones.
• Paper drifts: short stops go unwritten, long ones get rounded, and starved time gets booked as a fault.
• Reconcile on one timeline: the PLC (programmable logic controller) or machine signal as the clock, the operator for the reason, the camera count as a check on parts made.
• OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) from real counts does not move. Performance usually falls, and the loss gets a name.

By the numbers

• Large plants suffer an average of 25 unplanned downtime incidents a month, down from 42 in 2019. (Siemens, 2024)
• Getting production running again after an unplanned stop takes 81 minutes on average, up from 49 minutes five years earlier. (Siemens, 2024)

When the machine record shows 40 stops and the operator log shows 6, both are usually right about different stops. The log holds the long stops people remember. The machine signal also logs the short ones under the plant's threshold, which rarely reach paper.

Fabrico is a cloud-based OEE and light MES (manufacturing execution system) platform. Stops come from the machine signal, the operator adds the reason, and the AI camera (an add-on) counts parts. It prices each loss in money and shows OEE live by line and shift.

The record is neither list on its own. It is one timeline: machine signal times, the reason the operator added and, where a camera counts parts, the count.

Why does the machine record show more stops than the paper log?

A paper log is written by busy people, often at the end of the shift. It drifts in four ways.

• Short stops never reach paper. A 40 second jam is usually under the plant's threshold for writing a stop down. No standard sets that threshold; each plant picks its own.
• Stops get rounded and rebuilt from memory. A 7 minute stop becomes "10 min" at shift end.
• Stops get merged or split. Eight short jams become one line, "infeed jams, 20 min". One long stop with a failed restart becomes two.
• Starved or blocked time gets booked as a fault. A wrapper waiting for product is starved; one that cannot pass packs on is blocked. Paper often says "wrapper down" for both.

Short stops hide inside performance as "slow running" until something counts them. Our guide to finding and fixing micro stops covers what to do next. Stops logged with no reason are a separate problem: see why unclassified downtime hides real losses.

Can the camera count be wrong and the record right?

Yes. A camera sees one field of view in one range of light.

• Look-alike product. Two packs that touch can read as one, and the count comes up short.
• Units outside its view. Packs diverted to a rework table before the camera never reach the count.
• Light changes. Daylight from a dock door or glare on shrink film can fool a count.

So the raw camera count is not the record either: check it against the machine counter and a hand count of one pallet.

How do you put the camera count, the machine record and the log on one timeline?

1. Start from the machine signal times, and lay the paper entries on top. At a manual table with no signal, the operator logs the stops, and the camera count shows output.
2. Match each paper entry to the machine stops at that time. Split merged entries and join split ones.
3. Apply your threshold. Longer stops go to availability, shorter ones to performance as minor stops.
4. Send starved and blocked time to the machine upstream or downstream that caused it.
5. Ask the operator to add the reason for each stop, while it is fresh. If it is unclear, open the camera video for that minute and look.

For the setup, see how to connect line cameras to MES. For the screen, see an OEE dashboard with video context.

Who decides the stop reason?

The operator. The machine signal says when a stop began and how long it lasted. The operator adds the reason while the stop is fresh, not on a form at shift end. If it is unclear, open the camera video for that minute and look.

The video can work for the operator. When it shows the wrapper stopped because product arrived late, not because someone was slow, the operator starts trusting the system.

That trust needs one rule: the camera watches the process, not the person. No faces, no names, no scores per operator.

In Germany, section 87(1) no. 6 BetrVG gives the works council a say over technical equipment that can monitor behaviour or performance. Intent does not matter. This is not legal advice: check with your data protection officer and, in Germany, your works council.

What does a worked example of a disagreeing shift show?

Sample line (illustrative numbers, not a customer). A biscuit line ends at a flow wrapper, the bottleneck, rated at 100 packs a minute. Planned time is 480 minutes. Stops under 2 minutes are minor stops. The machine counter and the camera count at the wrapper outfeed agree: 37,500 packs made, and 36,750 good.

Method note: Sample line, illustrative numbers, not a customer. Every result above comes from the inputs listed and the formula shown with it, so you can repeat the calculation with your own line's numbers.

The totals are close: 95 minutes on paper, 94 real. The split is not. Five real stops run over 2 minutes, 64 minutes in all. The other 33 are minor stops, 30 minutes.

• Paper: run time = 480 minus 95 = 385 minutes. Availability = 385 / 480 = 80.2%. The 37,500 packs need 375 minutes at full speed, so performance = 375 / 385 = 97.4%.
• Real: run time = 480 minus 64 = 416 minutes. Availability = 416 / 480 = 86.7%. Performance = 375 / 416 = 90.1%.
• Quality = 36,750 / 37,500 = 98.0% in both.
• OEE = 80.2% x 97.4% x 98.0% = 76.6% on paper, and 86.7% x 90.1% x 98.0% = 76.6% with the real stops. Check: 36,750 good packs need 367.5 minutes, and 367.5 / 480 = 76.6%.

Same OEE, different story. Availability loss fell from 95 to 64 minutes. Performance loss rose from 10 to 41 minutes, and 30 of those are now 33 named short stops. At a sample margin of $0.10 a pack (€0.10 in a euro plant), the short stops cost 3,000 packs, or $300 a shift.

What happens to your OEE when you switch to the machine record?

If OEE comes from real counts, the total stays the same. OEE equals good count times ideal cycle time, divided by planned time, and none of those change. The split does.

• Performance usually drops, as short stops land there as minor stops.
• Availability often rises when paper rounded long stops up. It falls if the machine signal shows long stops nobody wrote down.
• The loss gets a name. "Slow running" becomes counted stops with reasons.

Expect the first reports to look worse on performance. That is the measurement getting honest, not the line getting slower.

Next, read about cameras and micro stops. Fabrico starts with a pilot on one line. AI cameras are an add-on: see how you open the camera video for that minute on the computer vision add-on for OEE. There is no free plan and there are no tiers: each plant gets a quote.

Proof from a named plant: Ficosota (also a Fabrico investor) raised OEE from 53.1% to 59.6% on 16 lines, June to September 2026, with monthly good output up 23.2%. Read the Ficosota case.

Toyota calls jidoka "automation with a human touch": the machine stops on a problem, and a person decides what happens next. (Toyota, Toyota Production System)

Frequently asked questions

Which is right, the camera count, the machine record or the operator log?

Each is right about something. The machine signal logs short stops that never reach paper, and the operator adds the reasons people remember. The camera counts parts and can be wrong on look-alike product or a blocked view. The record is the stops on one timeline, with machine signal times, reasons and counts checked against each other.

Why do operators write fewer stops than the machine shows?

A stop cleared in under a minute is rarely worth writing down. The log is often filled in at shift end from memory, so stops get rounded, merged or booked to the wrong machine. That is not bad work by operators: paper cannot keep up with short stops.

Will our OEE go down when we use machine signal data?

Not if your OEE comes from real counts: the total stays the same, but the split changes. Performance usually drops as short stops move into it. Availability often rises as rounded stops shrink to their real length. Tell the team before the first report.

What do we do with log stops the machine signal did not show?

Check each one. Either the machine did not signal it, because the fault sat in a part with no sensor. Or it was not a stop, such as a planned break. Fix the signal for the first kind and the log's coding for the second.