Jan 3, 2020
About the Customer
Engineering Industries eXcellence’s Industries eXcellence team has been working with the power distribution group of one of the biggest automation and industrial technology providers in the world. Based in the U.S., this manufacturing division is responsible for the production and assembly of the customer’s industrial circuit breakers, mainly used in large commercial buildings and factories.
The Customer’s Challenge
As is often the case for manufacturers of industrial-grade Electronics, most of the products in this division of the customer’s business are built-to-order. Every order that comes in is unique in terms of quantity and customization(s), the details determined by the end customer submitting that order. For the manufacturer, this means that products cannot be produced in the physical plant until a confirmed order is received. As a result, once the production process begins, workflow reliability and process efficiency become critical factors in the competitive and timely delivery of the final product.
In addition, the nature of industrial circuit breakers in general creates a number of different challenges for the manufacturer. These products are large and complex, a single panel often containing 50 or 60 individual circuit breakers. The manufacturing process involves a high number of physical parts and manual assembly operations. Everything necessary to deliver the final product happens in the customer’s facility – wiring, bolting, laying out the paneling, quality testing, packaging, etc. Simply put, there is a whole lot to manage.
About the Solution
Before Engineering Industries eXcellence started on this project, the customer was still managing the execution of each production order manually and on a case-by-case basis. As a result, there was no way to track individual order or overall production performance and quality in a reliable way. In order to better monitor and synchronize all the moving parts and real-time activities going on in their production plant, the customer decided to implement Opcenter Execution Discrete (formerly known as SIMATIC IT UADM), the leading Manufacturing Execution System (MES) from Siemens designed to help discrete manufacturers automate and manage all the work-in-progress on their factory floor.
About the Project
As a niche system integrator specialized in Industry 4.0 technologies and thanks to a dedicated team of MES experts with over 20 years of experience delivering Siemens solutions to manufacturers worldwide, Engineering Industries eXcellence was confident partnering with the customer and leading the first installation of the new MES in their flagship U.S. production facility.
Our experts first completed the analysis phase of the project, conducting workshops together with customer stakeholders to collect and create a comprehensive map of all manufacturing processes and business requirements in scope. Currently, our technical team is configuring the new system and building integrations according to the requirements and needs of the customer. The MES will be fully integrated to the customer’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, creating an electronic and seamless feed of work orders from sales and planning all the way to the shop floor. The MES will also integrate with certain electronic hand tools, like torque guns, used on the production line, in order to enable the customer to track data and manage quality. After the final MES solution is ready and validated, our implementation team will deploy the system, as always supporting hypercare and executing end user training until the customer is ready to take full ownership of their new system.
Engineering’s Advantage
As one of the oldest and most specialized partners of Siemens for their Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) offering, Engineering has a team of technical resources that know Siemens MES software better than anyone in the world. Over the years and as our team has gained more experience deploying these solutions to customers of all shapes and sizes and across all industrial sectors, our methodology has evolved to the highest standards in terms of efficiency, risk minimization, delivery of a better technical product, tangible ROI and providing the highest level of service to the customer. We know the value a system like this can bring because we have seen it time and time again. In the final phase of this project early next year, our team looks forward to delivering a successful and effective MES solution that will transform the customer’s operations by automating process workflows, improving productivity and reducing cycle times across their entire industrial circuit breaker manufacturing division.
