Improving MES Efficiency & Savings through ERP

Improving MES Efficiency & Savings through ERP
and Integrated Technologies
WHITEPAPER
A Shop Floor is the heart of any manufacturing
enterprise and the way it is operated determines
the organization’s business and financial health.
The shop floor is where core manufacturing
elements such as sales orders, work orders,
demand & sales forecast, production planning,
inventory management, resource management,
MES etc. culminate into a final product that gets
manufactured.
Introductory Note
Therefore, it is very critical for manufacturers to
efficiently manage shop floor operations so that
they can weather the storm in the form of market
uncertainty, increased competition, fluctuating
demands etc.
Also, an efficient shop floor means increased
manufacturing agility, decreased product cycles,
production costs and increased profitability.
www.omegacube.com info@omegacube.com (630) 250-0002

Challenges on the Manufacturing Shop Floor
Machine Idle Time
& Breakdowns
Manpower
Availability
Changing Customer
Requirement
Inconsistent Machine
Setup Times
Changing Delivery
Dates
Inconsistent Inventory
Levels
Quality & Compliance
Issues
Low Production
Yield
Longer Maintenance
Times

The main cause of these issues are limited visibility of what’s happening on the shop-floor and the lack
of communication between machines and personnel. In a conventional shop floor setup, machines
operate individually and are not connected to a particular monitoring system.
Due to this, the shop floor worker has to constantly, manually keep tabs on machine performance,
availability and ensure that work order allocation happens evenly across all the machines.This is easier
said than done, as there are multiple orders to attend to simultaneously and multiple machines to
monitor. In the rush of completing customer orders, machines are over-worked leading to their
breakdown and production disruption. Also, the reverse is also possible where machines go idle when
they can be utilized better. This clearly shows the lack of monitoring, order prioritization, timely
allocation, resource utilization etc.
Today’s shop floor environment is complex. Not every order is the same. Orders differ in terms of
number of products, product type, delivery date, shipping requirements etc. With the changing nature
of orders, the shop floor has to be on its toes in deciding order prioritization based on delivery date,
material required for all of them, allocation of machines and personnel etc. All this must be done in a
manner that material wastage is kept to a bare minimum, machine and personnel utilization is at its
highest, and high-quality products are manufactured to suit customer requirements.
To do this, a real-time system that provides minute by minute updates of what is happening at the
shop-floor along with other critical information is necessary. This ensures that personnel take quick
calculated decisions and take appropriate actions based on real-time information.
These proactive measures and quick decision-making ensure that,
Machine availability and utilization is at its peak at all times and achieve near-zero
downtime.
Work Orders are seamlessly prioritized, executed with real-time status on
progress/completion, thereby reducing machine idle time.
Shop floor has the latest information on materials consumed, available inventory, scrap
generated, rework to be done etc., for effective inventory deployment and costing.
Information is displayed in different forms for various levels in the organization e.g.
plant supervisors, shop floor personnel, shop owners etc.
Changes in manufacturing processes, shop floor management, material management,
and personnel training & management are based on data insights.
Overall it increases manufacturing agility and efficiency. And all this can be done with
the help of a Manufacturing Execution System (MES).

Manufacturing agility is achieved when all facets of manufacturing (i.e. machine, manpower and
materials) are connected and made to function in equal conjunction with each other.The connection is
made through a robust communication network established between machines and personnel spread
across different departments, all linked to a single or to a network of centralized software. In the
manufacturing industry, such an arrangement is called Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES).
As per the Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA),
MES is a dynamic information system that drives effective execution of manufacturing
operations. Using current and accurate data, MES guides, triggers, and reports on plant
activities as events occur. The MES set of functions manages production operations from the
point of order release into manufacturing, to the point of product delivery of finished goods.
MES also provides mission-critical information about production activities to others across
the organization and supply chain via bidirectional channels.”
Which, for a manufacturer, means MES is a vital cog in their enterprise operations ‘wheel’. An efficient
MES monitors and manages production planning & operations in a manner that minimizes disruptions
and increases productivity. It relies on a two-way real-time data flow between machines and an
ERP/MES software to churn out vital operational statistics that drive quick, proactive decision-making
by shop floor personnel.
Manufacturing Execution System (MES)
An Introduction

