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Manufacturing Execution System

Universal Dynamics implemented a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for tracking the delivery, inventory and quality of raw materials for a manufacturing plant, using the Proficy for Manufacturing MES package by Mountain Systems, Inc. (purchased by GE Fanuc in 2003).

The process

The manufacturing plant receives its raw materials through a material handling system with multiple points of entry, storage and exit. This system consists of weigh scales, operator screens, barcode printers, lab tests, and database systems for generating, storing and reporting information that eventually allow raw material inventory and quality to be tracked properly and suppliers to be paid accurately. Inbound information including date, time, weight, delivery point, storage location, material type and category, supplier, and deliverer is created when delivery vehicles arrive on site. Similar outbound information is recorded when the vehicles leave site after delivery. This information is tied to a barcode ticket created for the delivery transaction. Samples of the delivered raw material are tested for quality. Test results, some electronically generated from the test machinery and some manually entered, are linked to the barcode ticket and stored in a database system.

System description

This MES is built using the Proficy for Manufacturing package. Proficy is a highly configurable off-the-shelf software suite that facilitates plant-wide data collection and reporting. It allows users to apply business and historical context to real-time manufacturing information, providing instant insight into plant operation, product quality and asset utilization. It complements data historian technology that tracks time-based information with an event historian that tracks relational information and manufacturing events.

Universal Dynamics designed operator screens in Proficy for editing and viewing delivery information. Proficy reports created in the Microsoft Excel format provide plant personnel with production, quality and inventory data (management and operating information) on demand and automatically. Proficy's web reporting capability allows analysis of data without the need for additional software other than the web browser.

Proficy is connected to the material handling systems at the plant level and to accounting systems at the business level. Universal Dynamics designed and implemented data communication interfaces that enable delivery and quality data to be sent to Proficy and from Proficy to merge with accounting data in the business systems. Universal Dynamics modified the existing material handling control systems to buffer data locally in case the data communication link with Proficy is broken. This ensures that delivery and quality data is complete and accurate at all times. Changes were also made to the control systems and the business databases to facilitate integration with Proficy and improve the overall system performance.

Benefits

• Proficy is a standard, upgradeable middleware platform that bridges plant floor manufacturing systems and business systems for the whole plant. It is easily configurable by plant personnel and is scalable for present and future business needs.
• Proficy receives data from delivery and quality systems on the production floor, extracts useful data for merging with data from accounting systems for departments such as purchasing and accounts payable to carry out their operations. It is also a data warehouse for delivery and quality information.
• Proficy is very flexible in creating on-demand, scheduled and ad-hoc reports in commonly used formats for different users quickly. Data can be processed statistically before report generation and information on the reports can be sorted easily. Timely information can be obtained with minimal effort for business analysis and decision making.
• This MES minimizes the plant's dependence on old legacy systems that are obsolete and are becoming less and less maintainable.
• Proficy serves as a backup to the accounting systems, allowing manual entry of accounting data and report generation for all existing accounting functions.
• Local buffering of data in the plant systems allows delivery operations to continue even when the communication links are broken.
• The data interface technologies connecting the different systems together are chosen to reduce operating costs and maintenance efforts.
• Proficy provides a robust and flexible platform and a path forward for integrating with future plant systems and enterprise applications. It is especially suitable for organizations with multiple manufacturing operations.
• Proficy fits well between Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems and large enterprise systems as it provides a convenient portal for capturing production data, extracting relevant information and disseminating Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
• Improvements to the business process were made during system design and project implementation by streamlining the process and taking full advantage of Proficy's functionalities and other current technologies.

Successful deployment of this project requires the ability to focus on the business requirements, understanding Proficy's features, plant floor knowledge, applying the appropriate data communication technologies, skills in database programming, and system integration expertise. Universal Dynamics has the unique combination of skill sets in business, engineering and information technology to provide you with solutions to manage your business more efficiently and effectively.

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