Bluestreak
15 Reviews 4.9/5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★A software system designed by Throughput | Bluestreak.
Designed specifically for the Service-Based Manufacturing industry, Bluestreak is a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and Quality Management System (QMS) in one integrated solution, that ties quality management directly to individual operators on the production floor.
Bluestreak" works well in various manufacturing verticals such as additive manufacturing, heat treating, powder coating, surface finishing, plating, laboratory management and NDT, forge, etc. Can also interface with existing ERP/MRP systems.
Modules and Functions:
- Bluestreak | Additive Manufacturing: Bluestreak supports and enables an industrial additive manufacturing workflow, including the integration of your quality management system directly to equipment operators out on the shop floor. Bluestreak helps you machine, print, inspect, and fabricate better quality parts, faster; with less rework, and happier customers. AM functionality offers consumers and businesses a new way to create, customize and/or repair products, and in the process, is redefining current production technology.
- Bluestreak | Quote to Invoice: Q2I" provides critical features designed to dramatically enhance information visibility and accessibility. You control the access rights/privileges for each of your users. Through Q2I", you can generate quotes, invoices, work orders, certifications, and shippers at the touch of a button -- and can decisively manage your business with reliable key performance indicators (KPI's).
- Bluestreak | Production Pathway: " allows you to track and move orders and parts through every stage of processing with ease and simplicity. Monitor all work in progress, from contract review all the way through to shipment, with 'sign-offs' that you control for completion of operation steps. Empower your operators by giving them access to critical information such as processing data, part pictures, drawings and purchase orders.
- Bluestreak | Customer Connector: With Customer Connector, your customers have on-line, real-time, 24/7 access to order status, certification statements, work order history, and more.
- Bluestreak | iMaintain: a planning, scheduling, preventive maintenance (PM) tool, fully integrated with other Bluestreak" modules, that allows you to instantly visualize resourcing issues, schedule regular PM tasks or one-off Maintenance Orders, and automatically track load counts for specifications that have both time and load variables.
- Bluestreak | iDeliver: provides the Shipping Department and Delivery Drivers a fast, and precise way to manage delivering completed parts to your customer, using nothing more than a Smart Phone or Tablet.
- Bluestreak | Scheduler: view all open orders, combine like jobs for processing, specify equipment for each load, prioritize jobs, and make changes as needed -- instantly communicating everything downstream to all involved staff. Load lists are automatically generated and/or updated and the operator is immediately notified. No more disconnect or communication issues
- Bluestreak | Bill of Lading: provides a detailed list of a shipment of parts in the form of a receipt given by the carrier to the person consigning the goods at the predetermined destination. This document must accompany the shipped goods, no matter the form of transportation, and must be signed by an authorized representative from the carrier, shipper and receiver.
- Bluestreak | Advanced Specifications Library: The Bluestreak system automatically creates and maintains a fully documented audit trail, and centrally manages specification documents, requirements, and associated media. Most importantly, it automatically cross references specifications to everything they impact -- processing, equipment, personnel, vendors, and more.
- Bluestreak | ITAR/EAR: Bluestreak's ITAR/EAR module was designed to manage the complex requirements of the International Traffic in Arms and Export Administration Regulations. ITAR/EAR regulations are required by the US Department of State to regulate the export and import of U.S. military and defense related equipment and information affecting the manufacturing, sales and distribution of technology.
- Bluestreak | Blue Charts: a web application designed to integrate Bluestreak with an existing data logging system (Super Systems, Inc. [SSi], Wonderware, Eurotherm, SpecView, etc.). Using Bluestreak | Production Pathway" to track loads, you will have all the data you need to produce a chart; Start Time; End Time, and Equipment. By simply clicking a link in the "WIP History Tree", a browser window opens with the load chart for the selected load.
- Bluestreak | Advanced Quality: enables Advanced Control Plans, and provides Sampling Plans, along with two fundamental features within a company's Quality Control Plan Characteristics -- 'rounding' and 'converted units'.
- Bluestreak | Statistical Process Control: The Statistical Process Control feature in Bluestreak" SPC takes control plan characteristics to the next level. Any control plan characteristic can be configured for SPC. When test results are added, the SPC chart is updated in real-time allowing you to see and be notified at the time of test entry if there are any issues with your process.
