Mes systems are examples. MES systems in discrete manufacturing

CONTROL

Ruslan Budnik, Vyacheslav Kuminov

According to the International Association of Process Engineers, such production exists in more than 75% of industrial enterprises in the world. Even where, it would seem, the output is exclusively continuous, discrete processes are present as auxiliary ones. Often it is the support departments that use them, such as tool or repair shops, that are the "bottleneck" that limits the output of the main product.

The discrete type of production prevails in mechanical engineering, instrument making, light industry, furniture, packaging, pharmaceuticals.

What is an MES system and its difference from ERP

As the International Association of Manufacturers and Suppliers of MES Solutions (MESA International, www.mesa.org) defines, MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) is an integrated information and computing system that combines real-time production management tools and methods.

Using data from planning and control levels, MES systems manage current production activities in accordance with incoming orders, the requirements of design and technological documentation, the current state of the equipment, while pursuing the goals of maximum efficiency and minimum cost of production processes.

Rice. 1. Dynamic production model in the Preactor system (England)

How do MES systems differ from ERP systems and why are they located at different levels of the information structure? The former implement operational planning and, using accurate information about technological processes, answer the question: how products are produced at a given time and in a given quantity, while the latter are focused on volumetric planning, i.e. answer the question: when and how much products should be manufactured .

But still, their main difference from each other lies in the fact that MES systems that work exclusively with production information allow you to adjust or completely recalculate the plan during the work shift as many times as necessary. In ERP systems, due to the large amount of administrative, accounting and financial information that does not directly affect the process, rescheduling can be carried out no more than once a day.

MES-systems allow you to optimize production and make it more profitable due to a quick response to ongoing events and the use of mathematical methods to compensate for deviations from planned targets.

MES - a single source of production information

MES-systems, collecting and summarizing data received from various production systems and technological lines, display more high level organization of all activities of the enterprise, from the formation of an order to the shipment of finished products to warehouses. They also realize real-time communication of production processes with business processes and improve the company's financial performance (cash flow), including increasing the return on fixed assets, accelerating cash flow, reducing costs, on-time delivery, increasing profit margins and productivity.

Rice. 2. Financial and economic analysis of production in the MES-system "Phobos" (Russia)

In addition, these systems form data on current indicators (in particular, on the real cost of production) necessary for better functioning of ERP systems.

Thus, MES is a link between ERP-systems focused on financial and economic operations and the operational activities of the enterprise at the level of a workshop, section or line.

Over the past five years, RTSoft (www.rtsoft.ru) has been integrating the APCS and APCS levels by importing data from the technological level into business systems. As a result of analytical work, a survey of enterprises and a study of the results of project implementation, the company opened the "Real-time Information Technologies" business area, which aims to develop proposals for automating technological processes, such as operational management systems (MES systems), control systems and accounting for energy resources (ASKUE), operational dispatch control systems (ASODU), process control systems (APCS), software and hardware complexes (STC). At the same time, each system is characterized by its level of intensity of information circulating in it, the time scale and set of functions, but the task is common for all - to collect, register, accumulate, process and transmit information to a higher level. Any of these systems is developed for a specific class of users, depending on the functions performed and the tasks to be solved (from senior managers to ordinary specialists), and therefore provides them with exactly the information that is necessary to solve strategic, tactical and operational tasks.

With this approach to the interaction of enterprise subsystems, the introduction of an MES system in production allows you to achieve a given degree of integration of all data about its work to solve management problems.

Tasks of MES-systems in discrete production

MES systems in discrete manufacturing face the following main tasks:

operational planning and dispatching of processes;

financial analysis of the costs of the processes;

· operational rescheduling taking into account the real current state of production.

Let's dwell on them in more detail.

Operational planning and dispatching of processes. To calculate the production schedule at domestic enterprises, either static tools are used, such as network diagrams, paper tables, planning boards, or no tools are used at all. Events that make significant changes to the schedule occur so often and in such quantity that the capabilities of a static tool, and even more so a person, do not allow them to be taken into account in full and maintain the schedule in an optimal state. As a result, the operational plan, if any, very quickly ceases to correspond to reality and loses its relevance on average after 20% of the planned period. The level of organization of production falls sharply, its profitability decreases.

Functions of the MES system in discrete manufacturing

1. Status control and distribution of resources - management of production resources (technological equipment, materials, personnel, documentation, tools, work methods).

2. Operational / detailed planning - calculation of production schedules based on priorities, attributes, characteristics and methods associated with the specifics of products and their manufacturing technology.

3. Production scheduling - managing the flow of manufactured parts for operations, orders, batches, series through work orders.

4. Document management - control of the content and passage of documents accompanying the manufacture of products, maintenance of planned and reporting shop documentation.

5. Collection and storage of data - the interaction of information subsystems for the receipt, accumulation and transmission of technological and control data circulating in the production environment of the enterprise.

6. Personnel management - ensuring the possibility of personnel management on a daily basis.

7. Product quality management - real-time analysis of product quality measurement data based on information from the production level, ensuring proper quality control, identifying critical points and issues requiring special attention.

8. Process management - monitoring of production processes, automatic adjustment or interactive support for operator decisions.

9. Management of maintenance and repairs - management of maintenance, scheduled and operational repairs of equipment and tools to ensure their operational readiness.

10. Tracking the history of the product - visualization of information about the place and time of work on each product. Information may include reports on performers, technological routes, components, materials, batch and serial numbers, alterations, current production conditions, etc.

11. Performance analysis - providing detailed reports on the actual results of production operations. Comparison of planned and actual indicators.

For intrashop management of production processes, a tool is needed that will ensure that all ongoing events are recorded in real time (online). This tool should reflect a reliable picture of the current state of production, as well as be able to repeatedly adjust and calculate schedules during work shifts.

Rice. 3. 14 criteria for calculating the production schedule in the Phobos system

To solve the problem of operational planning in MES-systems, a dynamic computer model of production is built. It implements continuous simulation of the movement of material flows within the workshop in accordance with technological routes. The production schedule is clearly described by a Gantt chart, where each operation is associated with a straight line segment, the length of which is proportional to its duration. These segments, called Gantt lines, are located opposite the inventory numbers of the main technological equipment in the sequence corresponding to the schedule. The built-in production dispatching mechanism ensures the timely delivery and input of information about the actions taken, the events that occur and deviations from the prepared operational plan. The production schedule is maintained in an optimal state by continuously compensating for deviations by means of correction or complete recalculation. As a result, all processes occurring in the workshop become transparent, "transparency", controllability and identifiability of material production flows are achieved in accordance with the requirements of international standards (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2).

Financial analysis of costs for the implementation of production processes. To calculate the real cost of production, it is necessary to conduct a detailed financial and economic analysis of production. A widely used method in the West for analyzing cost sources and creating surplus value is the so-called ABC analysis, or Activity Based Costing (functional cost analysis). The essence of this method is that the expenses and incomes of the enterprise are tied to the points of its activity. In relation to production, this means linking costs and the created surplus value to specific inventory numbers of technological equipment and ongoing production processes. It is impossible to carry out such an analysis, having an approximate idea of ​​the distribution of processes in time and equipment. MES systems build an accurate dynamic production model that provides a detailed calculation of current costs both in relation to specific jobs and in the context of individual orders being executed.

