Intelligent production management (IPM) is a growing category of technologies designed to manage - and ultimately improve - every aspect of the manufacturing production process. It includes a comprehensive group of solutions designed to help users at all levels of the organisation perform critical production functions more efficiently and effectively.
IPM hardware and software applications span a broad spectrum of functionality to manage key areas of the production lifecycle - from controlling plant floor processes to analysing and sharing performance data to managing equipment assets throughout the organisation. Ultimately, IPM represents an opportunity for companies to reduce costs, increase productivity and improve quality by optimising the performance of their production processes.
IPM solutions can be categorised into four core functional areas, which can be implemented separately or as part of a fully integrated plant-wide solution, as follows:
Asset management
Asset management software solutions enable manufacturers to realise tremendous gains in equipment effectiveness through proactive and targeted equipment management. Asset management solutions allow production and maintenance managers to identify and track physical assets in order to perform scheduling and maintenance tasks with greater efficiency. Equipment usage, maintenance and repair operations, asset costs and more can be traced, viewed and controlled using these applications.
Plant intelligence
Plant intelligence software applications are an integrated set of solutions that provide a new level of insight into operational performance, allowing decision makers to make business sense out of plant data in realtime. These high-impact applications give production managers the information and analysis they need to make important realtime decisions that dramatically improve their performance. They are critical tools for companies seeking to gain a competitive edge through improved operations, collaborative production and corporate accountability.
Process execution and supervisory control
These are the software applications that allow operators and process engineers to better manage their production processes. Serving as a conduit for both communicating with the hardware and extracting realtime data from the industrial processes they control, process execution and supervisory control solutions help manufacturers visualise plant floor operations, perform supervisory automation and deliver the production data that feeds reliable, up to date information to the higher-level analytic applications. As a result, manufacturers can increase production, maximise quality and efficiency and improve regulatory compliance through user accountability.
Control hardware
From industrial-hardened PCs and CNC systems to PLCs and robotics, these are the durable assets that are used to physically manufacture products, maintain the flow of materials and protect the safety and quality of what is being produced.
Proficy - plant performance analysis and execution software
As a production manager, the key to unlocking the full performance potential of the manufacturing operations at hand lies in an ability to gain a realtime understanding of what is actually happening on your plant floor. The production manager must then be able to share that information with other important decision-makers and take action that improves both production performance and the bottom line. Proficy from GE Fanuc Automation has been developed to provide that power.
Proficy is a software solution that digitises the collective information being generated throughout the production facilities into a 'virtual plant' that can be accessed where, when and how it is needed. It then allows you to measure and monitor your performance across key criteria in realtime. In this way, Proficy allows its users to gain clear insight into their production and greatly improve their operational effectiveness.
Proficy features and benefits
To improve overall profitability and effectiveness, Proficy helps focus on several critical, interrelated areas of production, enabling the user to:
* Better utilise plant assets (people, equipment and materials) through a comprehensive view of overall equipment efficiency.
* Increase product quality to lower waste, scrap and product recall costs.
* Improve production operations by gaining insight into how products actually flow through the plant.
* Fully comply with regulations such as 21 CFR Part 11 and other strict requirements.
Proficy - the virtual plant
Proficy is a core application within the GE Fanuc plant intelligence solution that enables production managers to make dramatic improvements in plant profitability and efficiency. Proficy provides a versatile and powerful solution that is scalable, assisting in the cost-effective meeting of specific production requirements.
Its developers believe that Proficy offers a groundbreaking approach to digitising production operations, creating a 'virtual plant' that provides enhanced levels of analysis, reporting and insight throughout the user's operations. Unlike traditional MES applications, Proficy applies business and historical context to all realtime manufacturing information, providing an intelligent window into the manufacturing processes to help the user maximise their efficiency.
Proficy takes the data being collected by any process historian and provides in-depth analysis and reporting of that information - not just by time, but by the specific events taking place throughout the operation. In this way Proficy provides realtime context to production data, allowing adjustments to be made that will increase overall efficiency, mitigate risk, improve product quality and meet important regulatory requirements - while reducing costs and minimising waste. With a full breadth of application-specific modules designed to support all stages of the production process, Proficy provides crucial analysis and reporting capabilities that allow the user to:
* Remain aware of key processes taking place throughout the plant.
* Track a product from order to delivery.
* Monitor consumption of key resources, such as raw materials, equipment, energy, etc.
* Know and understand the precise scope of a recall situation as soon as it happens.
* Meet crucial regulatory requirements, such as the FDA's 21 CFR Part 11 rule.
* Keep track of downtime events and the reasons they occurred.