MACHINE IDLE-TIME
AND BREAKDOWNS
Components of MES
Previously, MES was designed as a separate system to meet shop floor requirements, as ERP systems
could only support strategic business requirements. This created a bit of void between the two as both
systems were functionally separate,and designed differently.Either they had to be integrated with each
other or the void had to be plugged by manual, redundant processes.
However, today’s ERP systems are a much-evolved lot and have MES as a in-built module within them.
This eliminates the plug-in systems required to integrate MES and ERP software.Also, the MES module
would be designed to collaboratively work with other modules such as Inventory, Sales & Purchasing,
Shop Floor Management, Planning & Scheduling, Quality Management, Business Intelligence etc. for a
more streamlined production management.
Let us look at some ERP modules that are a part of core MES functionality:
Inventory Management
and Product Traceability
Inventory Management is one of the most
important aspects of MES. Shop-floor personnel
need to know the latest inventory levels at all
times so that they can easily make necessary
changes to machine & personnel allocation, and
work orders.
The ERP tracks a raw material from the time it is
procured till its consumption into a
semi-finished or final product. With barcode
integration, you can generate barcode labels for
each item and track them throughout the
process. You can pinpoint to the right job where
a particular raw material/semi-finished
product/part has been consumed into
production.Every time the stock levels fall below
a certain threshold, you get automated alerts
enabling you to place re-orders.
Based on the number of orders on hand, you can
maintain optimum inventory levels thereby
reducing storage costs, and at the same time
managing purchase orders efficiently.
Real-time updates to BOM helps manufacturers
trace raw materials and semi-finished goods
even after products are sold. This makes product
recalls easier and quicker thereby reducing costs,
maintaining reputation and customer trust.

Material Requirement &
Planning
For a manufacturer, material management and
production scheduling are two of the most
challenging areas. Getting the right material to
the right place at the right time has a huge
impact on customer delivery,that in turn impacts
your market reputation and future orders.
An effective Material Requirement Planning
(MRP) within an ERP helps identify sources of
material demand and instantly triggers purchase
order(s) if the existing inventory levels do not
meet the demand.
MRP makes you proactive, as you can anticipate
your requirements well in advance based on
demand and purchase trends, and reduce
inventory overstock. This significantly reduces
storage, maintenance and transportation costs.
Maintenance,Repair &
Overhaul (MRO)
One of the primary causes of abrupt machine
breakdowns is untimely maintenance and
upkeep of machines, manufacturing equipment,
gages, and tools on the shop floor.
A comprehensive preventive maintenance and
repair program that ensures frequent and timely
maintenance of shop floor assets, Standard
Operating Procedures (SOPs), emergency repairs
or maintenance etc. helps realize maximum
availability of machines and other equipment.
This leads to maximum Overall Equipment
Effectiveness (OEE), including reduced
breakdowns, reduced maintenance costs and
continuous production.

Quality Management
Quality is paramount in Manufacturing. There
are strict compliance regulations set by every
industry segment and manufacturers have to
abide by them.
Therefore, it is crucial for manufacturers to have
stringent mechanisms that ensure right quality
standards are maintained at every step of
manufacturing.
An ERP takes these quality standards into
account and can offer a comprehensive
compliance system that is integrated with core
Manufacturing Execution System (MES).
It continuously measures quality parameters at
every step to ensure immediate corrective
measures in case of defects.
Product traceability, with the help of
bar-coding/labeling technology, helps ensure
quick-recall and defect-resolution thereby
enhancing customer-relationships &
market-reputation. From attaching inbound
material certifications to first piece inspections
to SCARs to final deliverable quality checks, ERP
manages everything flawlessly.

An ERP has the capability of integrating with various nesting applications
to track information such as yield optimization, material consumption,
scrap generated etc. It can group various work orders into a single nest
based on their respective due dates.
It can receive and process data automatically from the CNC machine to
trigger part completions and update material usage data. It is capable of
capturing completions, part weight, labor and drop information from the
machine controller.
An ERP can be integrated with a range of third-party systems such as,
Third Party Software
Integration
Nesting Bar Code RFID
Machine
Monitoring
Shipping
& Logistics
Nesting
Bar Code
Shop ﬂoor personnel can streamline material handling and inventory
movement by integrating bar-code technology with an ERP.
They can use barcode to track raw material and inventory movement from
procurement till delivery, track movable machine assets, and products
post-delivery (for easy traceability and quick recall in case of defects).

RFID
An ERP can be integrated with RFID printing software and printers. Shop
floor personnel can then track production and inventory assets with RFID
technology. They can automate data collection at every manufacturing
stage and improve product traceability, material control, asset & material
utilization, inventory turnover, shipping efficiency etc.
A Machine Monitoring System is an integrated technology set that
enables machines to continuously talk to machine control devices and
provide minute-by-minute data about the processes they are running,
time to complete an activity, material quantity/number they are
processing, personnel operating it and reasons for idle/downtime.
This data is continuously relayed to shop-floor supervisors & operating
personnel, plant managers and shop-owners in different forms to help
them monitor machine setup, production, output quality, downtime and
allowing them to quickly respond to disruptions,make informed decisions
on customer orders and prioritization,and increase production up-time.In
all, it helps increase Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and factory
performance.
Machine monitoring technology can be easily integrated with ERP
through Modbus serial or TCP/IP protocols. The machine controller
interfaces can be easily customized to accommodate XML, CSV, Text and
SQL formats.
Machine
Monitoring
An ERP can be integrated with shipping interfaces to get a complete
visibility of the product transit between your shipping facility to the
customer. One can send address and weight information and receive
shipping charges, actual weight and tracking numbers to streamline
shipping and delivery
Shipping
& Logistics

