In any manufacturing environment, it’s necessary to define in a controlled manner the different process flows that can be assigned to products and materials. These process flows can also include rework flows to recover material from certain problems.

Dispatching provides a mechanism to define flexible material sorting rules for a step or for a resource, so that the operator knows what is the next material to be processed, or the next resource for a material. Dispatching works based on services. Resources provide services and materials require services at certain processing contexts (Step, Flow, Product, etc.). When there is a match between the service required by the material and the service provided by the resource, the material can be dispatched and processed in that resource.

Key features include:

• Support for flow version management with access and change control.
• Support for hierarchical flows that contain other flows in order to promote flow re-usability.
• Support for alternate flows, alternate steps, and optional steps.

Benefits for your operations:

• Increased process control
• Increased process automation
• Reduction in the opportunity for errors

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

The large amount of data generated during manufacturing operations is very valuable and required for the purposes of quality, traceability, monitoring, control, root-cause analysis, and continuous improvement. As an integral part of the Manufacturing Execution System (MES), all collected data is highly contextualized, thus enabling all sorts of correlations.

Data Collection module of Critical Manufacturing MES allows predefined data collections to take place at certain processing points (e.g.: at Track-In or Track-Out) using context resolution. It also supports the capture of data at any time using an ad-hoc data collection. Data can be collected manually or automatically via automation.

Key features include:

• Support for qualitative and quantitative parameters, with validation tables and ranges for the acceptable data values.
• Support for parameter groups and calculated parameters.
• Integrated with Material Tracking, Resource Tracking, Maintenance Management and SPC.

Benefits for your operations:

• Increased operational efficiency
• Reduction in the opportunity for errors
• Improved process control

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

The work force is a critical aspect of any manufacturing operation. It’s necessary to organize employees into teams, manage their work calendar, track their skills, and ensure that only qualified personnel perform certain tasks.

The Labor Management module of Critical Manufacturing MES provides features to support for the management of employees, the tracking of certifications and qualifications, shift planning as well as it includes a shift logbook to pass information between shifts.

Key features include:

• Capability to define that Qualifications and Certifications expire after a certain time interval, so that the Qualification or Certification need to be renewed.
• Ability to define minimum Certification requirements and automatic assignment of Employees to that Certification when they meet those requirements.
• Capability to enforce Certifications when performing operations on a given Resource, Step or Product.

Benefits for your operations:

• Increased operational efficiency
• Reduction in the opportunity for errors
• Improved process control

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

Critical Manufacturing MES has complete Bill-of-Materials (BOM) support, with lists of raw materials, subassemblies, intermediate assemblies, components, sub-components, parts and respective quantities that are required to manufacture one unit of a final product through assembly. These BOMs can be imported and integrated directly from ERP or PLM software, or created manually in the system by loading a product BOM file. The system also allows visualization of the imported BOM, as well as the complete Product tree.

Key Features

• Faster loading of product information into MES.
• Visualization of complete product tree in the MES.
• Reusability of similar product structures in engineering and experiment scenarios.

Benefits for your operations:

• Increased process control.
• Reduction in the opportunity for errors.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

Modern Consumable tracking can lead to shorter wait periods in production environments and improve stock level efficiency and maintenance thresholds. Critical Manufacturing MES allows knowing and tracking accurate levels of consumables in any process step and resource through consumable feeds in system resources, automatic inventory management with the flexibility of customized picking rules and detailed movements between warehouses, ensuring that the right material, configuration, process and documents are used in manufacturing.

Key features include:

• Keep updated levels for consumables with inventory tracking.
• Use the right part at the right step of the process.
• Reduce waste and excess inventory, streamlining the entire operation.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

Adequate tool management is vital to the efficiency of a production process, by increasing visibility over the state and usage of tools in the shop floor. Ensuring the proper tool is used in the right process step for the target product helps to increase quality.

Critical Manufacturing MES tracks the usage, lifecycle and maintenance of multiple tooling solutions required for manufacturing operations, storing the information as part of the material history that can be used in reports and ensures full traceability. The process routing definition can  associate the appropriate tool to the right process step and verify current usage, with built-in processes for calibration verification.

