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UX Mantra I received from Mantra Labs

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4 minutes read

My learnings and experiences as a UI/UX intern at Mantra Labs.

UX Mantra I received from Mantra Labs

“Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.” — Robert L. Peters, designer and author

In this blog, I will share my learnings and experiences working alongside the design team at Mantra Labs.

The past three months working at Mantra Labs as UI/UX intern have been one of the most memorable times of my life, from meeting some amazing folks to learning some super cool tips and tricks. It was undoubtedly an amazing experience. Most people believe that interns only work on dummy tasks and never make any impact on the company despite their hard work. At Mantra Labs, this aspect is absolutely untrue. In a very short interval of time, I worked on multiple projects from different domains. As an intern, I was given the opportunity to lead a project’s UI/UX design from start to launch. I had to take all the design decisions, interact with stakeholders, collaborate with developers, and manage even the simplest of tasks involved.

Here are some of the key learnings from my experience at the company:

1. Ask Questions

The best way to accomplish something is to ask lots of questions to be sure what exactly needs to be accomplished. To be honest, in the beginning, I didn’t know the exact way to do lots of things. But, as an overthinker, I was always concerned about not being annoying. My manager and colleagues showed humility and taught me every little thing with utter patience. There were times when my manager got into some other work which left no time for him to answer my questions. Even then, I had my lovely teammates who stood there to guide me. I learned the most from my internship by asking questions and clarifying all my doubts.

2. Keep an open mind and apply a positive approach.

UI/UX Designing is incomplete without solving problems. The client’s requirements must be met by all means while keeping accessibility, conversational and humanized approach, and all the other things in mind. Therefore, for such a task, the ability to hear all the reviews and perspectives with an open mind and apply a positive approach to it is the only key.

Working with different design minds at Mantra Labs made me understand that not everyone is going to agree with your designs and ideas — even people in your own team! One has to keep iterating, once, twice, and sometimes even ten times. No matter how many changes happen, they should not be taken personally because a majority of the time the changes are only going to improve the product in the end.

3. Stop over-evaluating!

I have always been someone who at every step has over-evaluated myself. Thriving to achieve the best of me has been overwhelming all my life. Here, at Mantra Labs, I learned how to trust my instincts as far as designing was concerned. I was corrected wherever I made wrong decisions. It all made sense when I saw the outcome. It was during my internship that I learned how important it is to always check all decisions, but never question yourself to the point where you lose interest in your own judgment.

4. Try something new, and explore different domains.

Ever since I started my career, I was mainly working with Ed-tech companies but at Mantra Labs, I got the opportunity to work in multiple domains like Health Tech, and Solar Tech in a very short duration of time. Obviously, these fields were quite different as these domains were very new to me but as a UI/UX Designer, you’ll have to be ready to solve any problems irrespective of any domain.

5. Show gratitude

An entire team is involved to complete a project. You win only when everyone in the team applies equal effort to make it happen (it’s the teamwork that counts). The work culture in Mantra Labs is great, from cool colleagues to a cooler manager. All of them work and coordinate with each other in a way that ultimately leads to the completion of the project to the satisfaction of the client. Having such people around me at work was no less than a blessing during my internship.

Better Communication skills

Communication requires a language common to the speaker and the listener. Fortunately or unfortunately that language is English. Honestly, this language has not been a very good friend of mine. I was quite good with one-on-one conversations but public speaking had mostly been a blunder. During the course of my internship, I led some client meetings and also demonstrated my work to a group of people. Talking to clients and my teammates have helped me brush my communication skills and instilled in me a sense of confidence.

Any sort of work can become boring if one stops taking fun-filled breaks from it. UI/UX Designing is a creative field and creativity comes only with the freshness of mind. I am someone who is a workaholic, I skip my meals and sleep until the work assigned to me is completed. There were instances during my internship when I would get so involved in the project that I used to forget to get myself engaged with my fellow teammates and colleagues. At Mantra Labs, the environment was so cool and friendly that we played numerous games (treasure hunt being at the top of my list) between work. We even celebrated each other’s birthdays and partied after the office. All these were a sort of my recreation to get back to work the next day with the same zeal and zest.

Before wrapping this up, let me tell you something very important:-

Design overthinking is now extremely common among designers. A deep design thinking approach is not always necessary when solving problems, the solution to some issues can be as simple as drawing rectangles.

Draw rectangles, Don’t overthink 🚀

About the author:  

Shashi Kumar is a pre-final year journalism student at Chandigarh University, who worked with Mantra Labs as a UI/UX design intern. He loves to talk about geopolitics and entrepreneurship.

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Smart Manufacturing Dashboards: A Real-Time Guide for Data-Driven Ops

Smart Manufacturing starts with real-time visibility.

