Digitising complex discrete manufacturing processes

Digitising MES processes helps to drive lower costs, higher quality and faster production to stay competitive today and ensure success tomorrow.

Complex discrete manufacturers today are part of multifaceted, fast-moving supply chains, with the production of distinct items in an increasingly global and competitive environment. Orchestrating the movement of parts and components around the world is an intricate process, especially as constant change becomes the norm.

Whether in aerospace, defence, energy, heavy equipment, or other complex discrete manufacturing industries, the need for comprehensive visibility into production performance has become imperative to stay competitive. Fast, reliable and accurate information is the name of the game, and manufacturers need to rely on more digitised processes and less manual interaction as they seek to effectively manage their operations and work toward optimising their supply chains.

According to ARC Advisory Group, the next decade will be about empowering value networks, whereby manufacturers will transform from a plant-centric integrated model to a more advanced model that focuses on value network collaboration. This network includes the companies that work together to deliver goods and services to end customers — creating an interrelated supply chain ecosystem that manufacturers need to succeed in for a competitive edge.

The key toward this transition for empowering a value network begins at the line and plant level with classic manufacturing execution system (MES) capabilities such as quality, resource allocation (operators, workstations, tooling, etc) work-in-process (WIP) tracking, traceability and work instructions. Only when manufacturers can leverage critical insight within their own operations can they reap the benefits of tightly integrating their suppliers, supported by more advanced MES capabilities.

Industry trends and challenges

Complex discrete manufacturers and their suppliers face multiple industry challenges, including:

• Shorter development times: The demand for new products and engineering changes is ongoing and can shift rapidly, with the window of time to develop and introduce new products becoming increasingly tighter. Manufacturers must produce products faster and often have limited timeframes to recoup their investment for a new offering.
• Increasing price pressures: Many discrete manufacturers face competitive global price pressures as well as rising manufacturing costs for raw materials, labour and energy. They must do more with less and protect their profitability margins without raising prices.
• Greater demand for customisation and quality: Driven by the need to balance customer expectations for more flexibility and minimise the high costs associated with a pure engineer-to-order (ETO) model, manufacturers are increasingly seeking to adopt a build-to-order (BTO) business model. The need for agility and responsiveness without compromising quality to meet demands has become more important than ever.
• Extreme pressure to manage costs: From costs for labour and warranties to operational overhead, discrete manufacturers must minimise these costs while increasing productivity to stay ahead. Competition from emerging economies creates even greater urgency to keep costs in check.

A key obstacle to addressing the challenges

Despite these trends and challenges, complex discrete manufacturers and their suppliers have the opportunity to drive growth but are held back by paper-based processes and legacy systems built on ageing technology used to manage their plant floor production. This is especially true of many manufacturers and suppliers of large, complex products in industries such as aerospace, defence, energy and heavy equipment.

Processes are manual, and manufacturers lack the infrastructure to access pertinent quality information to make the best informed decisions. Challenged by too much WIP and a lack of visibility into where that WIP exists, they are burdened by hidden manufacturing costs and the inability to track and trace products. It becomes difficult to deliver quality information demanded by customers or, for example, to find relevant data to address a warranty claim.

Furthermore, the use of paper-based production trails hinders optimised operational and financial results. It slows down production, leads to greater potential for errors that affect quality, and generates higher costs.

MES digitisation for increased competitiveness

As complex discrete manufacturers continue to lean out their operations, they need modern MES software systems to leverage the benefits of digitised processes such as reducing waste, increasing flexibility and decreasing lead times. Today’s technologies make it possible to capitalise on the value of fast, reliable and accurate information to maximise production performance.

Through the power of MES digitisation, complex discrete manufacturers can leverage real-time information and automate their processes — saving time and money while still providing a consistently high-quality product. For instance, they can easily monitor production, record production data, analyse quality and yield issues, and uncover the root causes behind performance requirements misses, as well as the drivers behind waste and inefficiencies. With deep visibility across their operations, complex discrete manufacturers can drive robust strategies for growth and competitiveness.

Digitisation also affords the realisation of comprehensive product records. No longer do shop floor personnel need to physically include quality certificates from suppliers with paper-based product records — a manual process prone to errors. It further reduces errors by eliminating the manual tracking and updating of non-conformances, quality data measurements, quality approvals, etc, which are inherent in a paper-based system. Digitised product records not only include the manufacturing instructions and the routes used to manufacture the product but also the approvals that were obtained before release to manufacturing — providing a comprehensive view.

Aligning to tomorrow’s manufacturing needs

MES digitisation sets the path for manufacturers to evolve with the trends of the future, such as a virtualised enterprise. It enables the transition toward more advanced MES capabilities that will become critical as manufacturers’ needs continue to grow with rising expectations from customers, increasing competition and powerful new IT capabilities.

For example, using cloud-based technologies and mobile capabilities, real-time collaboration enables an expert sitting in one location to view a manufacturing site in another part of the world and troubleshoot a problem. It enables an executive anywhere in the world to access the real-time information needed to maximise supply chain operations and efficiencies.

The possibilities are many, and it begins with the deployment of a modern IT infrastructure that allows for digitisation at the plant level.

The journey toward full MES digitisation

Digitisation, enabled by the latest MES software capabilities, provides the foundation that allows manufacturers to achieve lean manufacturing and increased competitiveness. A step-by-step methodology to help complex discrete manufacturers achieve full digitisation is outlined below.

