Manufacturing Connected Worker Platforms: Improving Safety and Productivity

A production line might fulfill its daily quota and yet leave plant managers puzzled about many details. Scrap rates could increase in one shift, machinery breakdowns could take more time to resolve, and work orders might pass through the plant with no record of how exactly they have been handled. All of these problems are making manufacturing execution systems (MES) an increasingly sought-after solution as manufacturers seek more visibility in their production processes and rely not only on planning software and reporting at the end of the day. Talks about MES are moving away from the topic of substituting paper-based documentation. Today, manufacturers see these systems as a way to combine production processes with information collected in the course of production. In contrast to waiting for the production process to finish, MES enables supervisors to monitor what is happening and detect possible problems while they are just appearing and haven’t spread to many other jobs. Such a perspective is becoming necessary because of the growing complexity of contemporary production environments. Plants may have to run production for various product lines, organize shorter production runs, and meet changing customer demands that require frequent reconfiguration of production equipment and work processes. All of these factors make manual monitoring of production more difficult, especially in cases where many different departments use the same production equipment and workforce. MES enables organizing a consistent record of all activities that happen during production. Work instructions, actions taken by operators, the state of machinery, and production records form a unified manufacturing history that can explain differences in performance of similar production runs despite following identical schedules. This information becomes useful not only for production supervisors. Quality control teams could use it to analyze defects in production, maintenance workers could use it to evaluate the state of equipment before performing the repairs, and plant management could compare actual production results with planned output without waiting for data collection from different reporting systems. At the same time, today’s manufacturers have to be responsive to changes in the production environment. Malfunctions of equipment, material shortages, or sudden revisions of orders are examples of situations that call for quick adjustment. While MES will not eliminate such interruptions in production, it will provide current information on the status of production that is needed to make decisions faster and with fewer manual efforts. Nevertheless, the installation of an MES is a challenge for most plants. The proximity to production processes means that an MES should be integrated with production equipment, existing enterprise software, and established work practices. The implementation of MES in older facilities can be complicated by the fact that production assets are not designed for digital connectivity. The importance of training cannot be overlooked either. It is crucial for operators, supervisors, and production planners to know how information should be input and used in the process of production. Incorrect data entry or inadequate adoption of work processes can reduce the reliability of production records and limit the benefits that are expected from MES. Another factor contributing to the popularity of MES is the increasing need for traceability of production processes. Manufacturers who work with regulated sectors or customers who require documentation of their orders have to create detailed production histories that go beyond finished goods reports. MES can help with this problem by providing production records along the entire production chain rather than recreating them later. The wider importance of manufacturing execution systems should not be viewed in terms of the adoption of particular software products. Rather, the key issue for manufacturers today is organizing and managing production information in real-time. ...Read more

The MES purchase decision is becoming less related to software addition and more related to whether such software meets the needs of the actual manufacturing operation. Buyers consider deployment details, compatibility and workforce adoption in order to avoid problems during implementation that could affect manufacturing beyond the time when the software becomes operational. Plant managers rarely discuss MES as a stand-alone tool. They start with practical considerations regarding the existing equipment, production data and expected deployment impact. Software that requires changing many production processes might encounter more resistance than other solutions that correspond to manufacturing realities. Compatibility is one of the top criteria for selecting MES software. Most plants use a combination of new machines and old ones, which means that integration becomes a crucial task in some cases since the plant uses several applications to store production information. Buyers are also paying attention to how production workers will interact with the software. They need interfaces that will help them perform their regular duties without additional reports. Supervisors should receive timely information about manufacturing activities, while engineers usually require reliable information about previous production runs to investigate any manufacturing issues. As a result, buying MES is becoming a matter of understanding how the software will be integrated into the existing manufacturing processes, how long it takes to implement it and how much support from the internal staff will be necessary after implementation. All of these criteria weigh as heavily as the list of features described in the documentation. Scalability is also a topic that is being discussed more often by buyers now. A manufacturer can start using MES on one production line and then move to the next one until the software covers all of the plants owned by the company. This allows for reducing implementation risks and giving production teams enough time to optimize manufacturing processes before wider implementation. In addition, internal coordination becomes one of the key aspects in MES implementation. Production managers, quality assurance team members and IT staff can have different approaches to implementing such software. They should agree on the production goals, reporting requirements and system responsibilities before implementation.   ...Read more