Manufacturing companies today generate data by the second through sensors, machines, ERP systems, and MES platforms. But without real-time insights, even the most advanced production lines are essentially flying blind.

Manufacturers are implementing real-time dashboards that serve as control towers for their daily operations, enabling them to shift from reactive to proactive decision-making. These tools are essential to the evolution of Smart Manufacturing, where connected systems, automation, and intelligent analytics come together to drive measurable impact.

Data is available, but what’s missing is timely action.

For many plant leaders and COOs, one challenge persists: operational data is dispersed throughout systems, delayed, or hidden in spreadsheets. And this delay turns into a liability.

Real-time dashboards help uncover critical answers:

  • What caused downtime during last night’s shift?
  • Was there a delay in maintenance response?
  • Did a specific inventory threshold trigger a quality issue?

By converting raw inputs into real-time manufacturing analytics, dashboards make operational intelligence accessible to operators, supervisors, and leadership alike, enabling teams to anticipate problems rather than react to them.

1. Why Static Reports Fall Short

  • Reports often arrive late—after downtime, delays, or defects have occurred.
  • Disconnected data across ERP, MES, and sensors limits cross-functional insights.
  • Static formats lack embedded logic for proactive decision support.

2. What Real-Time Dashboards Enable

Line performance and downtime trends
Track OEE in real time and identify underperforming lines.

Predictive maintenance alerts
Utilize historical and sensor data to identify potential part failures in advance.

Inventory heat maps & reorder thresholds
Anticipate stockouts or overstocks based on dynamic reorder points.

Quality metrics linked to operator actions
Isolate shifts or procedures correlated with spikes in defects or rework.

These insights allow production teams to drive day-to-day operations in line with Smart Manufacturing principles.

3. Dashboards That Drive Action

Role-based dashboards
Dashboards can be configured for machine operators, shift supervisors, and plant managers, each with a tailored view of KPIs.

Embedded alerts and nudges
Real-time prompts, like “Line 4 below efficiency threshold for 15+ minutes,” reduce response times and minimize disruptions.

Cross-functional drill-downs
Teams can identify root causes more quickly because users can move from plant-wide overviews to detailed machine-level data in seconds.

4. What Powers These Dashboards

Data lakehouse integration
Unified access to ERP, MES, IoT sensor, and QA systems—ensuring reliable and timely manufacturing analytics.

ETL pipelines
Real-time data ingestion from high-frequency sources with minimal latency.

Visualization tools
Custom builds using Power BI, or customized solutions designed for frontline usability and operational impact.

Smart Manufacturing in Action: Reducing Market Response Time from 48 Hours to 30 Minutes

Mantra Labs partnered with a North American die-casting manufacturer to unify its operational data into a real-time dashboard. Fragmented data, manual reporting, delayed pricing decisions, and inconsistent data quality hindered operational efficiency and strategic decision-making.

Tech Enablement:

  • Centralized Data Hub with real-time access to critical business insights.
  • Automated report generation with data ingestion and processing.
  • Accurate price modeling with real-time visibility into metal price trends, cost impacts, and customer-specific pricing scenarios. 
  • Proactive market analysis with intuitive Power BI dashboards and reports.

Business Outcomes:

  • Faster response to machine alerts
  • Quality incidents traced to specific operator workflows
  • 4X faster access to insights led to improved inventory optimization.

As this case shows, real-time dashboards are not just operational tools—they’re strategic enablers. 

(Learn More: Powering the Future of Metal Manufacturing with Data Engineering)

Key Takeaways: Smart Manufacturing Dashboards at a Glance

AspectWhat You Should Know
1. Why Static Reports Fall ShortDelayed insights after issues occur
Disconnected systems (ERP, MES, sensors)
No real-time alerts or embedded decision logic
2. What Real-Time Dashboards EnableTrack OEE and downtime in real-time
Predictive maintenance using sensor data
Dynamic inventory heat maps
Quality linked to operators
3. Dashboards That Drive ActionRole-based views (operator to CEO)
Embedded alerts like “Line 4 down for 15+ mins”
Drilldowns from plant-level to machine-level
4. What Powers These DashboardsUnified Data Lakehouse (ERP + IoT + MES)
Real-time ETL pipelines
Power BI or custom dashboards built for frontline usability

Conclusion

Smart Manufacturing dashboards aren’t just analytics tools—they’re productivity engines. Dashboards that deliver real-time insight empower frontline teams to make faster, better decisions—whether it’s adjusting production schedules, triggering preventive maintenance, or responding to inventory fluctuations.

Explore how Mantra Labs can help you unlock operations intelligence that’s actually usable.

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