Key features include:

• Increase visibility of the tools used in the shop floor.
• Ensures that the right tool is used at the right process step.
• Track equipment calibration to ensure quality standards are met.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

The manufacturing environment is very fluid and complex. A lot of issues may require attention and action. In order to keep track of all the open issues as well as to have clear visibility about the ownership and progress of the different actions, it’s necessary to have a mechanism to track and manage factory-wide tasks.

Key features include:

• Dedicated task pane for every user about his/her open tasks.
• Support for sending notification emails (including reminders) to the task owner and task requester.
• Integration with the Material Tracking, Resource Tracking, Maintenance Management and Exception Management modules.

Benefits for your operations:

• Increased process control.
• Reduction in the opportunity for errors.
• Paper reduction.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

Sometimes, it may be necessary to break-down a large order in multiple lots or batches and to have the flexibility to assign  and re-assign lots to different orders. Order Management provides the functionality to track the different customer orders and to fulfill the orders either by assigning work-in-process material, finished goods, or creating new materials for the order.

Key Features

• Ability to assign and re-assign Materials (not started, in progress and completed) to a Production Order.
• Capability to view the real-time state of the Production Order (in-progress, completed, delivered).
• Capability to create all the necessary Materials to fulfill an Order, taking into consideration the Yield, Minimum and Maximum lot sizes, and required sub-components manufactured in-house by performing a BOM Explosion.

Benefits for your operations:

• Improved order management and order tracking
• Increased visibility and monitoring

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

As manufacturing relies on increasingly more complex equipment, the management of the recipes that the equipment will use for a certain process becomes increasingly important. It’s a basic requirement to ensure that the right recipe with the right parameters is used for the right process. A centralized electronic recipe management system is required for process automation and in some cases, some parameters need to be resolved dynamically on-the-fly to implement feed-forward and feedback mechanisms. Information about use recipes is a traceability requirement and an enabler for  performance and efficiency improvement.

Critical Manufacturing MES provides capabilities to manage, download, upload, resolve and instantiate recipes. The Recipe object model is based on the SEMI E139 standard and the module is pre-integrated with Connect IoT for equipment automation.

Key features include:

• Provision of a centralized factory wide recipe catalog and recipe store.
• Provision of a mechanism to edit recipes that includes the recipe body, recipe parameters and sub-recipes.
• Support for recipe version management with access and change control.

Benefits for your operations:

• Reduction of scrap and rework.
• Improved learning speed.
• Improved equipment utilization.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

Equipment is becoming increasingly complex and expensive. The equipment health, performance and utilization are key factors in the operations efficiency and in the company profitability, being the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) a closely monitored indicator.

Increasing levels of manufacturing sophistication and automation require that the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) keeps track of both the equipment master data information, equipment state and equipment history. Critical Manufacturing MES Resource Tracking provides a hierarchical object model to model virtually any type of equipment and it provides all the functionality required for managing and tracking resources.

Key features include:

• Hierarchical Resource Model with different levels of Material Tracking.
• Rich set of transactions (Change Resource State, Change System State, Store Material, Retrieve Material, Dock Container, Undock Container, Perform Data Collection, Manage Durables, Manage Consumables, Manage Instruments).
• User defined state models with pre-configured SEMI-E10 state model.

Benefits for your operations:

• Improved Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
• Reduction of downtime and unplanned breakdowns.
• Increased visibility and monitoring real-time capabilities.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

The Maintenance Management module supports the creation of maintenance plans and their associated activities. Critical Manufacturing MES ensures that maintenance plans are followed as defined and keeps track of the maintenance history for every equipment. As a fully integrated module, the usage counters are automatically increased as material is processed and prevents equipment from being used if maintenance is due. The system also checks the certifications of maintenance technicians and updates the inventory of spare parts as they are consumed. The Scheduling module is alerted of planned maintenance down times to ensure that equipment is unavailable.

Key features include:

• Support time-based, usage-based and ad-hoc (on demand) maintenance activities.
• Support multiple maintenance plans per resource (equipment), container, area or material.
• Prevent resources, containers or materials from being used if a maintenance activity is after late due.

Benefits for your operations:

• Improved operational equipment effectiveness.
• Better equipment utilization and reduction of downtime.
• Improved spare parts inventory management.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

Whether you need manual tools or automatic scales or dispensing tools, equipment calibration should be automatic and built into the process, so that quality remains at the forefront of the process definition. The definition and capture of measurement instruments, ensuring that they are calibrated and that they cover the required range and have the required precision, is paramount to the efficiency and quality desired in a modern production process.

