Manufacturing agility and MES

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 6/1/1998

"Once you take the slack out of the upstream and downstream segments of the supply chain, you're going to have to know exactly what's going on in that box called manufacturing."

That's how Eric Marks of Schneider Automation/Square D opened up the recent manufacturing execution systems (MES) roundtable in Framingham, Mass. The meeting was sponsored by the trade association MESA International.

Two keys to gaining better control over manufacturing is information and the ability to respond to conditions on the shop floor.

"Timely, accurate information that is available to everyone in the global enterprise is as vital to success as the quality of the end product itself," said Ron Lloyd, vice president of worldwide manufacturing at Sun Microsystems.

The end result comes in several forms, Lloyd explained. Some of the leading benefits include increased predictability, greater supply chain flexibility, faster cycle times, and faster ramp-up to required volumes.

Recently, Sun implemented MES software to both provide some of that information and establish improved control over the manufacturing process.

Another company at the roundtable that discussed its success with MES was Datel which manufactures DC/DC converters. These high-performance components have been manufactured by Datel in a low volume, low-mix environment. However, the company is moving towards a high-volume, high-mix environment.

Using MES, Datel was able to achieve several milestones. Within 4 weeks of going live with the software, cycle time was cut in half. Within 4 months, output went from 4,000 to 8,500 units a week. And within 6 months, volumes hit 10,000 units a week.

Such increases were possible, said Datel's manager of manufacturing Sidney Martin III, because the MES software optimizes product flow on the shop floor and reschedules jobs, making sure none slip through the cracks.

Or as Lloyd of Sun said, "manufacturers require agile manufacturing systems to link suppliers, distributors, and customers."

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