MES Software: General Concepts
How to Implement Production Flows in EZ-MES
For the implementation of MES Software, you are dealing with 2 parts:
- The configuration of the system, to mirror your actual manufacturing processes
- The actual use of the system to start tracking the production
Configuration of a Manufacturing Process
The basic assumption of EZ-MES is that any manufacturing process can be seen as
a sequence of
manufacturing operations.
In EZ-MES the design of a manufacturing process is implemented in a
Flow Definition. The manufacturing operations are configured in
Step Definitions. The following figure gives a schematic representation
of the configuration of a manufacturing process in EZ-MES.
Note the following:
- Flow Definition
The
configuration of a 'Flow' or a 'Manufacturing Process' is known in EZ-MES
as a Flow Definition. A Flow Definition
is a Sequence of Step Definitions and or other Flow Definitions
- Step Definition
The
configuration of a 'Step' or 'Manufacturing Operation' is known in EZ-MES
as a Step Definition. A Step Definition
can transform one Part Definition into an other Part Definition and can be configured
to:
- Collect Data Entries and use to verify Specs or Calculate values
- Consume Material
- Split Parts into Different Flow Definitions
- Part Definition
- Configurable Data Entries
Using the Configuration to Track Actual Parts
The Flow Definitions are a template
for Travelers that are used to move actual parts
represented by Part Records through the
different operations.
The following figure shows how the previous configuration results in actual tracking
of parts
NOTE: EZ-MES is is using
blue colored forms for elements that define objects that are needed
for the configuration of the system. Green colored forms
are used for actual parts (E.g. the Part Records
that represent real live parts are represented in green forms, while the
Part Definition on which these Part Records
are based are shown in blue forms.)
Useful Links
Click one of the following links to learn more about the implementation of EZ-MES