Critical Manufacturing MES ensures the calibration and verification of instruments is met by seamlessly integrating this process within the regular production process steps, with procedures in place to avoid using gauges or instruments with expired calibration status while maintaining traceability for the entire process.

Key features include:

• Track and record information on expiration dates for individual tools and instruments.
• Improve quality by monitoring degradation throughout the instrument lifecycle.
• Integrate maintenance activities seamlessly to prevent usage of instruments with expired calibration status.

Benefits for your operations:

• Improved operational equipment effectiveness.
• Better equipment utilization.
• Reduction of downtime.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

Statistical Process Control (SPC) is a method of applying statistical methods and techniques in order to monitor and control a process. Using historical process data, it’s possible to check whether a certain process is under control and it’s possible to calculate the respective control limits, that is the Voice of the Process (VoP).

Statistical Process Control (SPC) is a pre-integrated module that is used to monitor the stability and quality of a certain process as well as to identify and flag problems as early as possible. When a problem is identified, it’s possible to trigger an action such as sending an email, putting the lot on hold, or putting the equipment down. It’s also possible to open an exception protocol workflow to correct the situation.

Key features include:

• Support for flexible Chart context definitions so that different Charts are created automatically by the system for every different context combination (e.g.: one Chart per Resource).
• Support for Variable Charts (Average and Range (X̅ R), Average and Standard Deviation (X̅ s), Median and Range (X ̃R), Individual and Moving Range (I-MR)) and Attribute Charts (Fraction Defective (p), Number Defective (np), Average number of Defects (u), Number of Defects (c)).
• Capability of setting the specification limits directly at the Chart level or to inherit them automatically from the Product definition which is subject to change control.

Benefits for your operations:

• Reduction of scrap, rework, and customer complaints.
• Improved equipment utilization.
• Reduction of costs.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

During manufacturing operations, it’s inevitable that some problems, exceptions, and deviations will occur. It’s important to address these problems quickly and systematically. Some problems will fall within defined patterns and pre-defined workflows can guide the operators on their resolution, such as SPC violations which can be addressed by Out-of-Control Action Plans (OCAPs). Other problems need a more thorough analysis to identity the root cause and to take actions to address the root cause in order to prevent these problems from occurring again, such as Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA).

The Exception Management module provides the capability to define and execute workflows to guide the user in capturing problems and issues and responding to them. Being an integrated module,  exceptions can be triggered automatically by system under certain conditions (e.g.: SPC violation).

Key features include:

• Provision of a graphical user interface designer to create exception workflows.
• Support for change control and versioning of exception workflows.
• Capability to open exception workflows manually or automatically in case that SPC rules are violated or Data Collection limits are exceeded.

Benefits for your operations:

• Improved quality and regulatory compliance.
• Reduction of customer complaints.
• Reduction of downtime.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

The Exception Management module of Critical Manufacturing MES provides the capability to define and execute workflows to guide the user in capturing problems and issues and responding to them. Being an integrated module, exceptions can be triggered automatically by system under certain conditions (e.g.: SPC violation). An exception can also be opened manually at any time in response to a certain condition.

Key features include:

• Support for material dispositions as part of an exception workflow. For example, if a certain problem affects several lots, it’s possible to open an exception workflow for the affected lots and then decide on a lot by lot basis, what is the action to be taken lot (e.g.: Scrap or Rework).
• Capability to create tasks as part of an exception workflow and to track the progress and state of those tasks (action items) until the completion.
• Support to capture defects at any part of the process, with seamless integration with Data Collection and Inspection modules.

Benefits for your operations:

• Improved process repeatability and consistency.
• Reduction of problem resolution time.
• Reduction of customer complaints.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

There are many documents which are relevant for manufacturing, including technical sheets, drawings, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) or work instructions. Documents need to be created, approved, published, and distributed, and most importantly, the right documents need to be presented to the user at the right time. When a new version is set effective, it’s important to ensure that the new version supersedes previous one. Also, for regulatory compliance, it may be necessary to ensure that the operators read and sign-off on new document versions.

