Technology…The enabler for tomorrow's agile enterprise

Abstract

How many of you can retrieve what you need when you need it? Do you have ready access to critical real-time production information? How about historical information? Financial information? What about quality information? The information probably exists in many forms and at various locations throughout your organization - just not where and when you need it. A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) can be viewed as the glue that binds your business planning systems with your real-time process control systems (Fig. 1). An MES manages manufacturing and production operations according to your changing business plan and provides critical information feedback to facilitate the planning process. Key to understanding the requirement for information flow is understanding the relationships which exist between Business Planning Systems, MES and Control Systems. The functions often associated with MES are batch management, operations management, equipment management, materials management and quality and safety management. In today's rapidly changing and highly competitive business environment, the need to quickly adapt and respond to market opportunities while controlling manufacturing costs is critical to survival. As we adapt a high demand will be placed on the integration of planning, execution and control systems. This paper reviews the Distributed Control Systems (DCS) of the past and present, identifies changing business practices and new technology that will define the next generation of Open Control Systems (OCS), and provides insight into the choices you can make today that model your MES solution for tomorrow.