" ERP - Business Planning System - solves the problem of what to produce; MES - Manufacturing Execution System -- solves the problem of how to produce"
Manufacturing companies are facing pressing competitive pressures, with margins getting smaller, lead times getting tighter, and production lead times getting shorter, while products are becoming more complex. Most companies are already using ERP systems and they think, "I'm already using ERP, why do I need an MES (Manufacturing Execution System)?"
We would argue that ERP only knows the "why", but MES knows the "how"!
The truth is that manufacturing organizations in all industries need to manage business process information under an integrated ERP system. Among these systems, there are many areas that require special attention: sales, finance, purchasing/procurement, warehousing, human resources, quality management, and production planning, to name a few.
In many manufacturing companies, the major costs in the production value chain are not reflected in a detailed and transparent way. What's more, much of the target data for production areas, usually maintained in ERP systems and spreadsheets, is based on assumptions or estimates from past experience.
The gap between upper management (ERP, APS, e-forms, etc.) and the lower shop floor environment creates all kinds of problems:
How reliable is the feedback from the shop floor (equipment uptime, downtime, throughput, causes of scrap, utilization and productivity, efficiency, etc.)?
How much lag is there between the feedback from the shop floor at the bottom and the identification of the data in the ERP system at the top?
What are the real labor costs (man-days, man-hours) that need to be provided to the upper-level ERP system?
Why are there so many lead time issues despite full production?
Despite producing at full capacity and having the best turnover, why are there not the expected revenues?
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First of all, let's explore the functional and technical differences between MES and ERP
1, ERP and MES are positioned differently.
Traditional ERP is located in the enterprise planning. Mainly for managers, its management of data to weeks, days as a time cycle. When the work order issued by ERP to the production site, ERP can not be real-time effective control of the site, the implementation of work orders appear in the process of the "black hole of information".MES system is located in the implementation level. It transfers the work order issued by ERP and releases it to the production line in real time, and provides production support to the first-line operation and workshop management directly through data collection on the site. The data it manages is time-cycled to the present and the next hour, providing real-time information for decision-making by on-site managers.
2, ERP and MES management of different functional scopes.
ERP mainly manages procurement, finance, sales, production order management, shipping management, finished goods warehousing plan control and other planning level functions. MES mainly provides workshop work order dispatch, process error prevention, product genealogy, SPC quality analysis, equipment data analysis, process traceability and other implementation level functions.
3, MES and ERP systems have different technical requirements.
ERP mainly deal with planning data, small data volume, do not need to interact with the underlying hardware, easy to use a centralized approach to management. What's more, when ERP is implemented, the process of planning is relatively fixed. The MES data granularity is small, the amount of data, and factory processes, workshop management processes, the degree of automation is closely related to the implementation of different enterprises vary greatly, and the need to continuously adapt to the workshop management mode of change, so the system needs to be more flexible and the ability to support the promotion of the group. In addition, the MES system directly records the production process data, so the reliability and stability of the system is more demanding than ERP.
What problems can MES solve for manufacturing companies?
What to solve the ERP can not solve the problem, the answer is MES! Standard and modular MES is the shop floor and the upper level of the ERP system between the coordination of information systems. It provides the transparency of production plant information that ERP systems usually cannot provide; it provides a reliable data interface between the upper management system (such as ERP) and the bottom of the shop floor (operating terminals and equipment), and so on.
1, manufacturing enterprises need to solve what problems through the MES system?
① When there is a user product complaints, according to the product number can be traced back to the batch of products of all the production process information? Can immediately identify its: raw material suppliers, operating machines, operators, through the process, production time and date and key process parameters?
② When the same production line needs to mix and assemble multiple models of products, can it prevent workers from assembling parts incorrectly, producing products incorrectly, or mixing products?
3) What are the top 5 product defects on the production line in the last 12 hours? What is the number of defective products for each?
④ What is the current quantity of each product in the warehouse and on the front, middle, and back process lines? To which suppliers are they supplied? When can they be delivered on time?
5 How much of the time are the production lines and processing equipment in production and how much of the time are they down and idle? What are the most significant causes of the equipment's production potential: equipment failure? Scheduling errors? Inadequate supply of materials? Inadequate worker training? Or process indicators are not reasonable?
6 Can the product quality inspection data automatically statistics and analysis, accurate distinction between random and abnormal product quality fluctuations, the quality of hidden dangers in the bud?
⑦ Can you abolish manual reports and automatically count the production quantities, pass rates, and defect codes for each process?
2, MES system for the enterprise can bring what specific benefits?
Master the exact production status, improve the accuracy of delivery, rationalize the distribution logistics in the factory, and achieve the production, supply and marketing cooperation;
Correctly grasp the number of work-in-process, and defective products tracking, reduce the cost of work-in-process production;
Track the serial number of the product by means of barcodes and RFID to collect the complete data and process quality information, and improve the level of after-sales service and satisfaction of products.
Responding to quality problems in a timely manner, tracking quality history, and improving product quality;
Reducing manual statistics and manual reports, and improving the productivity of on-site management personnel;
Getting a full grasp of the use of tools, equipment, and other conditions of use of the manufacturing resources to do an effective use of the etc.
These are the main reasons why the company has been so successful in the past.
With the deepening of the application of ERP in the enterprise, ERP system gradually shows its limitations. Traditional ERP is located in the enterprise planning, its management of data to weeks, days for the time cycle, can not perform real-time effective control of the site, that is, the so-called manufacturing process, there is a "black hole in the information". This "information black hole" has an increasingly unfavorable impact on the management and control of the manufacturing process.
The emergence of manufacturing execution system MES can eliminate these adverse effects in the product from the work order issued to the finished product output process, play the role of production activities to optimize the transfer of information in the enterprise between the upper and lower levels to provide a two-way flow of production information. If the MES system and ERP integration, not only can give full play to their respective advantages; at the same time, the MES system can make the production plan more reasonable, so that the ERP system data more timely and effective, more efficient.