Cuesto
Production control with Operational Intelligence and custom AI: the Cuesto case
How a phosphating plant in Guadalajara went from paper and Excel to production control with Operational Intelligence and custom AI: industrial software built around its operation.
- Industry
- Manufacturing, phosphating
- Location
- Guadalajara, Jalisco
- Solution
- CRONOS by Arcanum
In short
The challenge
A phosphating plant with years of experience and a solid operation, surrounded by paper, Excel sheets, and knowledge that lived only in a few people’s heads.
The solution
CRONOS, Arcanum’s Operational Intelligence system. It follows every order from the inbound scan to shipment, and lets you ask the plant, in natural language, what is happening.
Six months later
- +12 pts of OEE, from ~62% to ~74%
- −95% reporting time: from 4 to 6 hours to minutes
- −85% of pieces without traceability
- −67% of rework from process errors
- 24/7 order lookup for customers
The challenge: traceability software for manufacturing
Production control is essential to keep a manufacturing plant profitable and running. Cuesto, in the industrial zone of Guadalajara, Jalisco, specializes in metal-surface treatment by phosphating. Its promise is to receive the customer’s material, process it, and return it on time, at the agreed quality, without losing a single piece.
For years the plant kept that promise through accumulated shop-floor experience and traditional supervision. Before automated production control and custom industrial software, Cuesto’s operating model had vulnerabilities from the lack of digitization and integration on the floor.
The operation was recorded on paper and spreadsheets, and the information depended heavily on each shift’s staff. At shift close, people spent four to six hours gathering data and building reports about a day that had already ended.
“We were a plant with years of experience, but we were falling behind digitally.”
Original (ES): Éramos una planta con años de experiencia, pero nos estábamos quedando atrás en lo digital.
The cost of not seeing the operation
The operation worked. What failed was everything around it, and it was almost always found too late. About 2% of pieces processed each month had no material traceability. If a customer claimed a part, reconstructing what had happened was nearly impossible. In packing, about 4% of boxes left with count errors. Cycle counts of physical inventory differed from the record by about 8%.
How to avoid production bottlenecks
Bottlenecks were found weeks after they happened, in review meetings, after they had already delayed deliveries. Customers felt it too: to know where their material was they had to call or write and wait one or two days for an answer.
CRONOS, an alternative to generic MES software
Unlike generic manufacturing software used mainly to record and look up information, CRONOS is a custom AI solution designed to intervene in the operation through automated rules and actions. It is an alternative to generic MES software that does not solve specific traceability problems.
Implementing these AI systems for processes on Cuesto’s phosphating line added digital controls and tools at every production step. Material tracking starts at inbound, with QR code scans and the capture of each dispatch.
Materials go into blue drums marked with labels and move through the chemical treatment tanks. To avoid stoppages, the system can keep recording even if the internet fails and sync automatically when it returns. Monitors on the line also show staff the latest records without going to an office computer.
Material traceability at every stage
CRONOS also organizes materials in the warehouse and records when an order is split or combined with others. Before a lot is built, the system checks that physical stock matches the schedule.
On the phosphating line it also prevents incompatible orders from being mixed, which helps avoid errors in chemical formulas and treatment times.
Real-time production control
Another function lets plant leaders query production information in natural language, by asking the system questions directly.
They can see order progress and line status without depending on IT for reports, and without waiting four to six hours at shift close for information.
Results at 6 months: how to reduce plant waste and automate production reports
After six months of continuous operation, CRONOS changed how Cuesto supervises and manages production through Operational Intelligence in manufacturing. The plant went from manual records and after-the-fact reviews to real-time operational information, making it easier to spot incidents, achieve a significant reduction in industrial waste, and act in the same work shift.
As Manuel Cuesta, Director General of Cuesto, explains:
“With CRONOS we automated processes we used to do by hand, which consumed hours; today we resolve them in minutes. That became operational visibility, time and money saved from the first months, and a team that can finally focus on what matters.”
Original (ES): Con CRONOS automatizamos procesos que antes hacíamos a mano y que nos consumían horas; hoy los resolvemos en minutos. Eso se tradujo en visibilidad operativa, ahorro de tiempo y dinero desde los primeros meses, y en un equipo que por fin puede dedicarse a lo importante.
The numbers, six months later
| Metric | Before | With CRONOS | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| OEE | ~62% | ~74% | +12 pts |
| Operational reporting | 4–6 h in Excel | Minutes | −95% |
| Pieces without traceability | ~2% | <0.3% | −85% |
| Rework from process error | ~5.5% | ~1.8% | −67% |
| Packing count errors | ~4% | <1% | −75% |
| Inventory discrepancies | ~8% | ~2% | −75% |
| Quarantine resolution | 3–5 days | 1–2 days | −60% |
| Customer response | 1–2 days | Immediate | 24/7 |
| Bottleneck detection | Weeks | Same shift | n/a |
The strategic value of Operational Intelligence
The value of Operational Intelligence is not only in collecting information, but in using it to improve how a company runs. At Cuesto, CRONOS reduces administrative work, gives a clearer view of what happens in the plant, and makes material follow-up easier.
That lets the team spend less time hunting and organizing information and more time solving problems. Digital traceability also makes it easier to check order status and answer customers sooner.
The Cuesto case shows how digitization can go beyond recording information and become a tool for everyday operations. Arcanum’s aim is to help companies connect their data to concrete decisions and actions through custom AI (industrial software built around their processes, data, and team), recovering time, visibility, and control. We solve what generic software does not.
“More than a vendor, we feel them as a partner. I recommend Arcanum to any company that feels the digital world is pulling ahead.”
Original (ES): Más que un proveedor, los sentimos como un socio. Recomiendo Arcanum a cualquier empresa que sienta que el mundo digital le va ganando terreno.