MES FLEX:
The modular MES solution for the smart factory

Increase efficiency in real-time

Who produced what when in the factory, and at what time? These central questions for the Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) are answered online and in real-time by professional production data collection (PDA).

In the age of digitalization, objective information in real-time is essential. Organizational operating data (orders, personnel data), as well as technical operating data (machines, processes), can be recorded electronically and evaluated to immediately increase efficiency with a continuous improvement process (CIP).

With the FORCAM application Shop Floor Data Collection, the data is available for the integrated performance analysis in the office, in the terminal, and also compressed for feedback into the ERP.

Shop Floor Data Collection answers the following questions:

• How many parts were produced at what time and in what quality?
• Why and for how long did it come to a standstill?
• How many personnel were registered for how long on the order/work process?
• How long did the setup take?
• When was the process started, interrupted, or finished?
• Are there deviations from the specifications in absolute and percentage values?

Analyze virtually –optimize in real-time

If value creation is to increase, machine and plant downtimes must be reduced, and their availability increased. But: Which technology reports faults in the machines at an early stage? How can waste be minimized sustainably? Answer: through precise real-time data from the factory.

The FORCAM application Performance Analysis collects critical data in production and prepares it in reports for meaningful information. Both real-time production statuses and historical analyses are visualized.

This allows you to precisely assess the manufacturing processes at any time to derive the right measures. Alarm functions notify you immediately in case of bottlenecks or malfunctions -via email or push notification on the smartphone.

Your added value

• Accurate evaluations to the second in clear dashboards and reports
• All relevant key figures at a glance
• Daily reports by email
• Benchmarking of different workplaces up to plants
• Direct comparison of operating states and cumulative error reporting
• Permission management for defined user groups

Reduce planning effort by more than 70 percent

Growing data volumes, shorter product cycles, rapidly changing customer requirements: modern production planning is high art. Flexibility is the order of the day. Therefore: Say goodbye to analog planning boards, Excel tables, and other resource guzzlers!

With the FORCAM application Detailed Planning, you use resources optimally, maximize the utilization of your production, and reduce your planning effort by more than 70 percent. You have an overview of all orders in real-time and recognize bottlenecks immediately. You can react quickly to new customer requests and deadlines and establish an increasingly flexible supply chain.

Your added value

• Production, storage, and material costs are reduced
• The planning effort is significantly reduced
• Setup and throughput times are optimized
• Greater adherence to delivery dates, higher customer satisfaction
• Immediate and flexible response to fluctuations and bottlenecks
• Transparency

Increase capacity utilization, significantly reduce planning effort

In modern production planning, it is all about flexibility: effective order management and the efficient use of all available capacities.

Digitally controlled planning is the right “toolbox” to increase capacity utilization on the shop floor and significantly reduce planning efforts. This is where the digital planning board comes into play. The MES FLEX App “Digital Planning Board” displays all orders for the next hours or days. So, factory teams have the detailed planning of the production orders always and precisely in view. The linchpin is the sequence planning: All orders are displayed with their operation status, the corresponding workstations, quantities, and planned times as a table and graphically. This allows you to react to changes immediately.

Your added value

• Accurate evaluations to the second in clear dashboards and reports
• All relevant key figures at a glance
• Daily reports by email
• Benchmarking of different workplaces up to plants
• Direct comparison of operating states and cumulative error reporting
• Permission management for defined user groups

Determine the precise proportion of personnel costs for unit costs

A uniform production data model for the entire company, from production to finance – this enormous advantage of digital production control unfolds a unique benefit through electronic personnel time recording.

The ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems can only precisely answer the question of unit costs, which is central to modern company management, if all parameters from production are included. In addition to machine data (production times, downtimes, cycle times, etc.), the second major factor in production – personnel data – must also be recorded precisely. For reliable unit cost planning, it is always a question of what exact personnel costs have been incurred for each product.

How many workers have worked on a product for how long-scheduled and unscheduled?

Thanks to the FORCAM Labor Time Recording application, employees can be assigned to production orders/operations, internal orders, or cost centers. The data is then available for analysis and optimization in FORCAM’s integrated reporting solution and compressed form in the ERP corporate planning system. The presence at the workplace can be reported via the standard FORCAM terminal. Also, it is possible to integrate basic attendance times in the company via external time recording systems, which then report the corresponding times to the FORCAM terminal via the web interface (API).

Recording Personnel Times:

• Order/operation/material
• Internal orders
• Cost centers
• Attendance
• Workplace/machine

Provision of the data:

• Attendances visible in the terminal
• In the reporting of the integrated performance analysis
• Feedback to ERP

Your added value

• Complete transparency regarding personnel deployment
• In Controlling, the unit costs contain the precise personnel cost portion.
• Personnel deployment can be optimized
• The company works more efficiently and thus more competitively

Individual alarms when upper or lower limits have been reached

To increase the overall efficiency of a company in the long term, production, and process transparency will become an essential operation. This task requires precise digital recording and recording of process data to ensure high quality over the long term.