- Bluestreak | Global Communications Hub: Bluestreak's Global communications Hub, which is fully integrated with the other modules, provides subscribers with relevant, real-time notifications via email, internal Bluestreak messaging, or text messaging.
- Bluestreak | BlueDocs: a fully integrated Document Management System.
- Advanced Control Plans / Sampling Plans: Allows you to more closely control quality characteristics, at the Work Order level or at the individual Operation step within the overall Part Process. Many Quality Managers have asked for this functionality, which they have not seen in any other software systems. You can have part-specific control plans with sampling plans attached, enabling the use of AQL tables (Acceptance Quality Limit) as statistical tools for product inspections.
- intelliPlan: Allows the building of a sophisticated part-Process for a new work order on-the-fly, and updating a customer part process directly from the work order. Also, leverages the power of embedded Processes (or mini processes), that can be embedded within other Processes. This provides the ability to manage a single mini process that is used in hundreds of other Processes.
- Inventory and P.O.: You can now be automatically notified when a required inventory item is getting low and generate a vendor purchase order quickly. Includes a complete inventory usage and individual transaction log so you can quickly see where and when that item was used. Also allows multiple inventory locations for the same item, as well as multiple suppliers.
- Risk Analysis: A key component of the overall risk management process, and a requirement of ISO 9001:2015; this module provides for manageable user-defined risk templates with scorable risk questions to determine and document the overall risk in processing a particular Part. Sets two risk/score limits that require one or two people to sign off. Can be enforced at the Quote level, and includes the capability that if a 'risky' part is added to a work order, a permanent note and automatic notification are generated.
- Nonconformance Dispositioning: Providing better documentation of part nonconformances, it also allows decisions to be made on the production floor 'on-the-fly' as to the type of nonconformance (your own drop-down list of nonconformance reasons) and what should happen next with that individual Part. There is also a function to add these to future operating steps so final dispositioning can be managed later in the overall Part Process. This allows the Parts to continue processing (when necessary) while keeping a digitally linked audit trail of where the original nonconformance(s) occurred.
- Advanced Tracking: Allows for the additional real-time dynamic tracking of "out-of-sequence" operating steps that may occur within a Part Process. In other words, it allows for the flexibility to track specified operations in a sequence different from that specified on the original work order.
- Operation Properties: In addition to your various Processes and individual operating steps that you set up in Bluestreak, this allows for designating additional data points and processing parameters that can help with scheduling or batching of similar jobs. The purpose is to give you better operational control, improved production processing efficiencies, and higher overall equipment utilization percentages.
- Survey: With this functionality, you can create a set of customizable feedback survey questions and send to a selected group of your employees, customer or vendor contacts. Also gives you the ability to set up custom Survey email messaging text, and can automatically populate name, company, address or other information directly from the Bluestreak database.
- Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI): Your company is a vendor to other companies, and your customers may ask you to temporarily store finished Parts at your facility until they are ready to take delivery of the parts. When a work order is completed for any of these VMI-designated Parts, either the full or partial quantity of those parts can be added to your inventory. All VMI inventory transactions (pushed or pulled) are logged within Bluestreak for a complete documented audit trail.
Pricing
Monthly subscription pricing (using your server or one of our AWS - Amazon Web Services secure cloud servers) starts at $600/mo for the baseline system package, and a small additional fee for any add-on modules, which can be added anytime as business needs dictate. You only pay for the modules you need. For unlimited Users (now and in the future) the monthly subscription pricing starts at $800/mo. Bluestreak also offers Perpetual licensing (with unlimited Users) where you purchase the modules you need and install the software and database on your own server, which includes a 20% software assurance/maintenance fee paid monthly.
Also included at no additional charge is 1-time data import as part of pre-implementation, and 1-time report branding (i.e. customer-facing documents) with your company address, logo and modifications to the 'look' of each document.
Deployment
- Cloud License -- software and database is hosted by us at our offsite data center; including data backups. (we take care of the monthly software release updates).
- Ground License -- software and database is loaded on your server, and you are responsible for backups and monthly software release updates. (We can do the software updates for you, at an additional cost of less than $100/month).
- Perpetual Licensing -- This option is where you purchase the software, and pay a 20% software assurance charge, beginning in year two, prorated monthly. Everything is loaded on your server, and managed by you. We can do the monthly software release updates per above, or we can train someone there, so they can do it.