Digitised process

The first step of the journey is to eliminate the paper-based traveller that is released with the production order to the floor. Based on the complexity of the final product, there can be tens of thousands of these orders and travellers released every year. Digitised systems are provided for the industrial engineer to define and manage the routes, and instructions are associated with each one of these orders, which can result in more than 100,000 documents that are digitally managed.

As part of the definition, it is important to identify what certifications are required for resources (ie, people and equipment) in order to perform the different manufacturing operations defined within the route. Quite often in this complex manufacturing environment, the routes and instructions need to be approved by others from quality, product engineering and manufacturing supervision. Digitised workflows can help make the accomplishment of this task easier.

Enabled plant personnel

The next step in the journey is to provide this digitised information to the operators on the floor as the orders are released and executed. A fully digitised system provides a list of jobs for the operator to select to execute. Once selected, the instructions are digitally provided, which helps eliminate many errors that can occur associated with using the wrong paper-based instructions. Once jobs are completed, the order is digitally routed to the next operation.

This digitised information also enables managing and having true real-time digitised visibility to the WIP. Manufacturing supervisors no longer need to manually run around the floor to identify locations and statuses of the orders within the plant. Flexible WIP displays are used to identify all in-process material across the entire manufacturing facility or just in one area. Views should also be provided for a collection of orders.

Tighter quality control

The next and very important step is to gain better control of quality through full digitisation of the quality process. All key quality variables are defined and digitised within the MES system. Digitised forms replace the quality forms that were included in the paper traveller. Quality is automatically collected and stored from the associated equipment such as torque tools, gauges, etc, or plant-floor personnel may manually enter quality data.

This data is now validated instantly against the expected spec limits. The entered data may also be digitally routed to quality personnel to digitally stamp and validate the entered information. Non-conformances can be digitally created for out-of-tolerance material and routed to the right personnel for corrective action.

Expanded supplier collaboration

The fourth step in the journey is to expand the digitised MES ecosystem beyond the plant to the suppliers. Outsourced operations can now be digitally routed to suppliers, providing them with a digitised display containing a queue of their orders to work from. In addition, Certificates of Analysis can be digitally delivered from the supplier to the main manufacturer, whereby hundreds of suppliers can be included with the WIP being managed from the central MES system.

Comprehensive product records

All these prior steps of the journey enable the final step: producing a complete, comprehensive, digitised product record of the end product, including all associated components and subassemblies. No longer do paper-based product records need to be managed and retained in boxes at secure storage facilities; no longer do personnel need to manually retrieve and peruse stacks of paper to find the appropriate information if a warranty issue occurs. An online digitised product record database enables quick retrieval of any information that may be required.

Delivering benefits that drive manufacturing performance

The benefits for digitising complex discrete manufacturing processes are significant. Manufacturers can produce products faster through reduced cycle times, reduced lead time from order placement and first-time production of a new product. In general, digitisation helps eliminate non-value-added production time, which directly impacts cycle times.

For example, some manufacturing businesses have reduced cycle times in the range of 20% through digitisation — enabling a significant competitive edge, especially as complex discrete manufacturing cycles are typically long.

Furthermore, the simple capability of providing real-time WIP visibility can reduce WIP inventory levels by at least 10% and as much as 30%. By understanding where WIP exists, manufacturers can respond to changes in demand and eliminate bottlenecks to quickly bring products to completion.

Figure 1: MES digitisation for complex discrete manufacturing. For a larger image, click here.

Using the right digitised instructions helps tighten control on quality by monitoring and validating quality data against the expected spec limits. This enables products to be built right the first time, avoiding rework and scrap by as much as 25%. Manufacturers can also streamline the supply chain with more efficient supplier collaboration through outsourced operations management and Certificates of Analysis for components received. Digitised product record retrieval reduces warranty investigation time by as much as 70% and contains warranty exposure information to reduce warranty costs.

Additionally, there are other cost benefits associated with implementing a fully digitised system, including labour and paper savings. Long-cycle, complex manufacturing requires significant labour to manufacture all the components and assemble the final product. Therefore, any reduction in cycle time directly impacts the labour costs associated with the product.

Finally, eliminating the costs of paper and related items such as printers, ink, etc — along with the hidden costs associated with the process, including handling, storage and retrieval of paper — enables further cost savings.

Conclusion

As complex discrete manufacturers find themselves having to compete in an increasingly global and competitive business environment, the need for digitised processes cannot be overlooked. Defining how a product will be manufactured and managing all the associated components to produce the end product requires precise, accurate and timely orchestration and complete production visibility.

To that end, digitising MES processes at the line and plant level is a critical enabler to achieving effective operations and supply chain optimisation. The journey towards full digitisation enables manufacturers to reap significant rewards that can help them leapfrog their competition with the value of real-time information and the elimination of non-value-added production time.

Greater production accuracy, faster approval routing, reduced WIP, tighter quality and better integration with suppliers are among the cumulative benefits of MES digitisation. The culmination is the ability to produce a complete digitised product record of the end product — providing the infrastructure to make the best informed decisions which, in turn, helps optimise operational and financial results.

Lastly, digitisation enables manufacturers to leverage more advanced MES capabilities as their needs extend into the future. It is the backbone to drive results quickly and reliably, without compromising product quality — allowing manufacturers to stay competitive by successfully transforming from a plant-centric model to one that can capitalise on the advantages of a collaborative value network.

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