With the FORCAM process data acquisition application, process values such as temperature or speed can be continuously recorded and optimized on machines. Every signal from the machine data acquisition (MDE) of the FORCAM solution also forms the basis for process data acquisition.

If limit values are violated, alarms can be configured by e-mail notification or warnings at the terminal. In addition, it is also possible to make the current and historical data available to other IT systems within your company via an open web interface (API).

An additional benefit for companies is the combination of process data acquisition with the FORCAM Energy Monitoring application. For example, the CO2 emissions can be determined, and the costs incurred can be allocated to the exact source – with corresponding positive effects on overheads.

Your added value

• Automated recording of process values of all kinds
• Automated alarming when limit values are exceeded or not reached
• Graphical visualization in the office and the shop floor terminal
• Filter-based data export for further analyses possible
• Archiving and documentation of process data
• Causer-related cost determination
• Predictive Maintenance Indicators

Full control over the entire value creation process

A must in modern factories: the complete traceability of every component, every product, and every process at any time. Manufacturers can only meet legal requirements and quickly offer their customers precise analyses across the entire value-added process with algorithm-controlled solutions.

With the FORCAM traceability application, you can use the Track and Trace principle to determine how and where a product or component was manufactured, stored, or transported at any time. They ensure seamless traceability along the entire supply chain.

And: Our event-controlled data acquisition processes all process-relevant characteristic data such as force, temperature, and pressure and saves them for later evaluations. This helps you to comply with legal requirements and, at the same time, strengthens your position in legal disputes with suppliers or customers.

Your added value

• Highest transparency in the manufacturing process
• Cost-saving compliance with legal requirements
• Meeting increasing customer requirements
• Determine the exact causes of faults
• Minimize product liability risks
• Precise conclusions for complaints
• Improve overall quality

Reduce your business’s bottom line and environmental impact

In the manufacturing industry, energy turnaround means, above all: rising energy prices. Increasing costs, however, reduce profits. But there is a way out of this impasse: the greatest energy-saving potential for your company lies dormant in every production process – with the right tools, you can exploit the potential.

With the FORCAM application Energy Management, you have full control over all energy consumption at all times and can thus significantly reduce costs. The Energy Management application records and documents the energy consumption in each of your plants and compares it with business data such as shifts and order volumes. Using evaluations in user-friendly graphics, you can identify systems with excessive energy consumption at a glance and eliminate energy guzzlers immediately.

Your added value

• All consumption values are automatically recorded and monitored for you
• You receive alarms when defined limit values are exceeded
• You can compare similar systems directly
• You immediately identify “energy guzzlers.”
• You have full control over the effectiveness of all energy measures

Centrally manage documents and make them available digitally

The Smart Factory requires Smart Data: relevant information that is available in real-time and visualized in a user-friendly way. The FORCAM application Document Control digitizes, manages, and schedules all data that workers need for their work processes. The information is prepared according to requirements and made available promptly at the required location. Workers can organize and sustainably optimize their work processes.

For example, production resources and tools can be made available in much less time. This significantly increases productivity in the workplace. Operators spend less time searching for the documents they need. The error source of using incorrect or outdated documents is minimized, operational, and operator safety are optimized. In addition, paper documents are no longer required in the production area.

Your added value

• Extensive search and filter functions
• Any file format
• Seamless interface to all common CAD, PLM, and ERP systems
• Ergonomic and configurable user interface
• Central system administration with user and release management
• Editing NC programs
• Tracking and versioning of changes
• Documentation and recovery of different versions
• Data synchronization with document management

Distribute tasks effectively and track actions

Who takes care of what until when? Order is half the battle in production. With the FORCAM Ticketing System application, tasks can be distributed electronically, measures taken, and the respective process status retrieved at any time.

Practical example: Time and again, the required tools are not available on time at a specific workstation. Result: delayed delivery of the product. Equipped with the FORCAM Ticketing system, the worker enters at his terminal,

• the need for action
• who has to care
• by when which priority should be given to trade

It is then possible to distribute the action tickets also by e-mail and to insert files or photos for demonstration purposes. The status of each ticket (completed/open/work) can be tracked by all participants at any time.

In addition, the FORCAM Ticketing system can be used to map health & safety tasks or personnel-related topics electronically. In this way, health and safety issues can be visualized in a user-friendly way.

Your added value

• Aufgaben und Maßnahmen im Shopfloor effektiv organisieren
• Alle Aufgabenprozesse jederzeit nachvollziehen können
• Health- & Safety-Themen im Shopfloor Management elektronisch abbilden

Functional scope

1. Creating tickets in the terminal
2. Manage tickets in the office
3. Edit ticket
4. Distribute tickets (e-mail, PDF)
5. Visualize tasks and measures in the shop floor

Design digital factory workflows with FORCAM & Microsoft Power Automate

A new era of intelligent manufacturing: With over 400 apps from the Microsoft ecosystem – from Microsoft Office to Trello to Salesforce – workers in manufacturing plants can now organize, automate and digitize all the processes in their factory. With Microsoft Power Automate, manufacturing teams can configure automated and event-driven workflows through simple configuration without programming effort.