In general, the calculation of the production schedule is a complex mathematical problem. To solve it, a system of criteria for calculating and optimizing plans is being developed, on the basis of which an appropriate algorithmic apparatus is created. Heuristic calculation algorithms are the core of MES systems and are protected by copyright.

Rice. 4. An example of planning taking into account the repair of equipment in the Phobos system

The apparatus for calculating production schedules used in MES systems makes it possible to take into account the interconnection of all elements of the operational plan, ensure the choice of alternative technological routes and adapt material flow management to the current order. The computing core of MES-systems makes it possible to fully utilize the power of modern computers to solve this problem.

Here it would be useful to add that in terms of production management, MES class systems differ from ERP systems in that in MES systems, the calculation of production schedules is based on many criteria. In ERP / MRP systems, planning, as a rule, is carried out according to one criterion, in MES systems there can be more than a dozen such criteria: for example, in the Phobos system (Russia) there are fourteen of them (Fig. 3), in the Preactor system (England) - eight. The minimum possible number of criteria that delimits a MES system from systems of other classes is two. Various combinations of criteria allow you to calculate dozens of plan options, use them as a means of modeling production processes and choose the most effective scenario for the implementation of the current plan.

Operational rescheduling taking into account the real current state of production. The weakness of most computer-aided planning systems (ERP, MRP) lies in the fact that production resources are estimated approximately or generally considered inexhaustible. By breaking orders into parts and calculating the start date for their production, these systems, alas, do not take into account the availability of resources at a particular point in time. After all, the abstract presence of a resource does not at all mean its availability for the execution of each order at any given time. Thus, a schedule compiled without taking into account information about the actual state of production resources does not correspond to reality and cannot be fulfilled.

One of the basic principles underlying the systems under consideration is the principle of finite resource planning. The essence of this principle is that resources (both basic and additional) are always limited and work is planned only when it is reliably known that resources are available.

So, in addition to the unplanned failure of machine tools and the influence of other unexpected influences that change the available volume of production resources, there are rules for preventive maintenance of equipment in the shops. Using the MES system, you can simulate the current situation, play several scenarios of its development and achieve a schedule in which preventive maintenance of equipment will minimally affect the timeliness of the plan (Fig. 4).

Another example of the finite planning principle is the system for accounting for secondary resource constraints in the Preactor software package. This system is formed at the stage of building a logical model of production. In the process of describing the main technological equipment, any restrictions are associated with each accession number that affect or may affect its availability or performance. Secondary restrictions can be the limit of electricity consumption, the need for the presence of an operator at certain workplaces, the availability of specific equipment, etc. In the future, when planning and correcting schedules, the system will monitor the availability and volume of use of secondary restrictions. In case of excess or shortage of resources, the system will first of all inform the dispatcher about this, and then offer to accept or reject the conditions of this plan option.

Results of using MES systems

What gives the use of MES class systems? World experience has shown the high efficiency of such systems, expressed in a significant improvement in the financial performance of enterprises. Here are just a few of them:

15% increase in productivity;

· 45% increase in equipment load factor;

30% reduction in the volume of work in progress;

· 40% reduction in the volume of inventories;

· Compliance with delivery dates is improved by 60%.

The payback period for an MES implementation project is measured in weeks, and its benefits can be enjoyed for years.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the introduction of such systems at Russian enterprises makes it possible to achieve greater production efficiency and, due to this, take a serious step towards increasing the competitiveness of the enterprise in the market.

Additional information on MES systems can be found at www.mesa.ru.

History of planning systems

Ancient history

The idea of ​​scheduling work in an enterprise, be it a factory, a plant, or a pyramid-building process, is as old as the world. As soon as people learned to handle numbers more or less tolerably, a desire immediately arose to subjugate production processes with the help of these numbers. Also a long time ago, people realized that the extreme value is not always the best, since it is always opposed by all sorts of restrictions in our world. Combinatorics in the nature of things, events, has always been. And there has always been a desire to remove chaos, to streamline work in time and to fix this order, even if found empirically. As far back as the beginning of the 20th century, the well-known specialist in the organization of production G. Gantt (1861-1924) for the first time formulated, in relation to the Bancroft company, which produces cotton fabrics, the following three simple rules for organizing work:

  • The order in which work must be done is now determined in the office by the white collar worker rather than the dyer.
  • Accurate notation best method dyeing in any shade is kept in the office, respected by the master and no longer depends on the dyer's notebook or his memory.
  • All dyers and machinists are financially rewarded when they follow instructions, or conversely punished when they do not.

And G. Gantt fixed this order of work graphically in the well-known diagram, which we now call after him. A start was made. It remains only to find a way to calculate the optimal sequence work that must not be disturbed. After the introduction of these principles of organizing production at a textile factory, with a significant reduction in the working day by 25-30%, the output increased, and wages increased by 20-60%. .

New story

The “new” history of solving problems of optimal planning in production is usually calculated from 1939. It was then that the publishing house of Leningrad University published a small book by a young professor L.V. Kantorovich "Mathematical methods of organization and planning of production". This monograph marked the beginning scientific methods in planning and organizing production on the basis of the then emerging direction of economic mathematics, which subsequently took shape in mathematical programming.

The reason for the "lack of demand" was the lack of the possibility of implementing the proposed models and algorithms, because There were no computers yet, and before the appearance of the first prototype of a programming language, there were still ten long years.

The appearance of the first computers significantly stimulated the development of work in the field of mathematical economics, organization and planning of production. Were developed effective method solution of integer problems (R. Gomory), the branch and bound method (A. Land, V. Doig and J. Little), the dynamic programming method (R. Bellman), etc. All these methods of finding the optimum in the combinatorial world around us have been used in various areas of economics and production. One such applied area of ​​mathematics called Schedule theory just "took" to solve a large class of problems of planning work in production.

The task of planning technological operations on machine tools, published by S.M. Johnson in 1954, which showed that scheduling already for three machines belongs to the class of tasks that are intractable in an acceptable time (the so-called class NP-difficult tasks) did not in the least discourage the factory specialists of the first departments of the automated control system. If the first benefits of computerization could only be enjoyed by state structures, grinding the multidimensional balance models of Leontiev or drawing up five-year plans, then with the cheapening of computer technology and the advent of the first serial computers, it became possible to solve planning problems at the enterprise level and even for workshops and individual sections. An enterprise was considered advanced if it developed its own automated control system, if it tried to build work schedules for its machine park using operational scheduling systems of its own manufacture.

