Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) systems are a great tool for organizing your
business, from accounting and purchasing, creating work orders through shipping
and logistics. But what can ERP really tell you about what’s happening inside
your machines?
In this video, John Rattray, senior vp of sales and marketing at Memex, discusses the benefits of using manufacturing execution systems to supplement ERP, and why manufacturers shouldn't rely on ERP alone to manage OEE.
Manufacturing execution systems (MES) extend the coverage of
your product lifecycle management (PLM) or ERP system, reaching into your
machines to directly collect points of data such as speeds, temperatures and
uptime. This data can drive your manufacturing process to greater overall
equipment effectiveness (OEE).
Consider this example: I have 8 injection molding machines,
and one of them chronically underperforms. If you use a job traveller sheet or
ERP work order to track the job, and a statistical process control (SPC) to
track machine performance, that underperforming machine may get lost in the
data. Production will naturally drift onto the other machines, and your lowered
OEE will be a mystery.
By collecting data on every job that passes through the
machine,
industrial internet of things (IIoT)-enabled shop floors can aggregate the
data necessary to manage OEE and ultimately lower production costs. This
includes finding opportunities to reduce waste, eliminate speed loss and avoid
unplanned downtime through predictive maintenance.
Newer machines may come equipped with IIoT connectivity, but
for older machines, Memex and other
companies can retrofit old equipment with a circuit board to connect it with the
local ethernet network.
For more on IIoT and OEE management, check out this video on the FANUC MT-Link i system, which allows you to
observe and track machine performance in real time.
To learn more about the IIoT, check out The
IIoT in a Nutshell.