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Guide to MES: On the Safe Side with MES

Manufacturing companies that are successful on the market must produce efficiently, on time, quickly, flexibly and often to customer specifications. The prerequisites for this are transparency through real-time information, good planning and fast and adequate reactions to any deviations that occur.

A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is the right tool for this.

But what exactly is an MES and what specific benefits does it offer?

A manufacturing execution system is a comprehensive software solution for the production area. It supports all operational functions such as machine allocation and personnel deployment planning, order control (registration/deregistration of orders), maintenance, recipe/document provision, etc. At the same time, an MES builds a bridge between the planning and production levels in a company by establishing a connection between the existing ERP/PPS application on the one hand and the machines and systems on the other. This guarantees a continuous, IT-supported flow of information and data throughout the entire company.

By recording machine and personnel times and visualizing downtimes and malfunctions in real-time, an MES also provides comprehensive and accurate data on all connected production processes around the clock. With this evaluable information, these processes can be precisely controlled and analyzed, faults can be identified and eliminated more quickly and production processes can be optimized.

Core Attributes for MES Solutions

The motivation and objectives of an MES can vary from manufacturing company to manufacturing company – depending on the product itself, its individual processing, production processes or even corporate strategies.

This results in core attributes for the right choice of MES: Is it modular? Can it be adapted to individual production requirements and expanded if necessary? Experience from several hundred MES projects has taught us that daily work with the system continuously generates ideas in the minds of our customers. The MES partner you choose should therefore also have sufficient experience, creativity and MES know-how to implement your project and the desired extensions.

From Theory to Practice

Let’s now move on from dry theory to the practical side of wood processing and take a look at some MES modules: In the production of a manufacturer of wooden flooring, Meyer-Böden GmbH, things are not running smoothly: machines are down, tools are defective and there is a general feeling that when one construction site is completed, three more open up. There is a lack of transparency and clear points of reference for identifying improvements.

The goals set are quickly defined: faults should be identified and analyzed, efficiency and quality should be increased, and the reject rate and response time should be reduced. For this reason, an MES solution with the Machine and Production data acquisition and Monitoring modules is introduced in production and generates the following added value:

The MES module Machine Data Acquisition (MDA) records the continuous productivity of the machines used. Any deviations are detected and directly visualized via status and key figures in order to intervene in a targeted manner, reduce downtimes and identify and rectify weak points.

These values provide the basis for meaningful reports in graphical or tabular form of various key performance indicators (KPIs, such as OEE, NEE or TEEP). The reports are adapted to the user’s needs and present the information that is of interest – whether for the management level, production management, controlling, maintenance or planning. As a real-time data provider, the MDA module delivers the reports that are relevant at the time in a matter of seconds.

However, Meyer-Böden GmbH benefits from the MES solution not only in the offices (foremen, shift supervisors, production managers, etc.): Large monitoring screens are hung at central points in production, providing a real-time overview of the entire production process. Individually created views clearly present production results, events and also faults, enabling the company to react as quickly as possible.

In addition to the MDA module, Meyer-Böden GmbH has also opted for the MES Production data acquisition (PDA) module to make everyday work easier for the machine operators. Order data, which is always available directly at the production terminal on the machine, is logged on and off here. This also gives production managers a real-time overview of the processing status of all orders. Sources of error are minimized if the order data is transferred from and returned to the ERP system.

Planning and Maintenance

Some time later – the MES is now well established at Meyer-Böden GmbH – the requirements have grown and new ideas have emerged: Detailed Scheduling as well as preventive maintenance should be introduced, in which orders can be planned and more precise statements can be made about production deadlines as well as maintenance measures can be managed.

The decisive factor for the planning was the underlying machine data, which drew attention to the following problem: Due to the changing materials to be processed (e.g. wood with or without paint, harder or softer wood), there is varying degrees of tool wear on the saws and milling cutters, resulting in an uneven maintenance rhythm. This often leads to downtime and rejects (e.g. due to torn or chipped edges). This problem can be prevented by accurately recording tool running times in conjunction with Maintenance planning and Detailed Scheduling, which also takes into account the necessary maintenance.

Increase Plant Availability and Effectiveness

Items are assigned to maintenance rhythms: Based on the recorded up times of the tools running on the machines, the system automatically determines when the next tool change or Planned maintenance needs to take place. This is included in the planning. Maintenance orders are treated like Production orders in Detailed Scheduling and taken into account in Production Planning.

This significantly increases plant availability and effectiveness, while also saving time and money by avoiding unnecessary maintenance work that is carried out according to the calendar rather than up times.

Improved Adherence to Delivery Dates

In addition, Meyer-Böden GmbH is now able to provide better, more precise information on production deadlines. Production orders are transmitted directly to the machine operators at the production terminal. This ensures that the planned order is processed and, for example, that a setup-optimized sequence is adhered to and subsequent operations follow each other more quickly.

The Entire Company Wins

In this brief case study, we have seen that the entire company benefits from an MES, from production employees to planners, maintenance staff, production management, controlling and management. With an average return on investment (ROI) of less than 12 months, it opens up high productivity potential, usually in the double-digit percentage range, and is regarded as a data hub for Industry 4.0.

However, it is also a fact that the introduction of an MES is an overarching project that ties up resources in your company and is associated with costs. However, this should not deter anyone, as the benefits achieved by an MES are significantly higher and more long-term than the necessary expenditure.

MES FASTEC 4 PRO: Your Benefits, Your Advantages

The specific case of our fictitious company, Meyer-Böden GmbH, is a good example of the diverse and specific use of an MES, or more precisely our MES solution FASTEC 4 PRO. In this solution, we combine more than 20 years of experience, expertise and know-how and thus offer you that important little bit more for your project and project implementation from a single source – from in-house software development, sales, installation and training to support.

With over 50 employees and a wealth of expertise ranging from machine interfaces to ERP systems, we are the right partner for you, even for complex IT projects in the production landscape, including Industry 4.0.

Author: Linda Bauer

Team Lead Marketing
Experience in B2B communication and target group-specific copywriting in print and online since 2019.

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