* Compare product profitability and other KPIs.
* Product genealogy information and driving scheduling improvements that can reduce inventory.
* Monitoring overall equipment efficiency and identifying reasons for downtime and waste, helping improve purchase decisions and increasing throughput.
* Analysing product quality to determine root causes of inconsistencies so that corrective action can be taken.
Part of a complete plant intelligence solution
Proficy is a key aspect of the GE Fanuc Plant Intelligence Solution, which the software developer believes is the most comprehensive and versatile offering available. The product fits seamlessly into an integrated set of applications that includes its iHistorian plant-wide data historian, infoAgent Web-based visualisation and analysis tool, VisualSPC shop floor quality modules and other powerful software. This open family of applications gives the user the option of installing only the modules they need - or seamlessly expanding their infrastructure to incorporate a fully integrated solution.
Historian-based approach
Proficy is designed to take full advantage of historian applications, intended to facilitate the capture of more production data than the traditional MES tools. Proficy's use of historian technology allows the user to analyse past production data across the application and quality, efficiency and production management information may be accessed and used effectively - even in the case of production runs that are several years old.
Open product architecture
As with all applications within the GE Fanuc Plant Intelligence Solution, Proficy is designed with an open architecture. It works seamlessly alongside GE Fanuc's iHistorian application, Wonderware, Rockwell, OSI PI, Honeywell and many other historian systems.
Flexible and easily configurable
MES applications are commonly known to be notoriously challenging to install and applicable only within the specific market segment for which they are configured. The developers of Proficy say that it requires minimal services to install - and includes a broad scope of functionality that can be customised for virtually any industry application.
Modular and scalable
With a modular and scalable design, Proficy can be implemented incrementally to address only the specific functionality the user requires at the time. Then, as their needs change, users can easily, and cost effectively, add new modules to further expand the overall performance of their applications.
Secure and audited
Proficy provides a secure audited environment, featuring electronic signatures and other capabilities to ensure that users have the functionality required to meet the FDA's 21 CFR Part 11 rule as well as other crucial regulations.
Comprehensive integrated reports and analytics
Standard reports and analytical capabilities are built into the Proficy application, greatly simplifying the reporting process. Flexible extensions to Excel allow users to quickly and easily generate ad-hoc reports without needing a third party reporting package.
Modular
The right solution for each user's most critical production challenges: Proficy offers configurable software packages designed for a rapid return on existing technology investments. These applications include:
* Efficiency management - tracking and monitoring of overall equipment effectiveness (downtime, waste, production counts).
* Quality management - product and process quality analysis and control.
* Production management - production schedule execution and product genealogy tracking and reporting.
* Plant-wide Web reporting - integrated scheduled and ad-hoc Web reporting across all modules.
Efficiency management
This module enables the user to monitor and control overall equipment efficiency, providing a comprehensive look at factors such as equipment downtime waste production, as well as production quantity and event sequences. It is the ideal module for improving throughput without adding extra equipment.
Quality management
Imagine being able to capture the specifications of the ideal product run - your 'golden batch' - and re-create it consistently throughout your entire production.
Imagine how much time, money and raw materials could be saved by reducing product waste, scrap and overruns to a minimum. Imagine how much a company could save annually by virtually eliminating quality-related product returns. This is what Proficy was developed to do.
Quality management allows the user to capture and summarise manufacturing and quality data in the context of production events such as batch, lot, item, serial number, time period and more. After capturing that data in whatever way desired, quality management enables the user to apply product specifications and recipes to that data and alarm against any out-of-spec conditions the moment they occur. If a batch or run is flawed, the module allows the user to isolate exactly which products have been impacted to - greatly reducing waste.
Production management
This module provides insight into how products actually flow through the plant. It is the ideal tool for creating genealogy reports as well as making scheduling changes to reduce excess inventory. Production Management ties together plant operations by exchanging key production and status information with customers and internal business systems - including ERP - as well as between plant processes using the latest XML technology. Product genealogy is a key component of the production management module. Genealogy allows the user to trace a product throughout every step of the manufacturing process and identify exactly what materials and quality characteristics it contains.
Plant-wide Web reporting
As an integral feature of all modules, Plant-wide Web Reporting enables plant-wide reporting and analytics from anywhere at any time. From a remote location, you can monitor operations by accessing Web-based reports, dashboards and analytics. In addition to providing an accessible window into your production, Plant-wide Web Reporting provides drill-down analytical support for understanding 'root cause' analyses of problem areas.
For more information contact Daniel Coetzee, GE Fanuc Automation, 031 583 2602, [email protected], www.gefanuc.com
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