The bridge to the app ecosystem Microsoft Power Automate is built by FORCAM

Connector FORCE Bridge: Whether tool breakage or missing material – teams organize their work to identify and eliminate errors and downtime in real time.

Your added value

• Your company has access to the entire Microsoft app ecosystem with its data for your individual needs
• Automation of workflows in real-time
• Work 4.0 – each team and role organizes workflows using the most popular digital solutions
• Easily configure your plant and factory applications
• User-friendly GUIs and relief from routine tasks
• In case of deviations from planned KPIs, automated measures are taken in real-time

Examples

• Alerting of deviations from Key figures via Outlook or push notifications
• Employees receive immediate remote support in case of malfunctions & downtimes

Discover more

With MES FLEX, we offer manufacturing companies a turnkey and freely expandable platform solution for the era of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Included in the multi-cloud-enabled solution are.

(a) comprehensive connectivity for the shop floor and top floor, i.e., the connection of heterogeneous machine parks as well as networking with the pot floor (corporate management level),

(b) a semantic production data model as the digital twin of production, and

(c) open web interfaces for free composition and collaboration of in-house and external IT systems.

With the MES FLEX solution, customers gain full transparency in production, higher efficiency throughout the company, and the greatest possible freedom and flexibility in IT architecture.

1. Full transparency on the store floor is achieved through extensive connectivity: machines of different vintages and manufacturers and the ERP level can be easily connected and networked. Plug-ins and templates for various machine types and vintages are used for this purpose.
2. Higher efficiency through turnkey usability: companies can start immediately to increase productivity: A high-speed computer creates the digital twin of production. This production data model can be used immediately to increase efficiency with preconfigured MES applications with more than 70 analyses and reporting functions.
3. Greatest flexibility for composition and collaboration of IT systems: The solution is freely extensible, and customers can create individual IT architecture with their own and external systems and applications – through the open programming interface FORCE Bridge API. In addition, hybrid infrastructures of edge and cloud computing are possible.

Connectivity and Digital Twin: Comprehensive connectivity for the shop floor and top floor is ensured by standardized machine plug-ins and ERP adapters. At the heart of the platform are a main memory-based rule engine for business process modeling and real-time data validation. The rule engine contains a semantic data layer that transforms Big Data into Smart Data, and thus generates the digital twin of production virtually on the computer – a central prerequisite for greater transparency and efficiency.

Turnkey MES Apps (Manufacturing Execution System): MES FLEX offers pre-installed MES applications such as tracking (Track & Trace), performance analysis (reports, visualizations, alarms), manufacturing data management (production data, order data, DNC), energy monitoring (overview of all consumption values), detailed planning and control (orders, capacities, dynamic scheduling).

Open web interfaces: Any third-party systems can be integrated via the open programming interface FORCE Bridge API. The FORCE MES FLEX solution offers pre-installed market-leading apps from FORCAM partners, for example, for artificial intelligence (AI), tool data management (TDM), quality assurance (CAQ), and product lifecycle management (PLM).

Adapters enable bidirectional communication between FORCE MES FLEX and your ERP backend for ERP system integration.

If customers do not have SAP, there is an option for the customer’s ERP system to interact via the open interface. Suppose the ERP vendor does not support our technology. In that case, we can organize XML-based data exchange, which is usually necessary with any ERP system and requires appropriate application development on the ERP side.

The rule engine is in-memory based with Complex Event Processing (CEP). The combination of in-memory computing and CEP is a unique selling point of FORCAM: It provides the required real-time data processing in milliseconds. Only with in-memory-based data storage, i.e. data storage in main memory, can the speed required for real-time computing be achieved in the range of milliseconds.

The MES FLEX solution includes the first open web interface for digital manufacturing called FORCE Bridge API. It allows customers and partners to interact with the FORCAM platform via so-called REST APIs freely. FORCAM developed, patented, and publicly published the FORCE Bridge API together with industry and academia in 2018.

With this, FORCAM provides customers and partners with open application-level programming interfaces: Using these REST APIs, customers or partners can retrieve any information from manufacturing via the platform and write corresponding information back to the platform. Access to the FORCAM platform via REST API is license-free, making access barrier-free. If a customer wants to implement the applications themselves and perform the machine connection independently, the FORCAM Academy offers appropriate training.

FORCAM FORCE Bridge API™ – The Open API for Smart Manufacturing. Below are all the available SDKs and some sample applications.

Code Examples

FORCE BRIDGE API Documentation