Before we jump right to the point, please, imagine your own shop. Do you ever get frustrated by the lack of organization in your office? Do you feel like you’ve got the right people, and maybe the right equipment, but you’re just not getting as much production as you feel you should? How about board yield—sick of feeling like you’re throwing money in the trash from OSB or gypsum board cutouts? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then please, read on! But, if “no,” then likely you’ve beat us to the punch, in which case, read on anyway!
In candor, if you answered “yes” to any or all of the questions mentioned above, these issues (or opportunities, depending on who you’re asking) could have a multitude of causes. However, the adoption of a robust software platform could (and likely will) help to alleviate some of these nagging issues keeping you up at night. Enter manufacturing execution software, otherwise known as MES or a manufacturing execution system.
What Is MES?
As defined by SAP, “a manufacturing execution system (MES) is software designed to optimize the manufacturing process by monitoring, tracking, documenting, and controlling the entire production lifecycle. An MES improves quality control and increases uptime while also reducing inventory and costs.”
Now, you may be thinking, “I already have an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, what’s the difference?” So, let’s get some help from Google AI and break this down:
- MES – Focuses on the manufacturing process, managing the shop floor in real time. MES systems collect detailed data from machines and sensors on the factory floor, such as the temperature of a machine or the speed of a production line. MES systems are used to optimize tasks like production scheduling, quality control, and work-in-progress tracking.
- ERP – Has a broader scope, integrating various business functions across the entire organization. ERP systems collect data from multiple departments, such as finance, human resources, supply chain management, and sales. ERP systems are used for planning and analysis, and to make strategic decisions and improve organizational decision-making.
In a nutshell, the MES focuses on day-to-day operations and improvements/optimizations in the manufacturing processes, whereas an ERP is more focused on business planning and resource management.
What Issues Can an MES Help Solve?
To better help define what some factories without MES may look like, we enlisted some help from granIT GmbH, an MES company supplying software and support to the global off-site construction industry. Without an MES, you may find yourself dealing with:
- Complex provision of various production data
- Inhomogeneous cycle times due to varying component lengths
- Downtime due to errors in data
- Manual planning of production sequences
- Manual recording of production times
- No current overviews of project status
- Manufacturing documents still being kept on paper
- Low yield on sheathing products due to manual planning/design
Without making this article longer than necessary, let’s break down a couple of the items from above. First, “inhomogeneous cycle times due to varying component lengths”—what does this mean? For example, when operating WEINMANN equipment with an automated framing station and subsequent tables and sheathing bridge, the goal is to always run your walls or floor cassettes as close as possible to the length of the overall maximum table lengths. For instance, if your table length allows for a maximum wall length of 20 ft., then it makes the most sense to try and fill each cycle with a wall or walls that come close to the 20-ft. maximum. Alternatively, if you run 8-ft. long walls all throughout the day, this means that the framing station will constantly be starting new programs, resetting, and keeping the operator busier than necessary. Not to mention, the same effect will take place underneath the multi-function bridge. This type of practice could potentially limit your output by 50%. On the contrary, with WEINMANN equipment and the use of an MES like granIT (or others), multi-wall generation is a reality.
Multi-wall generation occurs in granIT and other software platforms when the factory inputs several wall files from a particular job into the optimization software. The software platform then takes those multiple jobs and finds the most efficient way to combine multiple walls into one, to ensure complete use of the full length (or at least as close to) of the framing station and subsequent tables. This substantially reduces the number of program restarts for both the framing station and the bridge, which optimizes not only movements for the operators but also for the machines. And, at the end of the line, an operator simply cuts each wall at the marked divide, and off they go to the trucks!
Lastly, we’ll touch on “low yield on sheathing products due to manual planning/design.” If your factory is like most others out there in the U.S. market, you’re likely pre-cutting your sheathing products before the sheathing process (rather than routing post-application). If this is the case, then it’s likely this is a fairly manual process within your shop, relatively speaking to the overall market. Assumptions here, but it likely involves manual print reads, operator choice between full-size sheet for new cutouts or use of offcuts, etc.
Again, with the use of an MES, this process can be automated from the time wall or floor cassette files are generated in your design software. Let’s take a specific example. After design files are generated, the files would be uploaded to the MES, and from the MES, a .MPR file will push all sheathing design information to a HOMAG optimization software called Cut Rite. Cut Rite does a few things for you: 1) stores information regarding board library; 2) optimizes all future jobs/cutouts to ensure highest possible yield per board cut; 3) if an offcut is created, Cut Rite stores this offcut information in its library and prioritizes its use before another full-size sheet (increasing yield); and 4) passes along label information to each part, so post-saw sorting is done with ease.
From Cut Rite, this information is passed along to a HOMAG panel saw, which then allows the operator to cut each sheet ergonomically and efficiently before moving along to the sheathing area. Depending on the size of your operation, an increase of 10% yield or more on your sheathing products, with use of a process as described above, could mean tens of thousands or much more in savings per year for the company.
As you can see, there are many ways MES can significantly improve the operations of your shop. For more information regarding MES (specifically granIT) or any of the machinery solutions mentioned above, please contact us via our website at stilesmachinery.com/osc/schedule-a-call or call (616) 698-7500.