Key features include:

• Support for document version management with access and change control.
• Provision of a document change history.
• Support for documents stored internally by the application or documents referenced in an external system (accessible via an URL).

Benefits for your operations:

• Reduction of paper and paperwork.
• Reduction of scrap and rework.
• Increased operational efficiency.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

A thorough process of control and auditability is vital for quality assurance and for the enforcement of quality standards within an organization. Critical Manufacturing MES provides user-defined approval workflows with reviewers defined for each step, enforcing those workflows based on object and type, with complete control over the approval process displayed in real time to any of the stakeholders. Providing email notifications and customized pages for pending approval verifications while maintaining change-controlled objects with approval workflows, the complete digital process meets all your regulatory and compliance needs while maintaining a historical record of all approvals and electronic signatures.

Benefits for your operations:

• Increased visibility of master data changes.
• Improved regulatory compliance.
• Increased process control.
• Reduction in the opportunity for errors.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

Critical Manufacturing MES supports the business processes related with requesting materials, fulfilling those requests and moving material between locations.

The Material Logistics module specifies different material supply paths for different storage areas and production lines. The system supports three types of lifecycles: 1) starting with a Transfer Requirement, releasing it into a Pick List, and then transporting it with a Transfer Order; 2) create a Transfer Order for a Transfer Requirement; or 3) simply create a Transfer Order.

The Material Logistics module performs automatic replenishment based on user defined reorder points and target inventory levels and also provides the capability to take periodic inventories.

Key features include:

• Define Material supply paths between Storage Areas and Production Lines.
• Manage Transfer Requirements, Product and Quantity needs.
• Approve and release (completely or partially) Transfer Requirements and automatically create a Pick List based on pre-defined sorting rules, both for material selection and picking sequencing.

Benefits for your operations:

• Improved visibility and tracking of material requests.
• Reduction of material shortages.
• Reduction of raw materials inventory and raw materials scrap.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

Having accurate and up-to-date manufacturing cost data provides very valuable information.  Management can use this information to take on cost reduction initiatives or to adjust pricing structures. Costing module of Critical Manufacturing MES provides a mechanism to define the different cost structures, based on time, usage, labor, and materials and then to absorb those costs in real time.

Key features include:

• Provides real-time absorption of material costs in real time considering labor, materials as well as step and resource defined cost structures.
• Access to a Material cost history and Product cost forecast reports.
• Provides calculation of the cost for every maintenance activity based on its parts and labor.

Benefits for your operations:

• Real-time cost visibility.
• Better cost forecasting.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.

The Critical Manufacturing Data & Analytics Framework provides a unified, integrated persistency, reporting and business intelligence platform that can be used for Critical Manufacturing data and other heterogeneous data sources. The capabilities of the Data & Analytics framework allow data to be integrated from any SQL Server, Microsoft Access, Oracle Databases, Excel, CSV, XML, Text files, SAP and other data sources.

Key features

• Three databases for different purposes (Online, optimized for runtime purposes; ODS for mid to long term reporting; and DWH for long term aggregation used for analysis and decision support system).
• A highly scalable Extraction, Transformation and Loading platform based on SQL Server Integration Services for high performance data integration, merging and transformation of data from different sources.
• Report Authoring and Publishing platform based on SQL Server Reporting Services and Microsoft.
• Power BI for various types of reports to be created and published.
• Data Mining algorithms that allow complex analysis of big amounts of data for patterns, associations and correlations.
• An OLAP explorer for visual interactive slicing and dicing of data.
• R-Services for statistical, machine learning and other type of sophisticated data analysis.

Most manufacturers use a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) for product design and development; and an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system for the high-level management of the company. It’s also common organizations have in place other type of manufacturing relevant applications in place, such as document management and training systems. The Enterprise Integration module provides a robust, bi-directional asynchronous communication mechanism based on a message queued and a queue processor.

MES provides bi-directional integration to enterprise applications to support both rapid tactical shifts and strategic business goals. Benefits include:

• Real-time synchronization between the ERP and the MES
• Reduction in data entry
• Reduction in the opportunity for errors

Benefits for your operations:

• Faster speed of learning.
• Increased visibility, tracking and monitoring of experiments.
• Increased operational efficiency.

For more features and benefits, consult the Data Sheet.