Virtual-to-Physical Manufacturing

How an enterprise leverages technology to manage and optimize the processes occurring at the shop floor level is critical to reap the full benefits and value offered by the Industry 4.0 concept. Digital Manufacturing requires a well-defined methodology for managing manufacturing operations and data coming off the plant floor. With the cost of raw materials on the rise, a highly competitive global market and increasing regulatory compliance concerns, companies that want to succeed need to cut waste, increase quality and monitor production processes while still increasing throughput. Together, a comprehensive Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) strategy and toolkit can enable all the above. Continuing along our Digital Thread for Industry 4.0, Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) finally take us out of the virtual world of manufacturing design and onto the factory floor. Our product has been designed, validated with the Digital Twin, and manufacturing planning has defined the optimal way for it to be produced in the plant. Now, it is time to execute production.

The Manufacturing Challenges

To remain competitive and profitable in today’s market, every manufacturing organization must improve product quality, reduce production costs and minimize lead time to deliver the product, all while consistently meeting quality standards. To do this, they must operate better and faster. But how can a manufacturing enterprise efficiently and cost-effectively monitor, optimize and synchronize all the moving parts and real-time activities going on in the production plant?

Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)

The solution is a Manufacturing Execution System (MES). Manufacturing Execution System (MES) are the foundation of an integrated, connected Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) environment. An MES is an automated control system designed to manage and monitor all the work-in-process (WIP) on a factory floor. The goal of an MES is to improve productivity and reduce cycle times by optimizing and synchronizing real-time production activities, and often across globally distributed plants.

An MES keeps track of all manufacturing information in real time, receiving up-to-the-minute data from robots, machine monitors and employees. An MES also tracks and traces defects and non-conformances throughout the production process, defining the issue, when it occurred, why it occurred and what it occurred against (e.g. operation, material, tool, etc.). Once the defect or non-conformance has been identified, different actions can be taken by supervisors (e.g. to scrap, to rework, to replace or to continue the process).

An MES manages all material inventory, production orders and work instructions automatically. When materials are received, they are entered into the MES. When a work order is issued and sent to the shop floor, materials consumed in the execution of that work order are automatically removed from inventory. Plant managers can see remaining materials in inventory in real time.

An MES allows a production order to be sent out along with all the related work instructions to the operators on the shop floor. The real-time status of the work order is available for plant managers to monitor progress and ensure that production is on schedule. At the end of the day, reports can be generated to see overall production results and analytics for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), machine utilization, machine availability, etc.

Features of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)

Leveraging a global network of leading software partners, Engineering’s team of specialists designs and deploys standard and customized MES solutions to both process and discrete manufacturing customers. While the needs of each are slighly different, most successful manufacturing execution solutions provide automation of