How a Manufacturing Execution System Works in a Production Environment
At its core, a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) like MV2 is the conductor of shop floor operations. How the MES does this is by being the intermediary between the high-level Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and connecting directly to the automation systems, machines, workforce and production work cells on the floor. This ability creates a rich, up-to-the-minute and historical understanding of the entire operation’s performance. A production manager can use this information to head off problems and find greater efficiency and throughput using the resources they have.
At the beginning of the process, the manufacturing execution system connects to a company’s ERP system to receive production orders. The MES provides the plant manager the ability to schedule manufacturing resources like automation systems, workers and work cells, machines and materials to achieve those orders. When situations change, the manufacturing execution system increases the firm’s speed and flexibility in changing operations and plant floor scheduling through these digital-first management capabilities.
As production orders are processed, the MES system operates as the central collection and dispersal point for both scheduling information, work instructions and the wealth of data created from the process of manufacturing, inventory and quality operations. This provides the production manager real-time understanding of what’s happening on the shop floor as well as control over the data and instructions routing through the floor.
The manufacturing execution system also provides a central location where managers can store and analyze their production data both in real time and historically. It operates as the integrated, digital version of conventional work scheduling, Kanban and performance tracking boards. The MES can also be tasked with broadcasting alerts when critical developments take place. Some examples of these alerts are when machines go down, inventory shortages threaten to happen and when productivity metrics fall below certain thresholds.
At the end of these processes, the MES sends back production data to the ERP system and the production manager. This reporting keeps the company abreast of production performance metrics and allows a firm to plan and estimate more effectively with better data. The MES can make job pricing, capacity planning and materials purchasing operations much more efficient with more easily accessible data.
The above steps are just a high-level overview of how a manufacturing execution system like MV2 works. If you would like to learn more about how the MV2 manufacturing execution system can work with and manage your production operations, contact us today.