MES for Machining and Small-Batch Manufacturing
The solution addresses mould-making and one-off or small-batch manufacturing, with four core modules, nine production-management areas, Gantt scheduling and closed-loop subcontracting management.
Industry background
Machining commonly uses batch production, depends heavily on machine operation, and involves substantial testing and feedback. Three production types are distinguished: one-off production of individual parts with little repetition; batch production of identical parts; and mass production, where large quantities lead most workstations to repeat a particular operation on one part.
Industry characteristics
- Discrete production and changing demand. Customized requirements, increasing variety, rapid market changes and difficult forecasts complicate scheduling.
- Unbalanced operations. Different process capacities create bottlenecks that constrain production and delay delivery.
- Complex structures and frequent rush orders. Many parts, mixed in-house/subcontracted work, changing processes and urgent insertions make plans difficult to calculate and maintain.
- Subcontracting. Numerous subcontractors and outsourced parts make quality and delivery tracking difficult.
- Distributed data. Many acquisition points increase collection and maintenance work, while records are dispersed across departments.
Solution scope
The production-oriented MES is described for mould manufacturers, one-off and small-batch machinery makers, and similar component manufacturers. It covers nine areas: production/order-task release, product design, part-process planning, automatic dispatch and scheduling, progress reporting, progress monitoring, production equipment, process subcontracting and in-process quality.
Four core modules
1. Automatic dispatch and scheduling
Calculate schedules for every operation of every pending part across all production tasks. Warn about delayed or potentially delayed operations. Allow manual plans, schedule locking and intervention for rush orders. Print barcode-bearing process dispatch orders and export daily machining plans to Excel. Gantt charts show operation timing by part across machines or by machine across operations.
2. Process planning
Import typical process templates or copy the process plan of a similar part to accelerate planning. Estimate machining time. Provide computer-aided process planning (CAPP) for virtual workpieces, including combined and split parts. Print standard process cards with part and process barcodes and manage a process database.
3. Subcontracting
List operations lacking available equipment or likely to be delayed after automatic scheduling. Prepare subcontracting requests for quotation and orders, and track dispatch to and return from subcontractors. Calculate on-time rates, nonconformance rates and failure costs to assess subcontractor performance.
4. Production monitoring
View planned and actual progress for every operation dynamically and in real time, using Gantt charts, tables and lists. Monitor equipment utilization and load by equipment type or individual machine. Bar and line charts show load balance and changes in load rates.
Discuss a tailored machining MES implementation so that each operation on each part can be managed explicitly.
System diagrams and screens