With Bluestreak", enjoy the ease of a browser-based platform and save the hassle of installing and maintaining software on individual workstations or mobile devices. Bluestreak" runs within an Internet browser and requires no software on the desktop. This means you don't have to pay for more software when your business grows; add as many desktops, laptops, iPads, smartphones or other mobile devices as you like.
Works on any combination of Windows, Mac or Android devices within an organization. No software needs to be installed on any of these devices. All you need is internet access; or run from your own server via intranet.
Product Overview
User Reviews of Bluestreak
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Great competitive advantage using Bluestreak technology
User friendly
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Bluestreak has helped us reduce the amount of rework, and the reporting of nonconforming parts is much quicker and easier. With quicker and more accurate reporting, actions can be taken sooner to reduce repeat nonconformances and reduce rework. The tracking of Work Orders through Production Pathway has also reduced rework, as there is detailed user accountability as compared to our previous system.
Using Bluestreak has also increased our overall production rate and the overall quality of finished parts. We now have an accurate count of parts in all stages of our processes. This also makes scheduling much easier and therefore increases our production rate. We use the Notification system in Bluestreak in various ways. For instance, when a new Part is received a notification is sent to certain managers. We use this as another form of APQP review to confirm new part requirements and processing.
We have also seen an improvement with both internal and external audits. Audit records for all facets of our operation are much easier to find because of being centrally located in Bluestreak. The user accountability and tracking on all records has made auditing much easier and more efficient.
Work Orders and parts tracking is a major improvement over our previous system, in addition to user accountability. This is also the case for MO’s, Concerns, CAPA’s and all other modules in Bluestreak.
Not much. There were a couple of things that the software would not do, so we approached the Bluestreak team about what we needed and they made the enhancements to the system to meet our requirements, and these changes did not affect other Bluestreak users.
Great QMS software.
Software has very unique features designed for specialized manufacturing in aerospace and service based manufacturing.
The software is deep with many features designed to run the critical aspects of our manufacturing process. There are many other software options available on the market may be cheaper or faster to implement but may in the end not meet your needs. If you are an additive manufacturing or related supply chain manufacturer, you should take a serios look at bluestreak.
Like anything, it’s hard to truly know where you were until you’re ahead of the curve looking back. We didn’t know what we were lacking until now.
I would recommend Bluestreak for the transfer of information. You are able to effectively and efficiently communicate whatever information you have on a track order to customers, peers and co-workers. Bluestreak is huge on providing information at point of use wherever you need it, it’s there — on the road, out of the plant, in the plant. If you have access to a computer then you can pull the information. This is huge as far as quality, customer service being able to maintain a history on the order. It allows us to better serve our customers with our quality.
Now we are able to see where we have a lot of potential and where we can move forward. We are more effective and have more efficient communication because we are not going through file after file trying to read somebody else’s hand writing. Now we have the information we need wherever we have access to Bluestreak. We can access where the order is in its process. This allows us to give a better answer when parts, jobs will be completed, better scheduling, when parts will be ready and what departments they’re in. We can find things faster without relying on our memory. We have the answer; a history on every order that we’ve done and that history helps us to better our quality and data.
Customers can also access their orders through Bluestreak. They can see where their parts are to help them with scheduling and help them with getting more jobs. So by far, what I recommend about Bluestreak is the access to information.
Before we had Bluestreak we were on a Chameleon system. It was out dated, not keeping up with the market, unable to be updated, and revisions were not able to be added. Among all the other programs, Bluestreak was voiced about being the best one. The main things that stood out was being a program that can be tailored to your specific modification of what your company does with a certain parameter. When we went live, we saw on time delivery go up and errors in our shop go down. More sistential information was being applied to the work order for the shop allowing them to have more information in their hands. I recommend Bluestreak’s personnel and staff because they give you information you need up front, no cutting corners and they’re willing to put in the hours to work with you as long as you need. The program itself is user friendly, easy to adapt and get accustom to.
I like the fact that it’s online, it’s continually updated. I access Bluestreak from my ipad, from shows, from the road, from my cottage—wherever I am I have full control of the shop to see what’s going on on a daily basis, hour to hour. Works like a charm. The updates are seamless, we never have an issue. The interfaces are wonderful, intuitive, and easy to train people on. New users can get up to speed in a week on the basics and fine tune it from there. We like the custom ability of you guys to help us get exactly what we want, the reports that we want. We find the grid reporting is particular helpful.
