Articles by this author:
João Aido is an Applications Engineer for Critical Manufacturing. He has +10 years of experience in the industrial environment, having worked across different areas (Process Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain Management, Production Management and Business Unit Management). João is passionate for traveling around the world, having visited more than 20 countries. He has a Master's Degree in Engineering and Industrial Management with a specialization in Business Processes. Additive Manufacturing, Augmented Reality and Big Data are his major Industry 4.0 interests.
The Euro 2020 final is truly a masterclass in MES selection. How does the MES selection process relate to the Euro 2020 final? Learn from the champions and select your digital transformation partners and MES wisely.
While 3D printing or additive manufacturing has vast potential in reducing lead times for discrete and customized manufactured products/parts, it is vital that the MES being used to usher in the technology is ready for the changes which will occur across the value chain, in order to ensure that the true potential of the technology and other Industry 4.0 technologies being used in tandem are realized.
MES applications which were pre-IIoT were mostly custom built, and many times ‘closed’ systems where business and product, logic and flow were intertwined and integration with enterprise applications was optional. You need to look at the current MES deployed in your process and ask the following five questions; upon answering them, it will become clearer whether or not an overhaul can save your application or it needs to go.
Are you deciding between an MES or an IIoT Platform? What about leverage them both? MES enables value chain-wide improvements, which no IIoT platform alone can ever achieve.
Categorizing manufacturing operations based on process workflows and establishing a functionality/weight-based methodology for selecting the right MES is a logical first step. Understanding industry-specific use cases will enable and aid better decision making when it comes to deciding which MES works best for you.
Speed, efficiency and effectiveness. These are three very different things but are often associated with each other. According to folklore, the fastest doesn’t always finish first – so is efficiency and effectiveness what you should be striving for? Design of Experiments (DOE) is like this. You can conduct experiments fast, but what if you miss an important interaction because you can only experiment with one factor at a time?
