Contents
Foreword xv
Acronyms xvii
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Motivation 1
1.2 Aim of This Book 2
1.3 Structure of This Book 3
2 Factory of the Future 5
2.1 Historical Development of Manufacturing Execution Systems 5
2.1.1 Development of Business Data Processing 5
2.1.2 The Integration Concept: From CIM to the Digital Factory 6
2.2 Defi nitions of Terms 8
2.2.1 Classifi cation of Terms 8
2.2.2 Company Management Level 8
2.2.3 Production Management Level 10
2.2.4 Control/Automation Level 13
2.3 Shortfalls of Existing Architectures and Solutions 13
2.3.1 Patchwork 13
2.3.2 No Common Database 14
2.3.3 Excessive Response Times 14
2.3.4 High Operating and Management Outlay 15
2.4 Demands of Future Production Management Systems 16
2.4.1 Target Management 16
2.4.2 Integration of Applications and Data 18
2.4.3 Real-Time Data Management 21
2.4.4 Information Management 24
2.4.5 Compliance Management 25
2.4.6 Lean Sigma and MES 27
2.5 Summary 30
3 Concepts and Technologies 31
3.1 Commonalities between Existing Approaches and MES 31
3.2 Norms and Guidelines 31
3.2.1 ISA 31
3.2.2 IEC 35
3.2.3 VDI 36
3.2.4 FDA 36
3.2.5 NAMUR 37
3.3 Recommendations 38
3.3.1 MESA 38
3.3.2 VDA 39
3.3.3 VDMA 40
3.3.4 ZVEI 40
3.4 Adjacent Areas 41
3.4.1 Historical Development of ERP/PPS Systems 41
3.4.2 ERP/PPS Systems 41
3.4.3 Process Management Systems 42
3.4.4 SCADA Systems 45
3.4.5 Simulation Systems 45
3.5 Product Lifecycle Management 46
3.5.1 Historical Development 46
3.5.2 Product Model 47
3.5.3 Process Model 48
3.5.4 Implementation Strategies 48
3.5.5 Points of Contact with MES 49
3.6 Summary 50
4 Core Function—Production Flow-Oriented Design 53
4.1 Cross-System Cohesiveness 53
4.1.1 Classifi cation in the Overall System 53
4.1.2 General and Complete Data Model 54
4.1.3 Origins of Master Data 56
4.2 Data Model for Product Defi nition 57
4.2.1 Relevant Concepts 57
4.2.2 The Operation 59
4.2.3 The Work Plan 63
4.2.4 The Parts List 66
4.2.5 Change Management and Product History 66
4.3 Data Model for Resource Management 66
4.3.1 Description of Production Environment 66
4.3.2 Production Personnel 71
4.3.3 Operating Resources 72
4.3.4 Materials and Preliminary Products 73
4.3.5 Information and Documents 74
4.4 System and Auxiliary Data 77
4.5 Order Fulfi llment Data 79
4.5.1 Orders 79
4.5.2 Production Data, Operating Data, and Machine Data 79
4.5.3 Derived Performance Data and Figures 81
4.6 Summary 81
5 Core Function—Production Flow-Oriented Planning 83
5.1 Integration within the Overall Process 83
5.2 Order Data Management 83
5.3 Supply Management within the MES 85
531 Demand Planning 85
532 Material Requirement Calculation 86
5.3.3 Material Disposition in the MES or ERP System 86
5.3.4 Incoming Goods 87
5.3.5 Interaction between the ERP System and the MES 87
5.3.6 Material Warehousing Costs 88
5.4 The Planning Process 88
5.4.1 Planning Objectives 88
5.4.2 The “Updated” Work Plan: Condition for Optimized Planning 89
5.4.3 Work Scheduling 89
5.4.4 Strategies for Sequence Planning and Planning Algorithms 91
5.4.5 Forward Planning/Reverse Planning/Bottleneck Planning 92
5.4.6 Collision-Free Planning of a Time Container 93
5.4.7 Setup Optimization and Warehousing Costs 94
5.5 The Importance of the Control Station 94
5.5.1 Core Elements 94
5.5.2 User Interface 95
5.6 Personnel Planning and Release of Orders 96
5.7 Summary 97
6 Core Function—Order Processing 99
6.1 General Information on Order Processing 99
6.1.1 Classifi cation within the Overall System 99
6.1.2 Functions of Order Fulfi llment 99
6.1.3 The MES Terminal 100
6.2 Order Preparation and Setup 103
6.2.1 Changing Tools 103
6.2.2 Machine Settings 104
6.2.3 Material Provision 105
6.2.4 Test Run 105
6.3 Order Control 106
6.3.1 Information Management 106
6.3.2 Control and Tracing of Production Units 106