The development of new applied branches of mathematics and affordable computing technology of the IBM 360/370 class, ES computers 1020 - 1060 did their job in the 70-80s - they were the catalyst for the appearance of the first automated control systems and made it possible, at least in some approximation, to solve the problem of getting rid of chaos of combinatorics "in the world of machine tools and parts".

recent history

No matter what new plots of treatment science fiction writers come up with over time, it, this time, runs almost along exponential dependence. For some twenty years, humanity has “overtaken” Moore’s law and, instead of mainframes and home-grown automated control systems, new “animals” of the zoo now roam the IT market, which is also called enterprise and process management systems. The main varieties of these systems, which are currently responsible for the preparation of work plans in production, are systems of classes ERP, MRPII, APS and MES. If their ancestors - automated control systems were content with the possibility of compiling volume-calendar plans (less often - equipment operation schedules), calculating financial prospects for the next five years with stable demand and payroll, then new systems include more and more new functions for automating activities enterprises in a dynamically developing market for goods of the latest consumer society. But the main function, as before, is the ability to draw up a work plan. It is this function that ultimately allows you to understand who, when and what should do. How does planning work in these systems, and which one is intended for which cases?

Planning inERP

We will not dwell on the description of the functionality ERP-systems, not only because a lot has been written about it, but because ERP systems, in fact, are not a direct tool for planning work in an enterprise. After ten years, consultants and users finally believed that ERP is, first of all, a corporate information system, an enterprise management system, a kind of circulatory and nervous system of an industrial organism, connecting the islands of logistics of numerous bodies that perform certain functions(document management, procurement, supply, inventory management, etc.). One phrase can be said about the nature of work planning, technological operations for machines and other pieces of technological equipment in ERP systems - planning in most systems is based on the old MRPII standard without taking into account the current load of this equipment and the state of processing products. Those. in fact, any detailed ERP plan would be almost impossible to implement. Any planning at the ERP level is limited to the formation of a voluminous monthly (ten-day) plan. It is not possible to promptly correct such plans, which is why their implementation requires strict executive discipline in all divisions of the enterprise involved in the production chain. Those. we can talk about the organization of production controlled by ERP, as a production with a certain margin of "stability" in relation to emerging deviations from the volumetric plan drawn up. In this case, the whole burden falls on the performers: “as you wish, but complete the planned task by the calculated date!” And, most importantly, ERP, having issued a task to all departments, if there is a need to adjust plans, is not able to cope with this, because. any recalculation will give the same picture of the overall target - targets in volumes, but not in detailed terms for products and operations, which is required for management at the shop floor level.

Planning inAPS

From the point of view of precise work planning in enterprises, systems of the APS (Advanced Planning & Scheduling Systems) and MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) classes are of interest.

APS-systems that appeared on the market in the mid-90s are already a direct tool for planning work at the enterprise. Despite the unambiguous designation, many authors and even developers interpret this name in different ways: “optimized production planning”, “improved planning”, “improved planning”, “advanced planning”, “optimized and synchronous planning”, “exact planning”, "operational planning" and even "careful planning"!

Agree, there are so many interpretations that the question arises - what, in fact, is the matter? Compared to what is extended, advanced, how accurate, what is synchronous to, what is being optimized and how operational?

Expanded and improved.

In the early 90s, after the first experiences of ERP implementation, understanding the advantages and disadvantages of planning according to the MRPII standard, enterprises faced the main problem - the reliability of planning. Reliability and accuracy in time. The dynamics of the market, the trends of the JIT concept demanded from enterprises more accurate delivery times, full participation in supply chain management. The imperfection of planning methods using MRPII required a revision of "values" - what is important in planning? The speed, the accuracy that contradicts it, and what are these indicators for? It turned out that without solving the problem of supply management, without the ability to predict the exact dates of production, the enterprise is a thing in itself. Therefore, the main goal for the new generation planning systems - APS was to solve the problems of automation of supply chain management (SCM - Supply Chain Management), and this APS functionality, implemented due to the possibility of planning all work in time, taking into account capacity utilization, has a dual purpose - it is implemented both for the enterprise, which is the object of the entire chain in the dynamic goods market, and for the objects of the enterprise itself - workshops, sections and divisions. Thus, the planning capabilities in APS are expanded and improved relative to the MRPII standard.

Synchronicity.

The concept of synchronism should be understood in APS, on the one hand, as the possibility of planning materials, resources and at the same time building a schedule, taking into account the actual load of equipment in time. On the other hand, synchronism is also expressed in the fact that schedules are built for all departments of the enterprise, taking into account the delivery dates of partners, and schedules for all these production structures are always interconnected in time, since they are obtained from the general schedule of the entire enterprise.

Efficiency.

Efficiency for APS is the ability to determine the production time for a particular order in the shortest possible time. Efficiency in terms of dispatch control and operational recalculation of schedules, as a rule, has nothing to do with APS, because if external restrictions do not change (violation of delivery dates from partners, other unforeseen delays) and a new product is not entered into the order portfolio every five minutes , then the recalculation of schedules will not give anything. Accounting for internal disturbances from numerous departments (equipment breakdown, defective operations, etc.) can lead to a significant weighting of the scheduling loop with the existing problem dimension.

Precision and optimization.

The accuracy and optimality of the generated schedules is the prerogative of the algorithms of any planning system.

Compared to MRPII algorithms, APS scheduling algorithms simultaneously take into account both the needs of materials and the capacity of the enterprise, taking into account their current and planned loading. APS algorithms take into account changeovers and some other parameters of the technological environment, which for some reason pessimists call "limitations".

There are many well-deserved epithets addressed to APS algorithms, but in some cases, in a fit of delight, these systems are attributed features that baffle even specialists. In particular, it is said that the algorithms of APS systems are based on simulation models, neural network models, knowledge-based planning, heuristic methods that are now fashionable such as genetic algorithms, annealing simulations, and even linear programming (!).

In fact, the APS scheduling algorithm is quite simple. There are many operations for the whole set of manufactured products, many machines, and for each product there are restrictions - in terms of production time, availability of material, etc. Constraints are divided into important and not so important. First, on the first pass of the algorithm, a schedule is drawn up taking into account the feasibility of important restrictions, for example, the absence of violations of delivery dates. If the schedule is received, then it is considered valid and is taken as the base one for further "optimization" - on subsequent passes of the algorithm, an attempt is made to take into account the remaining less important restrictions. It's not really an optimization. This is nothing more than an iterative process of obtaining admissible schedule taking into account the new restrictions introduced at the new iteration, i.e. very simple heuristic. In some cases, the planning process is simplified even more - first one detail is planned, then another, until the entire set of details is planned. The assessment of the schedules obtained relative to the actual optimum in this case can be quite low, but it should be noted that if we make a schedule for several thousand pieces of equipment from hundreds of thousands of operations for a month or six months, then this fact can be put up with. Especially when you consider that at a subsequent stage, MES systems will be responsible for the actual implementation of the production schedule. Thus, by simplifying the scheduling algorithm, the APS developers made it possible, within the limits of existing computing power, to obtain valid schedules and more or less accurately predict delivery times. At the same time, APS systems do not set themselves more complex tasks, such as minimizing changeover times, transport operations, reducing the amount of equipment involved, etc. in the constructed schedules, since taking these requirements into account will inevitably lead to heavier algorithms and the impossibility of obtaining schedules for large dimensions. In this regard, APS-systems are armed with an extremely limited set of planning criteria. It should be noted that this existing possibility of obtaining at least acceptable timetables (within half an hour) did not appear in vain in the mid-90s. Increasing the performance of computers with a simultaneous decrease in their cost, once again, was the catalyst for progress in the field of production management.

