When it comes to smart manufacturing or Industry 4.0, the focus of industry attention tends to be on technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), digital twins and digital threads, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), collaborative robots and additive manufacturing. But where do automation and control systems fit in? What key role do these systems play in the field of intelligent manufacturing? How can automation and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) provide a solid foundation for the digital transformation of manufacturing organizations?

In order to answer these questions, this article will take you through some practical application scenarios to understand how MES and automation systems are combined with intelligent manufacturing technology to help manufacturing enterprises achieve digital transformation. These application scenarios are applicable to a wide range of process, discrete and hybrid industries and are a great way to start the journey of smart manufacturing and digital transformation based on automation and MES.

01Digitization of bills of materials, recipes and work instructions

A bill of Materials (BOM) defines the materials and quantities needed to make a product. The recipe defines the specific steps and set values used. The work guide provides specifications, drawings, methods, and procedures used in the manufacturing process. Overall, the content includes a lot of information, which can be thick if it’s in the form of a paper document.

It makes a lot of sense to move this information from paper documents to MES and integrate it closely with automated systems. The integration of these systems makes it easier and faster to manage, disseminate, use, and execute bills of materials, recipes, and work instructions, giving the right workers access to the information they need anytime, anywhere, while eliminating common human errors when working with paper documents.

An MES provides a bill of materials and recipe to an automated system, which uses this information to perform the recipe and consume a specified amount of material. Algorithms in MES and automated systems allow materials to be adjusted or replaced as necessary, or even added manually. In short, MES and automated systems eliminate paper documentation and potential human errors.

With MES and automation systems as the foundation, the next step is to combine with a new generation of intelligent manufacturing technologies. IIoT is used to propagate and collect information from devices throughout the factory. AR/VR tools are used to provide interactive augmented reality-based job guidance to operators. Artificial intelligence (AI) is used to analyze data collection, dig deeper into root causes, and optimize operations and materials. They are based on MES and automation systems and are constantly evolving with the advancement of new technologies in intelligent manufacturing.

02MES and automation system cooperate to realize production error prevention

In addition to eliminating paper and automating bill of materials, recipes and work instructions, MES and automation systems prevent errors throughout the manufacturing process. Errors occur not only in paper-based processes, but also in any manually executed process.

Recipes usually involve multiple steps, most of which must be performed sequentially and can only be started after the previous steps have been successfully completed. MES works in conjunction with automation and control systems to ensure that prior steps are executed correctly and completely before moving on to the next step.

An error occurs when normal steps are skipped, performed out of order, or not completed at all. Manufacturing operations are particularly error-prone if they require different people in different places to complete different steps. For example, in the weighing position, someone performs the material weighing process, while in the batching tank position, another person performs the adding and mixing process, while another person in the quality assurance laboratory performs the quality analysis. It is extremely difficult to get these steps done properly in order and ensure that one step is completed before the next one begins. But this kind of synchronous execution is exactly what MES does, and why MES and automation work together is so important.

In terms of combining with the next generation of smart manufacturing technologies, IIoT is a key technology for collecting data in real time, so that every employee can immediately get the status and results of every step. Digital threads connect each step in multiple regions throughout the factory. The digital twin collects detailed information about the operation of the device. AI and advanced analytics are used to build predictive and prescriptive analytics to coordinate and optimize operations throughout the manufacturing process.