6.3.3 Managing the Production Bin 106
6.3.4 Material Flow Control 106
6.3.5 Order Processing and Operating Data Recording 109
6.3.6 Process and Quality Assurance 110
6.4 Performance Data 112
6.4.1 Involved Departments 112
6.4.2 Key Figures and Performance Record 116
6.4.3 Ongoing Analysis and Evaluations 116
6.4.4 More Long-Term Analyses and Evaluations 117
6.5 Maintenance Management 118
6.5.1 Tasks 118
6.5.2 Preventive Maintenance and Repair 118
6.5.3 Alarm Management 119
6.6 Summary 119
7 Technical Aspects 121
7.1 Software Architecture 121
7.1.1 Fundamental Variants 121
7.1.2 Overview of Central Components 122
7.1.3 Platform Independence 124
7.1.4 Scalability 125
7.1.5 Flexible Adjustment versus Suitability for Updates 127
7.1.6 MES and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) 129
7.2 Database 130
7.2.1 Introduction 130
7.2.2 Resource Monitoring 130
7.2.3 Scaling the Database System 132
7.2.4 Data Management and Archiving 133
7.2.5 Running Maintenance 134
7.3 Interfaces with Other IT Systems 134
7.3.1 Overview 134
7.3.2 Interface with Production 134
7.3.3 Interface with an ERP System 140
7.3.4 Interface with the IT Infrastructure 143
7.3.5 Interface with Communication Systems 144
7.3.6 Other Interfaces 144
7.4 User Interfaces 144
7.4.1 Usage and Visualization 144
7.4.2 Reporting 148
7.4.3 Automated Information Distribution 150
7.5 Summary 151
8 Evaluation of the Cost-Effectiveness of MES 153
8.1 General Information on Cost-Effectiveness 153
8.1.1 Calculation of Cost-Effectiveness 153
8.1.2 Comparative Cost Method 154
8.1.3 Value-Benefi t Analysis 154
8.1.4 Performance Measurement 155
8.1.5 Total Cost of Ownership 155
8.2 General Information on Evaluation 156
8.2.1 Assessing Cost-Effectiveness in Practice 156
8.2.2 Rationalization Measures in Production 157
8.2.3 MES for Reducing Sources of Loss 160
8.3 The Benefi ts of an MES 161
8.3.1 Integrated Data Transparency 161
8.3.2 Reducing Time Usage 162
8.3.3 Reducing Administration Expenses 165
8.3.4 Improved Customer Service 166
8.3.5 Improved Quality 166
8.3.6 Early Warning System, Real-Time Cost Control 167
8.3.7 Increasing Employee Productivity 167
8.3.8 Compliance with Directives 168
8.4 The Costs of an MES 168
8.5 Summary 169
9 Implementing an MES in Production 171
9.1 Implementing IT Systems in General 171
9.1.1 Selection of Components 171
9.1.2 Implementation Strategies 173
9.1.3 Problems during Implementation 174
9.2 Preparation of the Implementation Project 176
9.2.1 Establishing the Core Team 176
9.2.2 The Fundamental Decision: MES:Yes or No 177
9.2.3 Establishing the Project Team 177
9.3 Analysis of the Actual Situation 178
9.3.1 Introduction 178
9.3.2 Existing Infrastructure 179
9.3.3 Existing Processes and Required Functions 180
9.3.4 Key Figures as the Basis for Monitoring Success 181
9.3.5 Suitable Key Figures for Success Monitoring 182
9.3.6 Other Factors for Success 184
9.4 Creation of a Project Plan 185
9.5 Contract Specifi cations 186
9.6 Selection of a Suitable System 187
9.6.1 Market Situation 187
9.6.2 Short-Listing and Limiting to Two or Three Applicants 187
9.6.3 Detailed Analysis of the Favorites and Decision 189
9.7 Implementation Process 191
9.7.1 Project Management 191
9.7.2 Training Management 192
9.7.3 Operating Concept 193
9.8 Summary 195
10 Examples for Application 197
10.1 Mixed Processes 197
10.2 Sensient Technologies: Emulsions 198
10.2.1 Information on Sensient Technologies Corporation 198
10.2.2 Description of the Production Process 198
10.2.3 Basic Quantity Units and Production Units 200
10.2.4 Production Process Plan 200
10.2.5 Challenges for the MES 200
10.2.6 Realization and Implementation 204
10.3 Acker: Synthetic Fiber Fabrics 204
10.3.1 Information on the Company 204
10.3.2 Description of the Production Process 204
