OpenMES: co-development and deployment of an MES for a mid-sized manufacturer

SoftMedia’s responsibilities

OpenMES is an open-source project co-developed, deployed and extended by SoftMedia. Our delivery scope is clearly separated from development of the complete base project.

• contributions and fixes to the base application
• production process analysis before implementation
• configuration for each organisation
• pilots in real manufacturing environments
• new core features, custom modules, plugins and integrations
• operator interface design for shop-floor conditions

The challenge

Production involved multiple stages and workstations. Information about order progress, materials, downtime, waste and workstation load was spread across systems, spreadsheets, reports and employees’ operational knowledge.

Operators needed a simple tool for daily work, while management needed current information without manually assembling reports after every shift.

The solution

A pilot OpenMES deployment was prepared to plan, monitor and account for production. The system shows what should be done, at which workstation and in what sequence, while recording the actual course of production.

• orders, technological processes and production batches
• workstations, materials and local inventory
• quality control, rework and waste
• downtime, blocking conditions and user notifications
• ERP, scanner, label printer and machine integration points

Tablet operator terminal

The simplified operator screen runs on a touch device at the workstation. Large controls, a limited number of decisions and automatic calculations make it usable under time pressure and while wearing gloves.

• ready tasks and the current production batch
• operation instructions and required materials
• elapsed and remaining time
• input, good, rework and rejected quantities
• clear messages about blocks and production issues

Business outcome

The pilot creates one environment for planning, execution, quality and materials. Operators receive clear task information and management gets a current picture of production.

The organisation gains control over batch flow, resource use and causes of loss. A limited pilot makes it possible to validate the solution with users before extending it to more workstations and integrations.