Other features.

Although it is said that APS can reschedule, firstly, not all APS systems have a dispatch loop, and secondly, the frequency of rescheduling in APS is determined by the frequency of new orders (real-time feedback for APS is considered redundant), in unlike MES, which perform this operation much more often (for a problem of much smaller dimensions, adjusting the plans of only individual workshops), since they react to any change in the course of the technological process. Constant corrections of production plans are typical phenomena for small-scale and single-scale production; they are often referred to in the literature as "custom". Note that in order to create a more accurate feedback loop with "custom" production, suppliers of APS systems in some cases use integration with MES systems.

The planning horizon in APS is rarely indicated unambiguously - a shift, a week, a month, up to six months. But no matter how one guesses about the “average value” of the planning horizon, for APS systems it is determined extremely simply, based on the main task, the functionality of the system, which is supply chain management. The duration of the planning horizon in APS systems is always the difference in time between the moments of issuing the most distant orders from the entire portfolio of orders of the enterprise and the current date, since when a new order appears and the entire schedule is recalculated accordingly, it is necessary to determine not only the timing of its production, but also the possibility non-violation of the deadlines for the implementation of already launched orders.

So, it is these new opportunities, driven by the need for supply chain management, that have caused the growth rate of APS systems to significantly outpace the growth of solutions in the ERP segment. Along with foreign systems (Berclain, Chesapeake Decision Sciences, CSC, Fygir, i2 Technologies, Manugistics, Numetrix, Optimax, Ortems, Preactor, Pritsker, Paragon Management Systems, ProMIRA, Red Pepper Software, Thru-Put Technologies, etc.) in recent Over the years, domestic products have also begun to appear (infor:APS, Adexa eGPS, etc.). Fears that APS will grow to new ERPs were, perhaps, only among journalists, since it was initially clear that APS systems were not responsible for finance, procurement, workflow and other transactional functions of ERP, but the leading manufacturers of ERP systems (People Soft , SAP, Oracle, SSA Global, JD Edwards, Marcam, etc.) reacted quite quickly and showed a desire to share their solutions with APS products. Gradually, this cooperation grew into a natural need for integration at the level of the ERP planning core, which can be replaced by an APS system. At the same time, APS can be supplied as a separate product.

Planning inMES

It is said that MES systems appeared more than 30 years ago. Unfortunately, the authors of the article, whose total work experience in the field of planning and automation of production is 45 years, did not come across this abbreviation in the literature twenty years ago. Be that as it may, everything is more or less clear with MES systems, except for one thing - they are constantly confused with APS systems. To understand what MES systems really are, let's take another look at the regulated composition MES functions, the number of which is exactly eleven (www.mesa.org , www.mesa.ru , www.mesforum.ru):

1. Condition control and resource allocation (RAS).

2. Operational/Detailed planning (ODS).

3. Production dispatching (DPU).

4. Document management (DOC).

5. Data collection and storage (DCA).

6. Personnel management (LM).

7. Product quality management (QM).

8. Manufacturing process management (PM).

9. Maintenance and repair management (MM).

10. Product History Tracking (PTG).

11. Performance Analysis (PA).

As we can see, this list does not include the SCM function, which is the main one in APS systems. Despite the apparent, at first glance, the diversity of MES functions, it must be understood that all these functions are of an operational nature and regulate the corresponding requirements not for the enterprise as a whole, but for that unit (workshop, section, subdivision) for which work planning is carried out . At the same time, one must also understand that such functions as document management, personnel management are the management of shop documents (work orders, reporting sheets, etc.) and shop personnel. The main functions of MES-systems listed above are - operational scheduling (detailed planning) and dispatching of production processes in the shop. It is these two functions that define the MES-system as an operational system aimed at the formation of equipment operation schedules and operational management of production processes in the workshop.

The MES-system receives the scope of work, which is either presented by ERP at the stage of volume-scheduling, or issued by the APS-system in the form of a workshop schedule acceptable for the enterprise, and in the future it not only builds more accurate schedules for equipment, but also in keeps track of their implementation. In this sense, the goal of the MES system is not only to fulfill the given volume with the specified deadlines for the implementation of certain orders, but to fulfill it as best as possible in terms of economic indicators workshops. We have already said that APS-systems form some initial work schedules of the first degree of approximation even before the start of the implementation of production plans. At the same time, due to the large dimension of the problem, many technological and organizational factors are not taken into account. The MES system is already at the execution stage, receiving such a preliminary plan, optimizes it according to a number of criteria. At the same time, after optimizing and building a new work schedule for the workshop, very often, due to the compaction of the equipment, additional reserves are found, it becomes possible to fulfill additional orders within the planned period. Thus, the effect of increasing the throughput of production structures is achieved.

Unlike APS systems, MES systems operate with smaller assignment dimensions - up to 200 machines and 10,000 operations on a planning horizon, which is usually no more than three to ten shifts. The reduction in dimension is due to the fact that MES takes into account a much larger number of technological constraints. Another difference is that MES systems usually operate not with one or two scheduling criteria, but often with several dozen, which allows the shop manager to build a schedule taking into account various production situations. And only MES-systems operate with the so-called vector, integral criteria for scheduling, when several partial criteria are combined into one criterion. At the same time, the dispatcher, when scheduling, can indicate what he wants to see in a specific schedule - reducing the calendar duration of the entire task, reducing the duration of changeover operations, freeing up machines with a small load, etc. Efficiency in the preparation and recalculation of the schedule is also the prerogative of MES, since the recalculation can be carried out with a one-minute interval. This does not mean, of course, that new tasks will be given to the worker every minute, but it does mean that all processes in the workshop are controlled in the mode real time and this allows you to anticipate all possible violations of schedules in advance and take appropriate measures in time.

Algorithms of MES-systems, although based, in most cases, on heuristics, but, as a rule, are much more complicated and “smarter” than APS algorithms. First, the MES algorithm finds a feasible solution, taking into account all the constraints and the selected criterion (private or integral). In the future, at the optimization stage, the best schedule is searched for. Of course, the resulting schedule is also not optimal in the full sense of the word, since the search for the optimum in such problems is always accompanied by significant time costs (MES systems build schedules in 0.1 - 5 minutes using modern technology), but the resulting schedules, as a rule, is already much closer to the optimum than the schedules built by APS systems.

In some cases, MES-systems can create schedules not only for machines, but also for vehicles, teams of adjusters and other service devices. Such features of planning as the formation of technological fees, planning the release of products with parallel planning for the manufacture of the required set of equipment (devices, unique tools) are beyond the power of any other systems.