10.3.3 Basic Quantity Units and Production Units 209
10.3.4 Production Flow Plan 210
10.3.5 Tasks of the MES 210
10.3.6 Challenges 212
10.3.7 Realization and Implementation 213
10.4 Summary 214
11 Visions 215
11.1 Merging the Systems 215
11.2 The MES as a Medium of Product-Development Management 217
11.2.1 Phases of Product Development 217
11.2.2 Request Handling 217
11.2.3 Concept Documentation and Designing Requirements 218
11.2.4 Construction of the Product 219
11.2.5 Computer-Aided Flow Planning 220
11.2.6 Production Management 221
11.3 Standardization of Function Modules 221
11.4 Merging Consultancy Activities and IT Systems 221
11.5 Summary 222
12 Summary of the Book 223
References 227
Glossary 229
Index 245
When a general business concept becomes absorbed into the mainstream, it sometimes loses some of the sharpness associated with its original formulation. This is a charge that may be leveled with some justification against enterprise resource planning (ERP). On the one hand, an ERP system promises—by the force of its title—to link the entire nterprise together in a comprehensive resource plan. However, ERP systems in real life are far less ambitious.
They are equivalent to software to automate a firm’s accounting and administrative systems. This narrowness of outlook has greatly hindered the vital overlap between a firm’s ERP system and the system governing the automation of its production planning and execution functions. The latter system is the firm’s manufacturing execution system (MES). The aim of the current book is to spell out in detail the design of an MES. Along the way, the tricky question of how the ERP system should interface with the MES is clearly answered.
This book is the clearest exposition I have seen of the ideal anatomy of a production-oriented IT system.The fundamentals of product mapping, operations sequence planning, and production controlwith material management, data management, maintenance management, and quality management are lucidly explained. The authors take great care to avoid clouding concepts with unnecessary jargon:
every piece of terminology is carefully and precisely defined before it is put to use.
An introductory chapter and two additional chapters describe the backdrop of MES. These three chapters will serve as a useful review for IT professionals and academics and as a valuable primer for non-IT industry professionals and academics. The meat of the book is in Chaps. 4 through 6, which explain the core functions of MES (production floworiented design, production flow-oriented planning, and order execution).
The following three chapters cover technical aspects of MES (including interfaces to ERP and to IT infrastructure). However—perhaps biased by the fact that I am an operations management academic—one of my favorite chapters in the book is Chap. 10. Here the reader will find two valuable examples of production systems viewed through the MES lens filled out in great detail. One application is drawn from the continuous process industry; the second example is from the apparel industry and has the dual character of discrete parts manufacturing and batch production. The authors describe each process in detail and list specific challenges that an MES for each process would have to address. One of the merits of this book is that it is written from first principles and will therefore be found palatable to decision makers within an organization (such as financial managers and production managers) in addition to IT professionals. Academics in IT and operations management will find valuable material for courses at the interface of IT and manufacturing management. It is a challenging task to write a book with an IT theme that non-IT professionals will find useful and interesting. This book is one such.
