Delivering Reduced Cost of Ownership With Enhanced Cloud-based MES

GE Digital recently announced enhancements to its manufacturing execution system (MES) software, the Proficy Smart Factory, at the 27th Annual ARC Industry Forum. Part of GE Digital's Proficy Smart Factory portfolio, the Proficy Smart Factory MES is a cloud-based system that helps end users increase control and performance over their manufacturing processes. 

GE Digital aims to continue reducing manufacturing and maintenance costs for its MES users while increasing functionality in a number of areas, including security, lean initiatives, and digital transformation.

 

GE Digital's MES is one of many softwares that make up its Proficy Smart Factory portfolio. Image used courtesy of GE Digital

 

GE Digital's MES

The Proficy Smart Factory MES is avaliable as cloud-based, managed service, meaning there is no need for plant implementation which helps to reduce costs and downtimes associated with more invasive cloud implementation methods. The system can bring the total cost of ownership down 30% for process, discrete, and mixed-environment manufacturers.  

As a fully managed service, the MES is customizable for each manufacturer's needs, and updating the system is quick and easy since the Proficy Smart Factory software is entirely cloud-based. This allows manufacturers to keep up with overhead and peak performance without time-consuming physical system changes.  

Software patches and supporting software have become a thing of the past because the cloud eliminates the need for patches and additional future software. In addition, GE digital-managed security updates can help manufacturers increase overall cybersecurity for their entire network.  

 

The Proficy Smart Factory MES software includes three software modules. Image used courtesy of GE Digital

 

Easily Adaptable Solutions

The MES includes different adaptable software modules to help manufacturers customize a solution that fits their needs. There are three main modules, focused on:

• Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)

• Production Management

• Quality Management

OEE is used to help manufacturers monitor performance indicators like downtime, waste, production counts, mean time between failure (MTBF),and mean time to repair (MTTR). In addition, manufacturers can manually associate isolated events with certain scenarios for more in-depth analysis at a later time.

Production management is used to increase efficiency in the increased production of plant processes. It can be used to better monitor products moving through the plant by reducing excess inventory, monitoring the lineage of products, and controlling the movement between plant equipment. It can track every piece of equipment as it makes its way through the manufacturing process, creating product genealogy reports when necessary. Lastly, the production management system can compare schedules to more efficiently use equipment to ensure orders are completed on time.

GE Digital's software has seen successful implementation across the globe. Image used courtesy of GE Digital

 

Quality management can help keep track of operator comments, documents, recipes, and specifications. In addition, it is useful for keeping up with current data trends and statistics for consistent product quality. It can provide manufacturers with test data from different sources and stores them for later use.  

  

Reducing Costs and Maintenance

GE Digital's Proficy Smart Factory MES software has seen successful implementation across the globe, providing manufacturers with improved efficiency and reduced downtime. The software has had many companies realizing great results, including a paper company that managed to save $4 million using the MES software.