An important property of MES systems is the feasibility of schedules. Embedded in the ERP planning loop, APS systems compile production schedules only when new products or works are added to the portfolio of orders, it is extremely difficult to correct them in real time, which leads to serious problems using APS systems in small-scale production. MES systems in such cases work more flexibly and quickly, recalculating and adjusting schedules for any deviations in production processes, which increases the flexibility and dynamism of production. If the schedules of the APS system are more suitable for production with a large-scale nature of production, where, as a rule, there are no sharp deviations from the production program (sustainable nature of production), then MES systems are indispensable in small-scale and custom production. At the same time, if for APS systems a workshop with a large amount of technological and operational information is to some extent a “black box”, then MES systems, when performing tasks, rely on the principle of calculating and correcting production schedules according to the actual state of production. These systems react quite sensitively to deviations in the time of technological operations, to an unexpected failure of equipment, to the appearance of defects in the process of processing products, and to other disturbances of an internal nature.

Unlike systems of ERP and APS classes, MES systems are subject-oriented - for mechanical engineering, woodworking, printing, etc. Therefore, they fully reflect the features of the technology of specific production processes and often include advanced tools to support the technological preparation of a particular type of production . Very often, MES-systems have the means of integration with CAD TP / CAM systems. Characteristically, according to Western data, the introduction of MES at the enterprise not only ensures the preparation of detailed production schedules, but also has a positive effect on quality management and the level of maintenance of process equipment.
Reinoud Visser & Jan Snoeij, MES Product Survey 2003

There are solutions on the market both for systems with a discrete nature of output, and for production with a continuous nature. The most difficult in terms of planning accuracy and feasibility of plans are systems of the first type, especially with a "custom" type of production.

The market for MES systems is developing very dynamically (on the resource of the MES association - www.mesa.org the reader can find mention of more than fifty MES systems). Just as in the case of APS systems, leading manufacturers of ERP systems are interested in integrating their products.

Strict functionality of systems, "stability" of implemented production plans and schedules

Can MES completely replace APS?

To give a reasoned answer to this question, we note that the implementation of synchronized detailed schedules compiled at the APS level is no longer just about correcting voluminous ERP plans, but about maintaining their stable “sustainable” execution: the entire production system must have a margin of stability in relation to to small deviations that occur in individual workshops. Synchronized APS schedules should not be updated frequently, especially if this is not required. external factors(violation of the terms of supply of raw materials, the emergence of new urgent orders, etc.). And so that each production unit of the enterprise could independently "extinguish" the deviations that arise in it, the use of MES is already required.

In MES, on the contrary, no a priori "stability" of the produced production schedules is assumed, moreover, their implementation is obviously "unstable" in nature (mathematicians would say here that such a schedule is a so-called structurally unstable object), because it implies the possibility of operational correction in at any time at the request of the dispatcher. Drawing some analogy with the means of transporting bulk goods, ERP + APS could be compared with a good stable truck, and MES with a team of cyclists with a bag of transported cargo attached to the trunk.

We can now rephrase the original question about the interchangeability of MES and APS differently: how, after all, is it better to transport cargo

On 100 bicycles (here you have to pedal - after all, a bicycle unstable)

On one sustainable truck?

Do not rush, dear reader, with a seemingly obvious answer, ... remember that stable systems, generally speaking, are poorly controlled. We must always ask ourselves the question: “Which way are we going? And what will happen when the highway suddenly ends and on the way you meet, for example, a forest? It is not difficult to predict that in this case, cyclists have a good chance to take at least part of the load to the goal, ... but with a stable truck, alas.

Of course, in reality, not everything is so tragic. If planning is done for small enterprises with no more than 200 machines, then, in principle, MES and APS could be considered conditionally interchangeable. Especially when it comes to "custom" productions. Schedules and delivery times will be much more accurate, but MES lacks some APS features, such as material requirements planning, since MES are executive systems and their task is to complete the work plan as best as possible. APS is the level of detailed planning for the entire enterprise, and MES is the level of the workshop, section, division.

Is it possible to say that MES = APS or that one system is simply a part of another (such opinions, alas, are often expressed in periodicals)? The answer is unambiguously negative: of course, NO; - despite the external similarity in their functionality, these systems do not match in the nature of the implementation of the production schedules they create, just as stable and unstable systems do not match in their dynamics. Those planners that form strict directive plans (ERP + APS) are commonly called Push Planning Systems - “push plan” systems, and those that promptly correct plans in the process of their execution are called Pull Planning Systems - “pull plan” systems. Consider for a moment, can one person move a load while simultaneously pushing and pulling it? Of course not! Now it becomes clear why the statement is true: MES<> APS. These systems do not conceptually coincide and are not part of each other, and this difference must be realized quite clearly.

Recently, in pursuit of marketing bonuses, many developers have begun to position their products as APS or MES solutions. In some cases, these are systems for technological preparation of production, warehouse logistics systems, and even ordinary databases. We think that the reader, having read this article with hallmarks APS and MES will easily be able to figure out what kind of product they are offered, despite marketing tricks.

So, we see that for an enterprise, from the point of view of predictability and transparency of the planned terms of production, optimal production, the following planning mechanisms are needed:

Planning of materials and resources according to BOM (Bill of Material) for the entire planned range of the enterprise;

Supply chain management;

Detailed planning and operational dispatch control of the implementation of equipment operation schedules;

This is only possible if we use all three systems - ERP, APS and MES together.

ERP, APS, MES - although they are completely different systems with different functionality, designed for different purposes, but at the same time they can not only get along well, but also complement each other in terms of creating a powerful planning system at the enterprise that covers all existing tasks . In a number of cases, we hear calls from maximalists to increase the functionality of APS or MES to the level of ERP. Can it be done? Basically, you can. Assemble a development team and tell them: “There is MES (or APS) available. We need to make an ERP out of it!”. All this can be done. How can you feed a cat to the size of a Caucasian watchdog. But then who will catch mice and guard the house? ...

"Stay with us!"

In the next part, the authors will tell the reader about the features of planning in MES systems, about the types of planning criteria and how to choose them, about how the optimal solution is searched for in a multicriteria environment, about what job priorities are and how to assign them, and about how MES systems are built.

Literature

1. Production management. Ed. S. D. Ilyenkova.-M.: UNITI-DANA, 2000. - 583s.

2. Timkovsky V.G. Discrete mathematics in the world of machine tools and parts. - Nauka, M.: 1002. - 144p.

3. Gavrilov D.A. Production management based on the MRP II standard. - St. Petersburg: Peter, - 2003. - 352p.

4. Bermudez J. Optimized production planning systems: a new fad or a breakthrough in production and supply chain management? Production review. AMR Research.

© 2007
Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Moscow State Technological University "STANKIN", Department of Information Technologies and Computing Systems.

Zagidullin Ravil Rustembekovich © 2007
Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Ufa State Aviation Technical University (USATU), Department of Automated Technological Systems.

Source of information: Magazine "Machine Park", No. 10, 2008.

MES(Manufacturing Execution System) - production executive system. MES are specialized software complexes, which are designed to solve the problems of operational planning and production management. Systems of this class are designed to solve synchronization problems, coordinate, analyze and optimize the output of products within a certain production.

