EZ-MES: Manufacturing Execution System (MES)
Resource Allocation and Status
According to
MESA International a Manufacturing Execution System
contains a number of functionalities. One of the major functionalities is the Resource
Allocation and Status. This page will summarize the EZ-MES Resource Allocation and
Status features, and how they comply with the MESA definitions.
The Resource Allocation and Status function will interact with different functions
in the real time enterprise like Financial reporting, and Performance Focused ERP
(Enterprice Resource Planinning) and BI (Business Inteligence) Functions.
EZ-MES Resource Allocation and Status
EZ-MES takes care of the following:
- Resource Management
The main resources for operations can be defined and dependent on the resource,
instances can be created.
- Equipment Definitions, and Equipment Instances with Unique Equipment ID's can be
created.
- Users, EZ-MES enables Labor Skill Definition by Creating Roles, these Roles can
be used to block or allow users to perform specific Operations. This is defined
on the Step Definition
Roles tab. (Any combination of roles can be assigned to a user)
- Part Records, are used to track Material. Each Part Record is connected to a Part
Definition, which controls the BOM, drawings, and other configuration settings.
Part Records are either created by the purchasing process, or manufacturing operations.
- Because Equipment can only be connected to operations through the definition of
a Data Entry on Step Definitions, the system ensures throught the Step Definition
configuration that for each operation the correct Equipment is used.
- Documents like Work Instructions are connected to the Traveler making them directly
accessable to the Operator. The configuration of the Step Definition defines which
documents will be available at which Step.
- History for Resources
For all main: Equipment, Part Records (Material), Users (Labor), Configuration (Work
Instructions), EZ-MES keeps a full history of what happened. On the Part Record
historic operations can be displayed.
- Real-Time Status Display
For Part Records and Equipment instances lists can be displayed showing the current
status of the resource.
Feature Table
The following table shows the EZ-MES features with respect to Resource Allocation
and Status. This table can be used to navigate the online help pages that will explain
how the feature can be configured and how it can be used.
|
Feature |
Description |
Manual |
Config |
Use |
|
Equipment States |
Equipment Instances can be Created from Equipment Definitions. An Equipment Instance
can have different states according to SEMI E10. |
|
|
|
|
Part States for disposition and activity |
Parts (Including Lots and Batches) can have different states that clearly show the
disposition and the current state. For the disposition the following basic states
exist: Inventory, Scrapped, Hold, WIP, On Order, Shipped. Besides these dispositions
state parts can have an INPROCESS, CUED, and DONE activity state. |
|
|
|
Original MESA Description for Resource Allocation and Status
Manages resources including:
- machines and other equipment,
- materials,
- tool skills,
- labor skills,
- other entities as documents
that must be available in order for work to start at the operation.
It provides detailed history of resources and insures that equipment is properly
set up for processing and provides status real time. The management of these resources
includes reservation and dispatching to meet operation scheduling objectives.
MESA Examples of MES Characteristics
This part will take a couple of examples from the MESA White Paper #08: MESA's Next
Generation Collaborative MES Model. Based on these examples, the features of EZ-MES
will be checked.
PLM Integation into MES
Resources managed by PLM (BOM or formula, work instructions, customer notes, tooling
definitions, recipes) are integrated into the MES for prototyping or test runs and
production so that:
- materials are pre-processed and ready
- tools and fixtures or vessels are ordered, reserved or manufacturedand are available
as needed
- program/recipes for equipment areprepared and released for execution