By Matthias Kohlbrand In
By means of constant communication with the control center and the individual facilities, Industry 4.0(Integrated industry) predicts self-directed components that find their way through the networked factory. A large amount of data will be necessary for this purpose and the only way to collect such amounts of data is via automation.
An MES (Manufacturing Execution System) provides the components with the variety of information and receives continuous real-time feedback about the production process.
However, for all kind of errors that occur in the production, the MES sends information via smartphone or terminals to the responsible worker. Even in times of integrated industry, he is still the one to respond flexible, quickly, and correctly all at the same time.
Process problems can be defined and causes logged and appropriate measures can be created in the system – mobile and promptly. A video or a photo of the stated problem can be directly attached to the measures and these data will be stored in the MES database and will be distributed further.
Industrial companies nationwide will fully rely on MES Technology with Industry 4.0. Real-time capability is an integral part of Industry 4.0. So without full-networking at a certain stage of development, it is no longer real-time.
Industry 4.0 won’t just happen overnight and the required functions will differ individually. What is certain, however, is that without MES production and industrial companies won’t be efficient enough to be able to compete in the global economy.
The advantages of an MES:
- More output
- Better quality
- Higher deliver reliability
- Less costs
And what if I didn’t even start to network my factory yet?
With the data entry method Cosmino® IntelliScan, it is possible to get started without a fully networked factory. You can already take advantage of many aspects of the MES technology and derive critical figures and facts from your production.
The data is acquired from hand-written but machine-readable records/sheets, which is then digitized with minimal effort. And ERP-confirmations and calculating of analysis and reports is then done by the MES-Software. The hand-written data runs through a verification (reading the handwriting) and validation (plausibility check). For example, all information from one shift is recalculated based on the master data to confirm the accuracy of the entries provided. Even dirty and crumpled sheets can be read.
Since all these processes happen automatically in the background, the collection effort is limited almost to the hand-written fill out. For example, in a major German automotive supplier which has about three thousand resources, the data are daily collected quickly and easily this way.
For the IT department it means more time available to network the factory as the data can be collected via paper sheets first. Cosmino® IntelliScan closes thereby the gap between data collection from new machines, older machines and assembly processes. These shouldn’t be left out in Industry 4.0.
Get all the information about the way to MES in the following
IntelliScan brochure.
And if you have already connected your work centers, you need our electronic entry dialog
Cosmino® WorkerPoint.
Or, you can directly get in touch with us: +49 (0) 911 4626760 or info@cosmino.de