The use of MES as a special industrial software allows you to significantly increase the return on assets of technological equipment and, as a result, increase the profit of the enterprise even in the absence of additional investments in production. MES-systems are industrial complex or software tools that work in the environment of workshops or manufacturing enterprises.

Main functions of MES:


The link between management and creates the so-called MES level (MES = Manufacturing Execution System).

  • Monitor the status and distribution of resources.
  • Efficiency and detail planning.
  • Production scheduling.
  • Document management.
  • Collect and store data.
  • Manage staff.
  • Manage product quality.
  • Manage production processes.
  • Manage maintenance and repair.
  • Track product history.
  • Analyze performance.

Differences between MES systems and ERP

How do MES systems differ from ERP systems, and why are they located at different levels of the information structure? ERP systems are focused on order fulfillment planning, i.e. answer the question: when and how much product should be produced? MES systems focus on the issue: how the product is actually made? And they operate with more accurate information about production processes.

Information and control structure of a manufacturing enterprise

The main difference between MES and ERP is that MES systems, operating exclusively with production information, allow you to adjust or completely recalculate the production schedule during the work shift as many times as necessary. In ERP systems, due to the large amount of administrative, accounting and financial information that does not have a direct impact on the production process, rescheduling can be carried out no more than once a day.

Due to the rapid response to ongoing events and the use of mathematical methods to compensate for deviations from the production schedule, MES systems allow you to optimize production and make it more profitable.

MES systems, by collecting and summarizing data received from various production systems and technological lines (the lower level of the pyramid), bring the organization of all production activities to a higher level, from the formation of a production order to the shipment of finished products to warehouses.

MES systems implement real-time communication of production processes with the business processes of the enterprise and improve the financial performance of the enterprise (cash flow), including increasing the return on fixed assets, accelerating cash flow, reducing costs, on-time delivery, increasing profit margins and productivity.

MES systems generate data on current production indicators, including the real cost of production, necessary for better functioning of ERP systems.

Thus, MES is a link between ERP-systems focused on financial and economic operations and the operational production activities of an enterprise at the level of a workshop, section or production line.

Enterprise Integration Core

The functions performed by MES systems can be integrated with other enterprise management systems, such as Supply Chain Planning (SCM), Sales and Service Management (SSM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Automated Process Control Systems (ECS), which provide timely and comprehensive monitoring of critical production processes.

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In this article, we want to talk about what opportunities the Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) operational management systems provide, and about the advanced Russian developments of systems of this class in particular.

There are many systems, but I am alone: ​​ERP or MES?

It is no secret that the number of automated systems on the Russian market is constantly increasing, so it is very difficult for a Russian enterprise to understand them and make a choice.

The promotional efforts of ERP promoters have firmly established the image of this class of systems in the minds of IT managers and business leaders as a panacea for all ills. Simply put, there is a bias in the area of ​​ERP-zation in the domestic software market. Meanwhile, more and more often we hear sighs and regrets that “the introduction of the system has dragged on for years”, “the result of the implementation is not yet visible”, “they have not reached automation of production”, “an attempt to implement the system in production has not eliminated the existing problems " etc. etc.

Why were the hopes not justified? There are many reasons, but the most important of them is that lifesaver for solving all the problems of financial and economic activities of companies for all industries, unfortunately, does not exist in nature. Each class of systems, each system solves the tasks for which they are intended.

Without going into details, let's try to identify a specific range of problems that can be solved using MES systems, but are beyond the competence of traditional ERP.

So, let's consider a manufacturing enterprise, the main field of activity of which is the creation and production of products. This is a source of added value for the enterprise, and the cost of production, and hence its market competitiveness, ultimately depends on the efficiency of the organization of production processes. All other processes at a manufacturing enterprise - procurement, marketing, financial and accounting, personnel and warehouse management, etc. - exist according to by and large just because there is something to buy components for, what to sell, what to take into account, what to store ...

Broad-based ERP systems—some worse, some better—are generally up to the task of supporting these supporting processes. Separate advanced systems of this class also include production control modules. The very phrase "production management" is too general and very attractive, so many buy into it, but then it often turns out that the functionality includes only the outer shell of the production management processes, without affecting its core, that is, the management of production activities as such.

Where does the shell end and the core begin, which MES systems are called upon to serve? What is their functionality and why is it so attractive today for production managers? Let's try to figure it out.

Without touching on the issues of automation at the hardware level, that is, at the level of the so-called SCADA systems (management of meters, sensors and other devices and equipment), MES concentrate on supporting the planning and organizational components of the production process itself. The key processes for them are the following (you can read more about MES functions, for example, on www.mesa.ru):

1. Based on the external need for the production of products (based on customer orders, sales plans, etc.), as well as previous production programs, taking into account all sorts of nuances and specifics of production at a particular enterprise, which will be discussed below, detailed optimized production schedule works, operations for machines, equipment, personnel. Of course, with auto-generation of all the documentation necessary for the implementation of work: production programs, orders, limit-fence cards, tables and diagrams of equipment loading, etc.

2. In the course of the direct implementation of production programs, full dispatching all operations and their results (both positive and negative - marriage, delays, etc.), the flow of manufactured parts for operations, orders, batches, series, equipment performance, etc.

3. If deviations from the planned programs are identified due to the objective situation in production, when a new external need (orders, etc.) appears, operational rescheduling with the correction of all components.

It should be noted that today in Western Europe a lot of money is being invested in MES: according to the analytical company Frost & Sullivan, the global MES market reached $ 1.2 billion in 2003, and by 2010 it will grow to $ 2.5 billion. A Western entrepreneur knows well where exactly the surplus value is created and the main costs are formed in his enterprise.

What is the difference here from the "production management" implemented in some ERP systems? And the differences, as always, lie in the details that are fundamental for the proper operation of production.

First, not all ERP-systems are capable of planning production: many manufacturers, loudly declaring management, are limited to accounting functions only. Further, systems positioned as meeting MRP, MRPII (resource management) standards and including scheduling functions do so in too general view, without taking into account all the necessary features of production. Thus, planning is often carried out at the level of workshops and sections, as a rule, in the form of three-dimensional plans, since the features of the underlying planning method do not allow reaching the level of operations on specific equipment and specific workplaces. But each piece of equipment can have its own work schedule, its own characteristics in terms of load restrictions, power, etc., individual plans repair work and unexpected breakdowns. Such planning often leads to errors that are unacceptable in production: it happens that the formed plan is not feasible at the lower level due to overlapping, overlapping production operations in time for some machines, which means that it will inevitably be disrupted.

Among the most important features of planning for many enterprises, the need to take into account interchangeable machines capable of performing the same operations should be highlighted. The lack of consideration of this specificity in ERP systems does not allow parallelization of critical operations, which ultimately leads to a non-optimal production schedule. In addition, ERP systems do not properly dispatch production processes, being content only with fixing its output results.