Advanced Data
Analytics
An ERP provides comprehensive real-time
visibility of all facets of manufacturing to the
entire organization.The manufacturer has all the
freedom to build their own reports and
dashboards that provide valuable intelligence to
each and every department in the organization.
The senior management gets an overall view of
sales, production performance, overhead costs
and overall profits from their day-to-day
production.
The plant managers get real-time view of what
is happening on the shop-floor, movement of
materials within their facility and between
warehouses, movement of goods, products
shipped to customers etc.
The shop floor supervisors get a
minute-by-minute update on the health and
performance of machines, production status,
machine idle or breakdown time, personnel
availability, inventory levels etc.
The floor operator gets real-time updates on
their devices, machine consoles such as
upcoming work-orders, pick lists, manufacturing
configurations etc.
Being a centralized system, the ERP allows
personnel to drill down from summary to each
transaction instance thereby increasing their
accessibility and enabling them to take quick,
calculated data-based decisions.

How MES Works?
Customer places an order via
Call, Email or E-Commerce
Platform
The order is manually entered by an
operator in case of call or automatically
reflected (email or e-commerce
platform)
ERP checks the inventory levels
to see if the product can be
shipped froam existing stock or
needs to be manufactured
1
2
3

ERP initiates procurement
from the Warehouse
Packing slip is generated,
product is shipped to the
customer
The shipment details are sent to the
online shopping platform which in turn
makes it visible to the customer.
If the Product is in Stock

If the Product is not in Stock
WORK ORDER
ERP checks for
sufficient raw material
to initiate production
ERP places a procurement
order with the supplier to
urgently ship the material
The order due date is
modified based on arrival
of materials & total
manufacturing time
ERP creates a Work Order
for the shop-floor
personnel & displays it on
their hand-held devices
Production is initiated
along with other similar
work orders & product
configuration.
Once the materials arrive
The shipment details are sent to the
online shopping platform which in
turn makes it visible to the customer.
Packing slip is
generated, product is
shipped to the
customer
WORK ORDER
CLOSED

Setup Start & End Time
Job Start & End Time
Idle Time
Operator alert in case of
machine breakdown
between a job operation or
other factors
Machine Control device connected to
each machine tracks various machine
parameters and alerts the operator in
case of any deviation.
Operators have an option to record
production data on their consoles that
directly gets updated in the ERP.
Real Time Production Update for Improved MES
Get yield quality through in-process Quality Controls.
% age of Produced Goods | Needs Rework | To be Scrapped
Cause of Low Yields for immediate rectification.
Track raw materials, semi-finished goods & final shipment with
the help of bar codes.
Quickly recall products & trace defect to the correct batch of
raw materials & semi-finished parts.
View production data on the shop-floor in real time.
Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly data from summary to
transaction level.
Analytical dashboards for in depth analysis by supervisors

Many manufacturers have realized the potential of automating their factory operations through MES
and ERP. The shop floor being a critical area in manufacturing, manufacturers have to pay extra
attention by identifying areas of improvement and automating workflows and business processes.
Through MES, they get enhanced visibility to operations and therefore, can identify areas of
improvement and avenues of cost reduction that previously, were not seen or observed.
Plant managers and senior executives can devise product and sales strategies based on the real-time
information they get from MES. They can make informed, calculated decisions based on data and
address production costs, quality issues, productivity on the shop floor. A well-oiled shop floor has a
direct impact on customer satisfaction and MES provides you complete control over it.
Right from customer order till production, each phase is seamlessly handled by the system thereby
increasing capacity leading to more sales per employee, faster production, near perfect on-time
delivery, reduction in overhead costs, increased profitability and happy customers.
Complete Control in Manufacturer’s Hands
Since 1999, OmegaCube has delivered enterprise-class ERP software for our customers with a single focus,
“No two companies operate exactly the same and they need flexibility in their systems in order to maintain
their competitive edge”.
You know your business inside-out and would definitely want your ERP software to treat you in a manner you like, and not
exactly as it treats your competitor. Our flagship product, OmegaCube ERP seamlessly adapts to your business. With best
industry practices built into the product, coupled with extreme flexibility,
OmegaCube ERP can do things better than you currently do and at the same time,adapt to what you do best.This has helped
our customers from diverse industries, realize their strategic goals such as, workflow automation, centralized operations,
cost reduction, increase in production, knowledge centralization, and effective resource & manpower utilization. Our strong
expertise in advanced ERP technology coupled with immense manufacturing & distribution knowledge allows us to deliver
quality enterprise solutions that help you gain competitive edge in the market and achieve your business goals.
About OmegaCube
Photograph Source - www.istockphoto.com
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Improving MES Efficiency & Savings through ERP

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