MES Solution
A large consumer hard goods manufacturer wanted an MES solution to track downtime events and OEE metrics from the production equipment on the shop floor. In addition, they wanted to track rejected units through their repair stations to understand their First Pass Yield (FPY) metric.
The manufacturer was in search of an MES solution that could meet all their requirements. Most traditional off-the-shelf products met some of the needs but not all. The manufacturer also needed help obtaining and linking machine data to the MES solution. In a joint initiative with the manufacturer, Polaris Automation was able to develop an MES solution for obtaining and visualizing the key metrics. In addition, Polaris Automation was able to provide implementation services to gather the machine data and link it to the new system. A data concentrator was installed to optimize data collection on the plant floor and to control the shift start and stop times. Using this methodology, the network traffic was reduced since the MES solution did not have to talk to individual pieces of equipment. Screens were developed to control shift times, record downtime reason codes, and track defects. Dashboards were also created to display all the metrics in a simple and concise format for display throughout the plant floor.
The MES solution was successfully installed with the following outcomes realized:
“Polaris has partnered with us for many years to develop an MES solution that we own as a company. This is a product that can support our business for many years, and we can change it to accommodate our needs as we see fit. We were not provided with a “canned” solution that we had to fit our process into. It is something that was built for us that meets our needs. Polaris has worked with us as a partner and helped out in all aspects of the project including programming, consulting, hardware acquisition, and engineering support when we requested it.”