YSB.Enterprise.Mes: example of calculating a production schedule

Needless to say, MES systems allow you to adjust or completely recalculate the production schedule and all the data necessary for operational work during the work shift exactly as many times as required. At the same time, rescheduling in ERP is expedient no more than once a day. And this is quite understandable. The fact is that the formation of detailed production schedules, taking into account all the necessary specifics and at the required level of detail, is the most difficult computational task both in terms of the number of calculations (of course, if the enterprise produces more than three types of products on three machines) and the complexity of computational algorithms. Solving it "on the knee", as well as "on a piece of paper" is too laborious (and sometimes it is simply impossible to solve it optimally). And for system developers, it is important to carry out this calculation in a time that is visible for production, because if the program freezes for hours, then why is it needed? It is not for nothing that the development of MES systems, which will be discussed below, is carried out by people from academic science, who have devoted half their lives to such sections of mathematics as operations research and scheduling theory.

There are currently many different software products, in the descriptions of which it is declared that they are able to plan production, draw up production schedules. And in this regard, I would like to draw the attention of readers to one more fundamental point. When analyzing programs, it is highly desirable to ask what criteria the production schedule is based on, because without this you will not be able to judge how it satisfies you, whether this method of planning is suitable for your particular enterprise. When planning criteria are hidden (and this, alas, is not uncommon), this causes a certain alertness. If suppliers are afraid of direct test comparisons, then it is worth considering whether these criteria are implemented at all.

Russian leaders in MES production

Below we will talk about three progressive domestic developments that have every right to bear the proud name of MES, and about some intraspecific differences. These are the products of many years of work of three research centers for the development of systems of this class - from Moscow (PHOBOS system, www.mesa.ru), Orel (YSB.Enterprise.Mes system, www.orel.ru/jsb) and Ufa (PolyPlan system).

Despite the fact that all three systems are designed for the operational management of discrete-type production - mainly custom, small-scale and single (note that planning is easier for mass and serial production, and therefore ERP capabilities are often sufficient), they implement the above features, although the purpose of the systems somewhat different.

Thus, PHOBOS is traditionally used in large and medium-sized machine-building enterprises. YSB.Enterprise.Mes has its origins in the woodworking industry and, due to the features outlined below, focuses on the sector of medium and small enterprises. The PolyPlan system has a smaller set of MES functions, but is positioned as an operational scheduling system for automated and flexible production in mechanical engineering.

In general, these systems are functionally very similar, and their developers are experienced specialists in the field of production control, so that, despite differences in positioning, the systems can be adapted to various industry features of discrete or reduced to discrete production.

The differences between the systems are as follows. FOBOS performs internal planning and management, traditionally accepting and giving input and output data to the ERP system, which is usually used in mechanical engineering at large plants. As a rule, these are heavy ERP products, such as BAAN and SAP, which are interacted with through integration, although work is currently underway to integrate with 1C:Enterprise. In combination with these systems, FOBOS is able to solve most of the tasks of a large enterprise.

The YSB.Enterprise system, on the contrary, functioned at medium-sized enterprises and gradually expanded its functionality “left and right” from MES, including sales with the formation of a portfolio of orders, the ability to manage stock shortages (not only of industrial origin) and even accounting payroll in a variety of ways. Currently, developments are underway to create a procurement management module. Of course, the functionality of the system has not yet grown to the level of a full-fledged ERP, nevertheless, the existing capabilities may be sufficient for many Russian enterprises. This positioning policy was chosen by the system developers due to the fact that enterprises of the middle class and below, which have already outgrown 1C, are still deprived of full-fledged production automation - prices for Western and Russian software, including at least some serious production, not to mention the optimal its planning, so far exceed the level of availability for most companies, which are forced to invest a significant part of their funds in their development.

The expanded range of YSB.Enterprise functions compared to traditional MES provides the possibility of accounting for additional data in production management. Thus, the inclusion of a warehouse allows you to organize the definition of priorities when launching orders into production, for example, if there is insufficient supply of purchased materials or there is no prepayment for the order.

The Russian MES-system PolyPlan is also focused on machine-building industries, but, in addition to the traditional class of service devices such as work centers (DCs), PolyPlan operational scheduling involves the formation of schedules for transport systems that transport batches of parts between DCs, storage devices for receiving and issuing batches parts and teams of adjusters. Due to the lack of an explicit operational dispatching loop, PolyPlan is somewhat cheaper than the systems mentioned above.

The MES PolyPlan system is easily adaptable to control and manual production. Oriented to mechanical engineering, it can also be used at the marketing stage - the program allows, based on aggregated data, to determine the possibility of fulfilling a portfolio of orders for existing time funds of technological equipment. With operational planning of production, it is possible to obtain several feasible solutions schedules. The greater the search depth, which is set by the user, the greater the calculation time, but the higher the accuracy of scheduling. The accuracy of the "single-pass" optimization, often used in such problems, differs from the optimal solution by no more than 5-7%, but saves computation time by orders of magnitude.

Evgeny Borisovich Frolov, chief designer of the FOBOS system, doctor of technical sciences, professor, head of the laboratory of executive production systems at the Institute of Design and Technological Informatics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKTI RAS) says: “In essence, if you make optimal production schedules using computers and have the opportunity, if necessary, promptly carry out their correction, it is guaranteed to increase the speed of order execution. Experience shows that it is often possible to complete an entire monthly plan in as little as 20 days. Optimization of material flows allows for 10 days, that is, 30%, to reduce the time of production of products! And a 1.5-fold increase in the speed of processing production orders also reduces the amount of WIP by approximately 25%.”

In connection with such impressive figures, it should be noted that the economic efficiency of the implementation of ERP systems is in many cases vague and vague, and experts' disputes do not cease on this issue. On the contrary, for MES, such efficiency is calculated quite accurately, and even a 10% acceleration in production activities due to optimization, debottlenecking and increased throughput, coupled with a decrease in overhead costs while reducing lead times, is already very significant!

Sakhavat Yusifov, chief developer of YSB.Enterprise.Mes: “Normal organization and automation of production management allows you to shift the focus from planning and production departments to the sales and claims department when working on order - as it should be in any customer-oriented company. At the same time, the role of the system for collecting information on the progress of production and systems for tracking the state of resources, stocks, and shortages is being strengthened.

New MES projects in China: The Celestial Empire demonstrates its successes not only in space…

Often, thinking about the problem of increasing the return on assets of the main technological equipment, the leaders of domestic industries are guided mainly by the best Western experience. In Russia, the new promising direction of MES is only going through the first stages of its formation. What about the East?

At present, the demand for high-tech developments for manufacturing outstrips supply due to the rapid economic growth of Chinese enterprises. And if CAD/CAM-systems have already become widespread even in small enterprises in China and are intensively used, then intra-shop planning and supervisory control systems of the MES level are practically absent, although the need for them is great. The fact is that the use of Western systems that allow solving these problems is often hampered by their high cost, the difficulty of adapting to the needs of Chinese enterprises, and sometimes the inconvenience of the user interface.

As you know, the rules for the formation and execution of technological processes and engineering documentation in Russia and China basically coincide, the methods of organizing production in both countries are focused on monitoring the performance of the work specified in the work orders. With a similar methodology for creating route and operational technologies, it is relatively easy (unlike Western software products) to carry out intra-shop operational planning, dispatch control and accounting for inter-operational backlogs using the Chinese version of the FOBOS MES system.

