The prized value-added you get from an MES.

The integration of technology to implement a complete system for managing manufacturing operations is becoming unavoidable for the emerging manufacturing and transformation industry. This is what Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are about.

Good management systems incorporate technologies such as:

• Exacting identification system (e.g. RFID, barcode)
• Data and transaction capture in real-time (e.g. handheld terminals)
• Multiple stage process modeling (recipes, asset BOM)
• Web-based application and centralized database (global visibility in real-time)

These tools are used for efficient production planning and floor operation control, but also allow for a well-trained human work force which in turn gives higher productivity and near perfect inventory accuracy.

An integrated system helps in planning complex work loads. Work Order Scheduling can be coordinated from a desktop, and work orders are instantly dispatched at production sites. At each transformation locations, an operator enters production information on a workstation or a handheld device. The system tracks what was produced, who made the product, which machine was operated, and which materials were used. Some systems also record environmental conditions, such as temperature and humidity. Work order visibility allows managers to follow production as it is progressing.

Extended benefits: using the same technology footprint, there is inbuilt value-added!

The massive dataset obtained by recording all transactions completed against work orders, including material used and quantities involved, allow for very valuable outcomes:

• Material Traceability
• Quality Control

Traceability

Traceability is a tool that improves operational efficiency on three important levels :

• Crisis prevention : manufacturers or transformers must react rapidly and efficiently if products have to be withdrawn from production, and processes modified
• Crisis level : ability to recall defect products, and curb its spread
• Performance enhancement: process control and product quality

A best-of-class MES will allow complete traceability, from basic components to finished products, through all production stages.  This includes inbound and outbound processes, tracking links to suppliers and distributors.

Algorithms can reconstruct the whole chain of events that lead to a finished product through hierarchical time-dependent relations. The reconstruction of these links through multiple transformation points provides full internal one-up/one-down traceability.

Traceability up: from a unique finished product, all components (batch specific or serialized) can be traced up to their supplier.

Traceability down: conversely, using a specific batch/lot or serialized primary material, the whole spread of its descendants can be extracted, which may involve many different finished products down the road.

Full traceability reports are notorious for being hard and difficult to assemble. With an integrated MES, what was used to be a long and arduous research process involving gathering large amount of paper trail, is now available at a mouse click. What is more, human errors and omissions are minimized.

There is a caveat. Traceability algorithm performance is directly related to batch/lot size. The spread of a food recall for example will depend on how batch sizes are designed. It is not very efficient to track very small batches in production, but on the other hand large size lots lead to very large spreads, and traceability does not converge to practical ranges of recall.


Quality Control

Material transformation stations are locations where quality control and verification usually take place. An MES workstation can be set at a strategic location, streamlining the production process, and allow synchronized data capture of visual observations, sensor measurements, and material ID scanning.

Having an MES workstation in place, the further integration of a checklist module with the system is not very hard. It then can help implementing rigorous quality control processes. The checklists can be linked to stations, products, work orders, workers, or zones. With such adaptability, a checklist module can be used effectively as an electronic surveillance schedule.

For example in the food industry, production locations can be used to monitor and control transformation processes in real-time as part of an HACCP program. Reporting can be readily available in seconds for any period of time required. Remote monitoring is also possible; however, as a rule, surveillance should be performed on site.

Verification is about: “Are you doing what you said you would do?”

Verification can be integrated at the monitoring checklist level. The Quality Control planner can configure a checklist designed to establish an elaborate verification schedule, perhaps to monitor the effectiveness of a CCP in a food transformation for example.
For further information see the White Paper HACCP Implementation Made Easy: Benefits Of An Integrated Software Solution (PDF, 357kb ) .