The impact of a manufacturing execution system on supply chain performance

Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are still rather unknown compared to their relatives, Enterprise Information Systems. To date, most research about MES focused on technical aspects and implementation approaches. In this paper, five statistical models are developed and a web-based survey among global Operations and Supply Chain managers from the manufacturing industry is conducted. Managers were invited to complete a questionnaire, where the central questions queried the mentioned performance metrics, but also other conditions like the presence of ERP or Lean practices. When comparing the means between companies with and without an MES, it shows that on each performance metric, MES-companies perform better than non-MES companies do. The results of the statistical analysis support the authors’ claim that companies with an MES in place outperform their competitors without an MES on the inventory- and logistics performance, as well as on Order Lead Time.

The Application of Manufacturing Execution System in Virtual Manufacturing

Compaired with mart manufacturing and digital manufacturing, virtual manufacturing is a more advanced mode, which is more flexible, more inexpensive and more suitable for modern competitive society. No matter what type of manufacturing, Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is necessary and plays a key role. So this paper focuses on the MES in virtual manufacturing. MES serves as a bridge to connect the upper planning layer and the control layer of the factory. It has at least 8 functions, including data collection, production process management, human resource management, workpieces tracking, production planning and scheduling, quality control, documentation system and maintenance management. As a typical virtual manufacturing enterprise, the company A is chosen to be introduced, including the background, composition of MES and implementation of MES.

Research and Implementation of Lean Production Mode in Shipbuilding

This paper studies the production process of a shipbuilding enterprise. The company suffers from long manufacturing cycle, low utilization rate of personnel and an unbalanced production line. To solve these problems, the lean shipbuilding mode, mainly divided into shipbuilding work breakdown, production plan and virtual flow operation in this paper, is put forward, which combines the lean production and modern information management technology with shipbuilding. Supported by the theory of work breakdown structure and task package scheduling, the shipbuilding task package is reasonably divided. The priority of task package manufacturing is determined by calculating the task package manufacturing sequence coefficient, and a reasonable number of operators is calculated to ensure the continuity of segmented manufacturing. After determining the manufacturing priority of the task pack and the number of allocable personnel, the corresponding work can be scheduled. Production planning drives all production activities of the shipbuilding enterprise, and just-in-time production is achieved through the reasonable arrangement of these production plans, thus reducing the waste of personnel and time. Then, the virtual flow operation is carried out, which can achieve high efficiency of flow production and high flexibility of fixed workstation production during the production process of large-scale and heavy-duty products. The virtual assembly production system of the workshop is established according to the characteristics of shipbuilding operation and the actual production situation. On this basis, a lean shipbuilding manufacturing execution system for small and medium-sized shipbuilding enterprises is developed to achieve lean production in a shipbuilding workshop. Through the implementation of the lean shipbuilding mode based on task package scheduling and its manufacturing execution system, compared with the original data, the ship production cycle is reduced to 76.7%, the number of workers is reduced by 16.7% and the production balance rate is up to 81%.

Development of a Smart Manufacturing Execution System Architecture for SMEs: A Czech Case Study

This study investigates the application of a smart manufacturing execution system (SMES) based on the current controlling structure in a medium-sized company in the Czech Republic. Based on existing approaches on the architecture of SMESs, this paper develops a sample architecture grounded in the current controlling structure of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While only a few papers on approaches to the given topic exist, this approach makes use of operative production controlling data and uses a standardisation module to provide standardised data. The sample architecture was validated with a case study on a Czech SME. This case study was conducted on two different entities of one production company suggesting differences in the entities due to the nature of production. The research showed that simple tasks with intelligent welding equipment allow for a working SMES architecture, while complex assembly works with a high extent of human labour, and a high number of components still remain an obstacle. This research contributes to gathering more understanding of SMES architectures in SMEs by making use of a standardisation module.

Manufacturing Execution System Integration through the Standardization of a Common Service Model for Cyber-Physical Production Systems

Digital transformation and artificial intelligence are creating an opportunity for innovation across all levels of industry and are transforming the world of work by enabling factories to embrace cutting edge Information Technologies (ITs) into their manufacturing processes. Manufacturing Execution Systems (MESs) are abandoning their traditional role of legacy executing middle-ware for embracing the much wider vision of functional interoperability enablers among autonomous, distributed, and collaborative Cyber-Physical Production System (CPPS). In this paper, we propose a basic methodology for universally modeling, digitalizing, and integrating services offered by a variety of isolated workcells into a single, standardized, and augmented production system. The result is a reliable, reconfigurable, and interoperable manufacturing architecture, which privileges Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA) and its rich possibilities for information modeling at a higher level of the common service interoperability, along with Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) lightweight protocols at lower levels of data exchange. The proposed MES architecture has been demonstrated and validated in several use-cases at a research manufacturing laboratory of excellence for industrial testbeds.

Companies’ perception toward manufacturing execution systems

The use of information systems in manufacturing sector is very crucial to reach a high level of operational excellence and improve companies’ competitiveness. The use of such systems will definitely increase in the upcoming years, considering the digitalization strategies. Manufacturing execution systems gained a lot of attention in recent years due to showcased benefits in production management operations. Companies that adopted such systems witnessed an increase in process efficiency and enhancements with regards to cost savings and products quality. This paper seeks to analyze what makes the usage of manufacturing execution systems successful among manufacturing companies. We analyzed how the integration capabilities of such systems with other business applications and the company profile impact their usage and consequently the perceived benefits. A case study was conducted with 51 manufacturing companies and data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling technique. The results confirmed the positive and significant impact of the company profile and solution integration capabilities on system usage. In addition, a ranking of solution modules importance for companies was also provided.

Research on Digital Manufacturing of Lithium Battery Pilot Production Line Based on Virtual Reality

In order to systematically study and verify the digital manufacturing archit ecture and its key technologies, to solve the problems that enterprises currently face in the process of transformation and upgrading of digital and network manufacturing, a lithium battery pilot production line was selected as the research object, using the virtual reality technology as the underlying foundation, integratedly tested and verified the technology contents of the production line including the virtual simulation technology, manufacturing execution construction, information acquisition, and equipment automated transformation required for the construction of a digital factory, tested and verified the inter-drive and mutual control of the pilot line digital twin with its physical entity. The results show that virtual reality technology can provide a virtual testing platform for digital manufacturing which improves the efficiency of automation transformation, digital production and network operation of the actual production lines. This can provide a useful reference for enterprises to achieve a higher degree of digital manufacturing and maintenance in the future.