Whereas companies that adopted manufacturing execution systems in order to monitor the production previously only expected such systems to deliver this information, there is a new expectation that is gaining traction. In addition to recording shop floor activity, the focus is shifting to figuring out how the information about production could be helpful in quality review, maintenance planning and process improvement. This shift affects the way manufacturers evaluate the effectiveness of MES implementations. The information produced by manufacturers used to be focused on identifying if the work orders had been completed successfully and on time. More and more manufacturers expect production information to tell them why there are differences in output between shifts or why there are recurring issues that happen even though the production schedule was not changed. Production information becomes much more valuable if it helps to investigate the issue instead of confirming its resolution. The increased use of MES systems also explains why manufacturers pay more attention to production information, because the information produced by modern machines is becoming richer. It becomes more and more difficult to analyze this information separately from machine status, operator information and production information. Manufacturers start paying more attention to the interconnection of these records in order to analyze events and have more information about what happened during manufacturing. Manufacturing departments are also benefiting from having access to more information related to the manufacturing process. In case there are some issues detected in the products, it becomes easier to narrow down the period of investigation and focus only on those times when there were some problems with manufacturing. Maintenance departments are also benefiting from rich production information. Often, equipment problems do not affect the manufacturing immediately, but only after some time has passed. Having access to both equipment history and production information allows for the identification of the pattern that would not be noticed if there were no production information. Of course, increasing expectations from MES also increases the requirements for the quality of the information. Manufacturing execution systems depend on production information provided by the production process and operators. Inconsistent information reduces the reliability of manufacturing analysis and decreases the value of the system for the company. The MES discussion is slowly moving away from the technicalities related to software. Manufacturers start focusing on using production information for decision-making within the company, and how the MES system fits into that. The key to successful implementation of MES systems is making sure that manufacturing information is integrated into production management. It is clear that MES systems are going to stay in factories of the future. The value of these systems in the long run will be determined by how useful they are in providing information about the manufacturing process for continuous improvement. ...Read more

Any kind of machinery can be installed in a period between days or weeks. On the other hand, the workforce needed for its effective functioning may take longer to develop. In Latin American industry, workforce development becomes an important issue due to increasing automation practices in factories. Many debates related to the topic focus on the capabilities of the equipment itself. But sometimes a plant manager may find himself in an entirely different situation while trying to automate his business. Availability of a workforce that would help with maintenance of the system and monitoring operations may impact efficiency of automation. It should be noted that the need for special training is not limited to highly skilled engineers working directly with machinery. Maintenance and operating staff may need training as well. Thus, it is necessary to develop a plan according to which automation of the process will take place. For some companies, developing an internal workforce will be more beneficial, whereas others will have to hire outside specialists who will install equipment and monitor its operation. Depending on the strategy chosen by the manufacturer, there will be certain financial costs associated. Training programs may be needed to prepare the internal workforce in advance. In modern industries, one cannot assume that a large enough number of specialists familiar with automation systems will be available. Thus, training should be organized in parallel with implementation of new technologies in the factory. When expanding automation practices to several production departments, the needs of the organization will change. With the introduction of new technologies, new skills will be required from employees. This issue will have to be taken into account while organizing workforce development. Educational institutions, providers of technical training, and manufacturers themselves become active participants in the discussion due to the fact that development of the workforce occurs outside production facilities as well. Availability of adequate training programs impacts the long-term prospects of the company. Workforce retention is another problem. Employees with special technical skills will be sought out by many other companies as well. A manufacturer that trains its workers has to retain their knowledge internally. Industrial experts evaluating projects involving automation begin realizing the importance of the connection between installing equipment and preparation of the workforce. An effective automation project cannot succeed without a sufficient level of internal capacity in addition to good hardware and software. Workforce development may also impact the choice of vendors for new automation systems. Technical skills and knowledge possessed by a worker may play a major role in purchasing decisions. In Latin American industry, automation is usually considered in terms of machines and software. However, workforce development becomes a significant factor that influences the performance of an organization. For companies that pursue automation, the development of an internal workforce may become crucial for the success of their projects. ...Read more