We needed a system that would allow us a lot more flexibility and traceability. The main sell point for us was the shop floor, the fact that the guys don’t have to run around with pens signing off. The system doesn’t allow them to do things, unless the system tells them to do it. I would say the main thing is just to keep us ahead as far as technology goes. We didn’t want the same old, same old that everybody else was doing. You know, the sign off procedures are great, the problem is that if somebody doesn’t sign off on most of the aerospace policies, it was never done. To have a system in place that’s automatically tracking things… without choice, that was a huge thing. The system to some degree, is self-policing where we can minimize our quality team. It almost replaces individuals in the quality system.
Before Bluestreak we had to depend on our own production’s memory how to do a job, a special process, as well as to figure out what temperatures to use. There was no real guarantee of consistencies — no way of checking who did what, who wrote the cards and who racked it. We were constantly having to pull things from the files and archives for pricing or notes. We also wanted to keep up with the times. Some of our customers were superseding us in technology so we tried different software but nothing fit all our needs. We came to Bluestreak. The operators don’t have to think about what they need to do because instructions are right in front of them saving time on the floor. The capabilities of Bluestreak are endless. We figured out how to make Bluestreak and our procedures work. Everything is in there. I know exactly what jobs are here, who did what, and at what time. I don’t need to leave my desk now.
Prior to using iMaintain, we had a maintenance software that wasn’t connected to all our other systems so only the maintenance department saw it. That allowed the maintenance department and production people to maintain a wall between them. By putting iMaintain to use, everything is visible and transparent and the production people can look and see exactly the status of the project with equipment. It draws the maintenance group in and makes them accountable both for learning how to use the computer and systems and keeps everything current with perspective to PM. It gives us an avenue of communication between departments and it allows us to hold people accountable. From a business perspective, you want to go to one place for as much information as possible. Being able to use Bluestreak and go there for everything to do with equipment and business, is a huge advantage.
I wish I would have implemented Bluestreak several years ago when I first looked at it. It would have saved me years of headaches and ongoing problems trying to manage and keep track of the work we do. I’m glad we finally made the decision to implement it. Our bottom line showed higher profits because of less re-work, and we actually got some new customers because of using the Customer Connector piece of Bluestreak
We began using the baseline software system from Throughput I Bluestreak in 2011 to streamline our heat treating processes while also adding a quality assurance component to specific steps on our shop floor. We have since implemented additional modules as the business has grown and our needs have evolved. The Bluestreak folks have supported us very well over the years, and have even assisted us in our own sales & marketing campaigns, by making their marketing team available to us at no charge to consult and create some customized Customer Connector sales collateral for us. They treat us like a true partner that has our best interest in mind.
The interactive and multifaceted business systems that have been implemented as part of the Bluestreak software are, in my experience, far and away one of the best application for the control and management of a Quality Management System. As auditors, we get to see all sorts of applications for the control of activities, documentation and records. The Bluestreak approach that is being used is definitely a best practice. I found that the system supported the integration and implementation of the controls necessary for a solid QMS in ways that are easy to understand and appeared to be easy to use. I have no doubt that this system will be a real plus for the team going forward
We were using antiquated software to help run our growing business and we knew there had to be a change. We needed something that would handle today’s business culture and demands, as well as tomorrow’s expectations. After a due diligence search of potential MES software candidates, we chose Bluestreak. Bluestreak will grow with us and keep evolving with the business as we evolve. Bluestreak is perfect for us. The way we think is the way the software is built.
iMaintain-the perfect choice for us. Everything used to be on paper. We’d fill out PM forms on the floor and at the end of the week the 100+ PM’s had to be entered one at a time in the computer. Now we work with iPads right next to the machine where we enter information directly. We start the process, Bluestreak tells you what to do and then we close the PM. Information is stored and saved in real-time. We now can take pictures and place ‘em into Bluestreak’s media section and save it. No paper trails. If somebody needs to see it, we go into our media file, and there it is.
Still evaluating but so far it’s a good solution
It was really fast and a really quick service, their team has been easy to work with
Not sure if I can afford the service and would need to get my sales up.
