Brooks Automation ( www.brooks.com), a leading supplier of manufacturing execution (MES) and automation software for complex manufacturing industries, has launched a real-time enterprise (RTE) software initiative.

Brooks Software is built around a suite of real-time manufacturing applications designed to link enterprise planning and execution for collaborative, complex manufacturing environments. The initiative will also provide complete RFID hardware and software systems for discrete manufacturers.

"Brooks has been providing real-time solutions to the semi-conductor industry for some time," says Joe Bellini, senior vice president of Brooks' software solutions group. "With RFID being mandated by Wal-Mart, the Department of Defense, and the pharmaceutical industry, discrete manufacturers are now being forced to implement systems to collect real-time data for reporting purposes. They also need to apply that data to applications to make better decisions."

Bellini adds that the real-time enterprise is the next step in optimization for manufacturers that have already done Six Sigma and are using dashboards to monitor key performance indicators: "It allows you to make decisions and alter a manufacturing plan on a lot by lot basis, based on shifting demand."

Real-time manufacturing systems can also share data with logistics systems, like warehouse (WMS) and transportation management (TMS). "A shift in demand at the warehouse level can now be linked to the MES system in the plant to create a real-time end-to-end supply chain," Bellini says.

Brooks Software will help manufacturers pursue four key initiatives that are critical to achieving real-time operations: closed loop automation, supply chain execution, lean manufacturing and enterprise performance management.