5 Things to Know For Those Entering the MES World

What are the pitfalls of a MES Project? Knowing the risks of choosing a production software is difficult. Usually companies seek a management for production when, as production and turnover increase, also the complexity of management, organization and monitoring of production increases.

For those who face the MES world for the first time, you might think that the purchase of a MES software is limited to the installation and integration phase, but in reality it’s not so. Vittorio Sella, Technical Manager of the channel partners of Qualitas Informatica guides us behind the scenes of a MES Project.

It tells us what are the traps and pitfalls that a project of change implies (such as the insertion of a software for production management).

Reading time: 7 mins

 

Introduction

Globalization, increasingly aggressive competitors, increasingly narrow margins, increasingly complex productions. The battles must be won within the company to be able to face the market in a competitive way.

To do this you need to arm yourself with the right tools, integrating them so that their use becomes natural.

Every manufacturing company needs a MES that allows it to manage its production in a flexible way.

But it is good to pay attention: let’s not just think that a MES is just to manage the progress in the department. The most modern and structured software are modular: they adapt to the type of production of the end customer allowing evolutions step by step.

They support managers in the decision-making process and feed a database that is essential to identify, analyze and remedy hidden issues.

 

CHAPTER 2

5 things you need to know about introducing a MES system within your company

Below we are going to analyze the 5 things to know for those who decided to integrate a Manufacturing Execution System software:

1.  A MES project is a project of change

It can be easy to think that buying a software MES the activities will be mainly at the expense of the supplier company, that it is sufficient to foresee

  • installation
  • integration
  • training

This is not the case: the project team consists of both the personnel of the supplier company (product and project expert) and key figures in the final client’s organization.

This is because the customer team has a key role in analyzing and sharing the pre-project state. No one knows the reality of the company better than those who work within it.

The project will always be challenging and it will not be possible to achieve the shared goals in analysis if the team is not cohesive.

Adopting a MES means questioning, abandoning preconceptions such as “we have always done so” and only stakeholders have the power to bring the transformation into a company.

Click here to learn what a MES software is

 

2. Integrating a MES means sharing

One of the first technical phases of a MES project involves its integration with the ERP

This is the moment in which the information that you want to make available to the management control, the production office and the department must be identified: from back office users to production managers, from department operators to controllers.

To learn more: MES Production

The flow is always multi-directional:

  • From the ERP to the department
  • From the department to the plants
  • From the plant to the department
  • From the department to the ERP

This is the moment in which all the business roles linked directly or indirectly to the production must be analyzed: All the roles assume a relevant importance.

 

3. The end user must be able to touch the product as soon as possible

How many times do you start a project and you have to wait months before you can see the result losing the initial stimulus?

Using a preconfigured environment allows you to go to “live” as soon as possible.

  • Modelling of the company,
  • Activation of integration with the ERP,
  • Access to the system

The detail configurations can be carried out at a later time, when the feedback will be generated by the use of the system and not from a “desired”.

 

4. The evolved MES is a planning and programming tool

A complete MES system must allow the customer to plan everything related to the activities of his own production and to assess the effects and adherence of what is expected in a simulated environment, taking into account what happens in real-time production.

To learn more: production dashboard.

In an integrated environment, the results of production planning must be available to both the department and the sales office, so that all interested users are aligned.

 

5. The MES works in real time

Many productive companies tend to work on a final balance, collecting production declarations by hand and inserting them into the management software at a later time.

Any problem emerges after it has happened and it is too late to remedy it.

Being proactive means not passively suffering what happens in production:

  • The blocking of a plant can be avoided by properly planning maintenance
  • A deviation of the production rate (Takt Time), if intercepted at the time it is detected, allows the intervention of a manager and therefore to avoid inefficiencies over time.

 

Click here if you want to know how data collection from production and real-time progress works

 

 

CHAPTER 3

What are you waiting for? The benefits of a MES do not end here

After 13 years in which I have participated to the realization of numerous plans, first like technical adviser and project manager and subsequently for “interposta person” supporting our partner, I feel I can affirm the absolute necessity of adopting a production control system in every manufacturing company.

The numbers are clear: there are many Kpis that indicate the success of a project, among them one of the most important is definitely the ROI.

Beyond the (very important) numbers, I think it is important to share a fundamental advantage: a MES project makes it possible to break the paradigms that block corporate evolution if managed by a cohesive and determined team.

Our case histories are an indication of how much a MES project can impact positively. For further information, please click on the following link: https://www.qualitasinformatica.com/customers/

 

Author: Vittorio Sella, Technical Manager and Training Channel Partner – Qualitas Informatica, a company of  Impresoft Group

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