All Manufacturing Execution Systems questions

• Small Business Options
  We are an ecommerce company selling microscopes. Can you help identify enterprise software solutions for a small business (under $20m in revenues)? We have looked at NetSuite but need to find alternative integrated solutions. Alternatively, are there any consultants who might help with alternative solutions? Currently, we do not have in-house IT staff. Thanks.

• Training Advice
  My team is working in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Whom should I contact to provide training in Chennai, India, on MES tools (IBM ViewSeries, Camstar, PROMIS, Factoryworks)?

• The Synergies of Proficy and MII
  Dear Alison We use both GE Proficy and xMII at our plants. We also use SAP ERP. There is often confusion/debate about using Proficy Realtime Information Portal vs. xMII to provide reporting, dashboards etc. (Due to our architecture we do not use the direct SAP ERP connector feature of xMII, all ERP integration happens via ESB middleware). I believe there is a role for both products in the MES space. What would you say are the relative strengths/ disadvantages and positioning for these products? Daniel Spies

• OPE Solutions
  We are currently an SAP shop. A project has just been kicked off that entails development of a long term strategy for MES which includes implementation of SAP xMII. We have a division that is currently evaluating OPE solutions, GE, Rockwell, and Parsec as technology suppliers. There seems to be some concern relative to overlapping functionality. Can you help us to sort through this and thus to better understand relative to ISA95 where each fits and whether our investment in one of these OPE solutions would be thrown away? Thanks.

• Integration of MES and SAP in Mexican Manufacturing
  Do you know of any companies in México that currently use an MES system integrated to SAP? We would like to see its functionality and analyze if we can implement it in our company, Vitro, an Automotive Supplier.

• Does MII Fit the Bill?
  Hi Alison, I am on a team that is getting ready to implement an MES at the Army Depots and we were told to consider MAXIMO. I did a lot of research and could not find MAXIMO as an MES provider. We do very complex discrete manufacturing, specifically maintenance, repair and overhaul of Weapon Systems. We are implementing SAP as our enterprise solution and the provider is trying to suggest we don't need an MES, because those complex requirements could be satisfied in SAP. I find that strange because SAP was reselling VISIPRISE in their Perfect Plant solution and now is in the process of purchasing them. It appears to me that SAP is admitting that they can't operate in that space very effectively. Can you help please, especially with MAXIMO as a possible MES solution. Thanks, Fred

• MES v. MII
  Dear Alison, I'm going to implement an MES in my Foundry. Hinduja Foundries is part of the $14 Billion Hinduja Group and our expertise is basically Grey Cast Iron, SG Iron, and aluminum castings (mostly cylinder blocks & heads). We are the largest casting maker in India with annual output of over 100,000 MT. We are all set to become Asia's Largest foundry once we complete setting up our new plant. We've narrowed the MES choice down to either GE Fanuc or Factory Talk, and the problems I’m facing are: 1. Convincing the management that MES is very useful in a foundry as well. 2. Since we're already investing in SAP, my management wants to go for an xMII-based solution rather than an MES. Can you give me some points get my project approved?

• Scheduling Assistance
  Dear Alison Smith, Does MES help with scheduling or do I need to have a scheduling package to complement the MES package?

• ROI Revisited
  Dear Alison, I was going through a few of your answers when I came across these figures you had used to answer a question posed to you..... [From the previous post:] You wrote: ?The aggregated data I'm sharing here is from AMR ROI studies, but if you l`ook to the MESA organization, you'll probably find data that's of like magnitude.
  • 3-7% increase in yields due to reductions in scrap, material savings ranging from $150,000 to $3 million annually on discarded products. Reduction in process defects of 20%
  • E-signature tracking, headcount reduction, 25-75% reduction in signature review times, 30-55% reduction in rate of exception handling (closure)
  • 58% reduction in idle time, 8-18% increase in productivity, 15-50% decrease in cycle time, 20% reduction in unnecessary equipment changeovers, reduced reporting latency from days to hours, daily to shift
  • Reduction in finished goods inventories, product holds, 20-50% reductions in WIP, monthly inventory adjustments eliminated
  • Improved inventory counts, number of exceptions, time-to-manage exception, batch reviews, data entry into ERP, unnecessary equipment changeovers, eliminates millions of entries and checks/year. Save 70,000 hours/year on batch reviews, 93% reduction in time-to-handle exceptions, reductions in G&A overhead of up to 90%? Can you please tell me what size of organisation are we talking about? And can you tell me how these figures fare with respect to a small scale, middle scale, and a large scale organisation? Timothy Rozario, Software Consultant, Frontal Software
  • Obscure MES Package
    Any information about this MES package called Forcam? Please let me know
  • MES Market Data
    Alison, I was wondering if you or your firm has sized the MES market (software license and services revenue) for the past few years, and prospectively; as well as key vendor market shares. I am trying to understand this area better, but am having difficulty even defining its size and potential. Any insight you could give would be greatly appreciated.
  • Differentiation in Automotive MES
    Dear Alison, I would like to understand the MES capabilities for the automotive and auto components industries. I am evaluating GE Fanuc's Proficy Plant Application, Siemens' Simatic IT, Rockwell Automation's FTPC. I have found each solution provider has certain strengths and weakness in the different discipline of MES. For tracking and tracing I found GE Fanuc seems to be a very good Fit, For CAPA Rockwell has a better strength, etc. When it comes to shop floor integration with the CNC machines, GE Fanuc and Siemens have better hold and strength. So it is extremely difficult to evaluate MES offerings form different vendors. Is it worth evaluating MES offerings for automotive industries through services providers like Logica CMG, Tata Consultancy Services, or Infosys, etc., since they are vendor neutral?
  • Camstar Upgrade Path
    I need to know the difference between camstar insite 3.3 & camstar insite 4.1, 1) technical wise & 2) functionality wise. - I
  • MES to ERP Integration
    How well do the MES off-the-shelf products integrate with the standard ERP implementations such as Oracle or SAP? How about the smaller ERPs such as JDE or MFG Pro?
  • Shop Time Collection
    I am looking for some industry "best practices" for capturing time on the shop floor. What are business process and rules used in industry for collecting actual times worked on parts?
  • MES in Pharma
    I am looking for MES Solutions for pharma manufacturing. I would like to know which of the MES are best for regulatory standards like CAPA, clinical trials, and all-in-one as a factory suite. Also, do you have any related success stories?
  • What is SAP's xMII?
    I would like to know whether I can integrate an OSIsoft PI Historian with SAP's xMII. And what, exactly, is SAP xMII?
  • Vendor-Free Advice?
    We are currently trying to pick an MES vendor. We know what we want, we just don't know how to get there. After narrowing our vendor list and attending various vendors' customer sites, we seem to agree to disagree on the correct vendor. Is there a group of unbiased MES consultants that we could contact to provide some guidance for our search? Asking a vendor for assistance is like having the wolf guard the sheep. Any insight you could give would be greatly appreciated.
  • Electricity Monitoring Through MES
    We are currently using MES to track production, machine up/down times, and various other production-related items. We are looking into monitoring electrical usage individually on our machines. Is there any way to link that to the MES?
  • ERP/MES Faceoff
    In a discrete manufacturing or MRO environment, what have most companies decided to do?
    • 1) Do they integrate/push all the shop floor capabilities in an ERP and, if so, why?
    • 2) Do they put those functionalities in an MES and interface with an ERP and, if so, why?
    • 3) How difficult is it to interface the two systems?