Sometimes, when we talk to our Customers, medium and large manufacturing companies (but often also SMEs), ask us why they should think about a MES when modern SCADA systems, such as iFix and Cimplicity, are equipped with features such as reporting, interface with management databases, Historian to collect historical data, calculation of OEE and other production data and indices. All this can be done in SCADA, so why a MES? Let's see together.
Differences between SCADA and MES
Lo SCADA It is a system focused on production control, interfaced with PLC, with data coming from the plant in real time. Although with SCADA we can acquire qualitative and quantitative information and data such as effectiveness, quantity of product e average production speed, however, we do not have the ability to trace the detailed transformation of raw materials into finished products and production batches through the complex series of operations and steps.
The Role of MES in the Production Process
On the other hand, the role of the management system, that is, of theERP, is to trace the complete business process of the company, of which only a part is the production process. And it is through the MES that the ERP system receives data from the production process, with aggregated data and the amount of this information is often limited to essential data: mainly it is summary data important for the business process (orders managed and fulfilled, sales, accounting, supply chain) which refer to the total quantity of raw materials used in production, the total number of final products produced, information on product quality, yields, waste, etc.
The Integration between SCADA and MES
ERP is designed to work with transactions. However, in the production process, there is often a huge amount of information exchanged in real time that needs to be processed and analyzed to achieve optimal production. This is where we need a system that can handle both real-time data and transactions. This is where we find the SCADA-MES pairing.
SCADA is designed to control production in real time, ERP is designed to manage business processes, MES is designed to track and collect information on each product (semi-product or batch) through all stages of the manufacturing process. It is a software that can operate with big data received in real time (PLC, SCADA), exchanging information also with the transactional world (ERP, SCM, CRM).
MES Features for Traceability and Performance
The purpose of a MES is to analyze and extract important information from these big data and forward them to theERP: MES can convert work orders received from an ERP into a production schedule and is able to send this schedule to the production department (which uses PLC and SCADA). MES It is responsible for correctly correlating process, product quantity and quality data and providing and collecting information in different formats from various systems, during and at the end of the production process, to convey them to the ERP.
Furthermore, we are increasingly encountering express requests for traceability e genealogy for compliance with specific regulations of the production sector, as well as the need to have important information relating to production process performance, necessary to remain competitive on the market. And these functions are the task of the ESM.
