Answer to IT & Manufacturing Challenges

Today, most companies operate in demanding and challenging environments. Production plants often operate in an environment different than where the products are developed and sold. Globalization and geographical plant distributions impact overall production costs and different quality procedures may be applied in regions depending on varying local regulations. Manufacturing process optimization is often handled independently, at the plant level, by local automation and IT groups unconnected to company directives while corporate initiatives often fail due to poor local acceptance.

For many companies, a global presence offers new opportunities to reach millions of customers, however, it also presents new challenges including how to align development with manufacturing challenges in different regions and still be able to deliver the product profitably. Some companies are still facing traditional challenges such as how to shorten the product R&D lifecycle to keep the pace with competition and how to produce goods faster, with improved quality, while reducing costs in the overall process.

To support companies in facing these challenges, the scientific community and software vendors propose different solutions. Investments to better manage and optimize the supply chain became a mandatory step for many manufacturers in recent years; however, focusing on this area is just one side of the story.

The other side is the daily challenge of life on the plant shop floor and the constant strive for optimization making plant execution even more challenging. ERP systems are, for these reasons, are only a partial answer to manufacturing challenges. Corporate demand for real-time feedback from production increased exponentially in recent years. This information is often critical in improving overall company performance and reducing costs. Increasingly, corporate strategies rely on real-time key indicators from production applied in a timely and effective manner. The need to communicate and react to corporate directives creates additional pressure within plant facilities. The plant environment can be very diverse depending on various, and usually unrelated factors. Plant managers with different backgrounds and experience may have different ways of managing production.

Recent acquisitions can completely modify manufacturing processes. New directives, often difficult to implement, can create high operator turnover and have an impact on training efforts. The level of automation also has an impact on how process are executed and documented. In particular, the level of plant automation can be a critical aspect in the ability to support corporate strategy and adapt production in real-time. In many plants, where paper and manual processes are largely being applied, some factories are completely automated, with little or no operator support.

Although investments in automation have been steadily increasing in recent years, the capability for many plants to allocate millions of dollars in new hardware, networks, PLCs and HMIs is not easy to achieve, especially in an improving, but in some areas, still weak economy. Engineering can provide the right expertise and knowledge to support companies in making these difficult and challenging decisions.

Our experienced consultants work daily with “best in class” manufactures to help develop long term strategies. We can suggest and deliver the right IT solution to provide the greatest benefits within your manufacturing environment. Engineering has had a leading role in delivering Siemens solutions for manufacturing at both the corporate and plant level. Opcenter Execution (SIMATIC IT), Siemens Manufacturing Execution System (MES), is one of the best products in the market to address all of the challenges previously described.

Opcenter Execution (SIMATIC IT) leverages a configurable, out of the box interface between ERP and automation to effectively support the supply chain. Opcenter Execution (SIMATIC IT) bridges the gap between the business and plant level, allowing object-based communications to move freely from one to the other, thus enabling the two worlds to work together ensuring that production and demand information flows smoothly.

Developed on top of the Opcenter Execution (SIMATIC IT) platform, it is the natural collaborative environment of a Opcenter Execution (SIMATIC IT) solution with the business level.

Opcenter Execution (SIMATIC IT) is also a scalable, standards-based manufacturing execution and intelligence solution. It contains configurable standard functionality for R&D and production environments and can be easily adapted to client specific requirements for new and existing applications. Standard functionality includes interoperability with both business systems and control systems. These elements lower the total cost of implementation and roll out and use best practices technology within R&D and Manufacturing.

Opcenter Execution (SIMATIC IT) contains libraries of preconfigured use cases commonly encountered in the industry which are constantly being upgraded and extended. Use cases for many of the process, life science and discrete industry verticals are available. Siemens developed a value framework that maps these functionalities against industry business processes and strategic or tactical value, enabling a valueoriented application designed to maximize ROI. The functionality includes:

1. Production Management

for standardized and coordinated feedback to the supply chain allowing:

• coordination of systems within factories » order management
• material management
• plant performance analysis

2. R&D Management

for reduced time-to-market in:

• development of new products
• existing product maintenance
• trial and experiment management
• quality control
• laboratory management
• batch and inventory management
• cross-disciplinary collaborative analysis

3. Plant Intelligence

for real-time, multi-plant, multi-region production indicators that:

• translate raw real-time manufacturing data into business performance indicators
• provide integration between manufacturing and ERP, supply chain and other systems

Engineering is a knowledgeable and experienced Siemens partner in the manufacturing arena. MES systems help companies address complex challenges in the manufacturing word. Let our competence and talent make the difference in your world.