As an example of the successful implementation of PHOBOS in the PRC, we can cite the plant for the production of hydraulic machines and heat exchange equipment of the Shenzhou company (Fushan), the plant for the production of large dies Lingshihao (Guangzhou), the KONKA plant (Shenzhen) and a number of other enterprises.

As the Chinese like to say, if communism spread in China from north to south, then capitalism moves from south to north. It is no coincidence that the bulk of MES projects here are carried out at the enterprises of the Guangdong province, the most intensively developing region in the world, located in southern China. The Celestial Empire clearly demonstrates to the world community that it is making significant progress not only in space...

Own - someone else's

Why did we decide to talk about domestic MES products?

First, because of their adaptability. It is always easier to agree on improvements with domestic developers. Western systems development centers are not located in Russia. Significantly modifying the logic of the system to the specifics of a particular enterprise is a very laborious task, and not many implementing companies will do this, and if they do, the price of the issue will be comparable to the already not small price of Western systems.

Secondly, Russian systems much cheaper - both in terms of software licenses, and in terms of the cost of its implementation and maintenance. Cheaper - since Western companies allocate funds to the creators of systems, plus huge marketing costs, and besides, representative firms are often located in Moscow, where the cost of their maintenance is much higher than in the regions, and the prices for specialists in Western systems significantly exceed Our prices. And this despite the fact that the qualifications of Russian specialists as a whole are significantly higher, because they developed these systems from scratch, they know them like the back of their hand, unlike Western systems that have come to the Russian market, which local implementers are often forced to study directly during the implementation of projects , since many products do not have documentation in Russian, etc.

And most importantly, the Russian MES systems described by us are not inferior to their Western counterparts, but in many ways surpass them. Of course, one should not focus solely on the popular slogan: “Buy only Russian”, but, nevertheless, it is worth taking a closer look at domestic products - especially on the eve of Russia's entry into the WTO ...

Julia Garayeva

IT-consultant on the choice of systems of the MetaSynthesis Corporation (Moscow).

Ravil Zagidullin

Cand. tech. Sci., Associate Professor, Doctoral Candidate, USATU, Dept. automated technological systems (Ufa).

Song Kai Ching

Postgraduate student of Guangdong Technical University, China.

MES SYSTEMS

MES systems are systems that operate at the shop floor level. Systems of this class solve synchronization problems, coordinate, analyze and optimize the output of products within any production. MES-systems can be an excellent addition to top-level systems - ERP-systems.

The definition of an MES system does not give a clear idea of ​​its purpose, its increased functions absorb the functions of APCS systems, dispatching systems, etc. It is necessary to define what is meant by MES systems today.

MES-system is a system for the implementation of production management, the main task of which is to connect all the company's business processes with its production and technological processes, while promptly providing information.

During the production process, various factors arise that tend to go off the production schedule: breakdown and repair of equipment, urgent priority order, rework of defects, sick leaves of workers, late delivery of components, lack of technological equipment, and many other unforeseen circumstances. The work environment is changing every minute. Despite this, you should always know how the deadline for the order will change, how the best way to plan production in the current situation, this requires a new recalculation of the schedule. In an MES system, this recalculation can be performed as many times a day as needed.

One of the tasks of MES is precisely the correction of emerging deviations due to optimal multiple rescheduling according to the actual state of equipment and orders.

Incorrect loading of machines for processing various products leads to constant delays in production, rush mode in the enterprise, overworking of employees, shortage of parts in the assembly of subassemblies, overloading of machines, dynamic problems, as well as many other production costs that prevent production on time.

The task of MES is operational scheduling, with the help of which the loading of machines will be carried out in the most profitable way. All products will be completed as soon as possible, while all components will be guaranteed to be in stock by the time the products are assembled.

At the time of assembly of products or the launch of a particular operation, it often turns out that some parts or equipment are not available, but less necessary parts or equipment are in excess. When using MES systems, such a situation simply cannot arise.

Dispatching production will allow you to visually assess the load of machines in real time, make basic reports, and instantly respond to various situations.

Using accurate current data, MES regulates, initiates and records the operation of the enterprise as events occur. A set of MES functions allows you to manage production operations from the moment an order is received in production to the finished product. MES provides the most important information about production activities to the entire organization and the entire supply chain through two-way communication.

It is the use operational information distinguishes MES from ERP systems. In MES-systems, the production model is determined at the intersection of equipment capabilities, availability of materials and personnel. Any MES must answer the following questions:

    What should be produced?

    When should it be produced?

    What should be produced with?

    When, how and what has already been produced?

Using data from planning and control levels, MES systems manage current production activities in accordance with incoming orders, the requirements of design and technological documentation, the current state of the equipment, while pursuing the goals maximum efficiency and minimum cost of production processes.

Due to the rapid response to ongoing events and the use of mathematical methods to compensate for deviations from the production schedule, MES systems allow you to optimize production and make it more profitable.

Gantt Chart

There are different approaches to time planning (time management). The most innovative idea here is the Gantt chart. This chart consists of bars oriented along the time axis. Each bar represents a separate task in the project, its ends are the moments of the beginning and end of the work, its length is the duration of the work. The vertical axis is a list of tasks.


The first chart format was developed back in 1910 by Henry L. Gant (an American engineer, mechanic and management specialist). Henry Gant initially used graphic information, reporting to his superiors. Later, the Gantt charts that glorified him appeared. Many tend to believe that Gant became one of the founders of fundamentally new, more humane principles of production and management; he is also credited with some unusual ideas on the correct setting of tasks and effective motivation of staff.

Results of MES implementation

According to various companies, the following main results of the implementation of MES can be distinguished:

1. Increase economic efficiency enterprise activities;
2. Increasing the speed of passing orders up to 40-50%
3. Increase the utilization rate of machines by 30-40%
4. Reducing the duration of the production cycle by an average of 45%;
5. Reducing the time of development of new products by an average of 27%;
6. Reducing the volume of marriage by an average of 18%;
7. Reducing the volume of work in progress by 25-30%;
8. Increasing the reliability of the execution of orders within the specified time by 60%;
9. Reducing the amount of unnecessary paper documentation by an average of 56%;
10. Increased control over the implementation of technological and production processes;
11. Increasing the transparency of business processes in terms of the movement of material flows;
12. Qualitative improvement of production indicators.

The introduction of MES systems will provide many other benefits needed to achieve maximum production efficiency.

Reducing various costs, obtaining the maximum benefit from the existing capabilities of the enterprise today is only possible by automating planning and production management - by introducing MES systems.

Of course, achieving success in the competitive struggle is also possible through the introduction of advanced technologies, machine tools, tools, high-speed processing, etc., but under relatively equal conditions for most enterprises, success becomes possible only through competent and operational planning and production management. It is here that there are large reserves for optimizing production and achieving the maximum economic effect.

MES is a fundamentally important feature that allows you to create a truly effective control system in a manufacturing plant. MES is becoming one of the key elements of enterprise-wide systems of modern enterprises.



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