Industrial Automation

Manufacturing Execution
Systems: introduction
Roberto Sacile
(roberto.sacile@unige.it)
 Lesson objectives

 What is a MES?
 Which are the primary and support
functions of a MES in a manufacturing
information system?

 Which are the main methodologies,

tools, and technologies used in a MES?
 Lesson summary

 Example of MES functions in a

manufacturing information system

 Which MES functions are nowadays

developed and which is their future
trend
 What is a MES?

MES

Manufacturing Execution Systems

 MES are software systems designed and

implemented «ad hoc» for manufacturing
industries
 A MES can be taken into account as an «on-
line» extension of planning systems (e.g.
ERP) with the specific task to execute and to
make what specified by planning systems
 Which is the meaning of
«execution»?

 Make products

 Switch on/off machines

 Make and measure product

components

 Move raw/assembled materials

…
 WHO’S WHO IN MES

MESA International

www.mesa.org

 MESA (Manufacturing Execution

Systems Association, 1992, now
Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions
Association) is an association of the
main MES software producers
 WHO’S WHO IN MES

 The goal of MESA is to provide a

forum of both cooperating and
competing companies working
together to exploit technologies in the
manufacturing industry, with special
reference to MES
 WHO’S WHO IN MES

AMR Research

www.amrresearch.com

 AMR Research, 1986, is a consultant

company writing technologic and
management directives as regards
SCM (Supply Chain Management), CRM
(Customer Relationship Management),
MES, and other industrial strategic
software systems
Basic industrial information
system architecture

PLANNING
(MRP, MRPII, ERP)

CONTROL
(PLC, SCADA, …)
 PLANNING / CONTROL
INTERACTION
Ideal world where imperfections,
if present, are statistically known

PLANNING
(MRP, MRPII, ERP)
MPS ?
(Master Production Schedule)
CONTROL
(PLC, SCADA, …)
Process HW alarms,
Data process
Real world where Shopfloor
Unforeseen events,
by definition, are unknown
 PLANNING / CONTROL
INTERACTION

Execution Timing
 Planning Level:
Off-line/batch
(medium time horizon)
 Control Level:
Real-time
 EXAMPLE: PLANNING /
CONTROL IN A REFINERY
 EXAMPLE: PLANNING /
CONTROL IN A REFINERY

 Purchase delivery
(ship arrivals) defined
every six months PLANNING
(MRP, MRPII, ERP)
 Tank assignment
when a ship arrives
CONTROL
 Schedule of working (PLC, SCADA, DSC)
processes according to
defined receipts

 …
 PROBLEMS

 The oil tanker ship has a delay of

four days

 The oil tanker ship is arriving earlier

of two days

 A tank is unavailable due to

extraordinary maintenance
 PROBLEMS

 Quality Control Office asks for

detailed reports of the different
production phases of a certain batch
 Management Office wishes to verify
(with data!) whether some machines
require maintenance or even need to
be substituted

…
HOW PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED

 Staff / Documents

 Experience / Practice

 Operations Management System

THREE LEVEL ARCHITECTURE
OF A MANUFACTURING
INFORMATION SYSTEM

PLANNING
(MRP, MRPII, ERP)
EXECUTION
(MES)
CONTROL
(PLC, SCADA, …)
 INTERACTION
PLANNING / MES /CONTROL
Ideal world where imperfections,
if taken into account, are statistically evalueted

PLANNING
MPS, BOM,
(MRP, MRPII, ERP) Statistical
Inventory data
EXECUTION
On-line
(MES) Process
scheduling status
CONTROL
Process (PLC, SCADA, …) HW alarms,
Data process
Real world were Shopfloor
imperfections
and unforeseen events
are present
 INTERACTION
PLANNING / MES /CONTROL
Execution and timing
 Planning: Off-line/batch
(medium time horizon)

 Execution: On-line/batch
(short time horizon) /soft
real-time

 Control:
Real-time/hard real-time
EXAMPLE
PLANNING / MES /CONTROL
IN A REFINERY
The planning level has defined
on a deterministic /stochastic
base:
• crude oil arrival by oil tanker ship
• tank assignement to store crude oil
• sequence of batches to be
processed for production
UNFORESEEN EVENT EXAMPLE

 An oil tanker ship declares to be

earlier of one day

 Possible problems:
Docking in the quay is taken by
another ship
There is no possibility of storage in
the tank containers
UNFORESEEN EVENT EXAMPLE:
ALTERNATIVES
 Solutions:

Wait

Sell the crude oil of the oil tanker

ship to another company
Modify the schedule of production
(e.g. hurry up one batch) in order to
make a tanker empty to store the
unforeseen arrival
UNFORESEEN EVENT EXAMPLE:
ALTERNATIVES
A set-up is made for that specific
crude oil, changing the set up which
was specified for another kind of oil

 The components affecting the

decision are in part the same of the
ones used at planning level
UNFORESEEN EVENT EXAMPLE:
Methods and Tools
Problem solving, operating in the
real and dynamic world, is based on
different methods and tools:
scheduling on-line
expert system
simulation
experience / practise: planner
…
 QUALITY REQUEST

 Unforeseen events during production in

the real world, may cause a possible
«alteration» of the production process
as planned
e.g. changes in crude oil arrivals may
cause that the refined oil has not
«exactly» the same components of
the original planned receipt
 QUALITY REQUEST

So, the percentage of «sweet» crude oil

(less than 0.42% sulfur) may be different
in the finished refined oil with respect to
the planned one. Similarly, the country
where the crude oil was exctracted may
be different

 MES must provide the support to real

time decision making and to retrieve
information on the finished product
MES PRIMARY FUNCTIONS
MES SUPPORT FUNCTIONS
MES IN SCM: SCOR MODEL
Supply-Chain Operations
Reference-model

PLAN
ERP

Source Make Deliver

 MES IN SCM: SCOR MODEL
 ERP manages the processes dealing
with Supplier and customer
management, and planning in
general

 MES, with control level, mainly deals

with production processes on their
own (MAKE)
REPAC MODEL FOR MAKE

AMR Research has

divided MAKE
in 5 main processes
defined in the REPAC
model
READY

 Generate, enhance,
and/or make production
processes available
 Allow plant configuration

 Manage enhancements in
production and provides
recovery actions in case of
non-compliance
EXECUTE

 Execute the sequence of

product orders
 Set up PROCESS,
implementing the set-up
of the different machines
 Include most of the
functions historically
assigned to a MES
PROCESS

 Set-up of «the whole»

regarding the physical
production of one or more
products

 In addition, it provides
the mean and tools to
automatise and to control
the production process
ANALYZE
 Allow the supervision of
the processes, and data
analysis concerning
products, processes, and
quality
 Integrate data

 Group data to make them

available to ERP, SCM,
customers and Suppliers
COORDINATE

 Coordinate operations on
the plant according to
communication with ERP
and SCM
 Define the optimal
sequence of activities on
the plant to satisfy
production requirements
 REPAC vs MES FUNCTIONS
REPAC MES primary functions MES support
(AMR (Mc Clellan) functions (Mc
Research) Clellan)
READY Maintenance
Management
EXECUTE Order Management
Material and Inventory
Management
Material Movement

PROCESS Work Station

Management
Exception
Management
 REPAC vs FUNZIONI MES
REPAC MES primary functions MES support
(AMR (Mc Clellan) functions (Mc
Research) Clellan)
ANALYZE Data collection Statistical
process control
Quality control
Genealogy
Process data
/performance
 REPAC vs FUNZIONI MES
REPAC MES primary functions MES support
(AMR (Mc Clellan) functions (Mc
Research) Clellan)
COORDI Planning Interface Documentation
NATE Management
Supplier
Management
Presence
Management
ADVANTAGES OF USING A MES

 Reduction of processing time

 Reduction or elimination of manual
data entry
 Work-In-Process List reduction
 Enhancement of quality of production
…
 CONCLUSIONS

 MES are software systems providing

an important function of vertical
integration between two deeply
different systems as planning and
control level in a manufacturing
industry
 CONCLUSIONS

 Horizzontal integration, among

customer and suppliers typical of
SCM, is generally assigned to the
planning level, even if some
horizontal functions as quality
control or the management in
outsourcing of the inventory, may be
implemented in a MES
 CONCLUSIONS

 However, outsourtcing access to

inventory information is managed by
the planning level

 Vertical integration is specified by

MES primary and support functions
as specified in the following lessons.
 REFERENCES

 M. McClellan, “Applying Manufacturing

Execution Systems”, The St. Lucie
Press / APICS, Series on Resource
Management

 MESA White Papers, available at

http://www.mesa.org/