Ganesh Hegde – Product Marketing Director, GE Digital
Than in a manufacturing company different roles need access to different information it is now an established truth.
When adopting new technologies in production, the problem of the new opportunities (and needs) that emerge as a result of the change should therefore be addressed, trying to derive the greatest possible advantages from them.
In fact, the fact should not be underestimated that, despite the growing adoption of new technologies that collect data, on average 70% of factory-generated data goes unused (“Predicts 2016: Opportunities Abound for the Factory to Reach Its Potential”, Gartner, 2015).
Today, production personnel often find themselves navigating a veritable flood of information. Information is valuable, sure, but it can also become difficult to manage if it is not filtered effectively.
In production, the goal is to optimize operations management, improve product performance and quality. However, the data to manage is not the same for all: and if this data is not managed correctly, it could be very difficult to exploit its potential.
Let's now take a look at the different needs that operators and supervisors have in the company.
Supervisors need an overview
The ultimate goal of Manufacturing Supervisors is to ensure customer satisfaction and timely delivery of quality products. For this they need information aimed at optimizing the flow of products, the efficiency of the machine and operators and manage security incidents.
To succeed in their task, supervisors use indicators such as OEE, the operating times, indices showing the plant benchmarking and performance of the production.
Theirs dashboard must immediately highlight any problems, so supervisors can react quickly without wasting time interpreting the screen.
HOW TO CREATE AN EFFICIENT HMI/SCADA?
And since access to information now takes place from different devices, the interface must have a responsive design capable of adapting to the device that the user is using and which only requires a login procedure and not an installation.
DIDA Supervisor view in GE Digital Plant Applications
The needs of the operators, on the other hand, have the objective of increasing production efficiency on a monthly and quarterly basis and the progressive reduction of production phases that do not add value.
That means they have to focus on the equipment of the line, compare them with the "historical" performance and with the optimal ones.
Their vision is narrower than that of supervisors; therefore, too much irrelevant information risks slowing them down as they need to focus on the data and make decisions quickly.
To do their job, operators need to work on events that generate product losses and they must be able to configure the screens according to the equipment they work with.
As I am often on the move, they must also be able to access the information necessary to organize the day – equipment, work to be done and performance – from a single source of data that is accessible from a mobile device.
Fortunately, today this diversity of needs among the various business functions is widely recognized, favoring the availability of new technologies capable of satisfying these needs.
I modern hybrid MESs are developed with a standard integrated reporting system however, it can be configured according to the role, also allowing you to create customized views.
For example, i Manufacturing Execution Systems Predix (Predix MES) offer several options to enable the maximum flexibility of the graphical user interface (UX).
Thanks to a ready-to-use application designed for tablets, but which also works well on desktops, users have access to the view dedicated to their specific role and can also add mashups via "tabs", making the most of the HMI ready-to-use screens.
Screens can be expanded, adding new views or even building a customized dashboard.
Thanks to REST API and open source code of the clients can achieve significant interface improvements, to the full advantage of flexibility.
DIDA – Operator view in GE Digital Plant Applications
Now you can In summary, today there are technological solutions available that allow you to obtain personalized views and optimize the use of data based on the role you cover.
When it comes to MES, make sure you have tools in place that offer a clear view of OEE for operators and supervisors, as well as tools to help them work more efficiently.
To offer the best to the different roles working in your company you will need to choose an MES that offers:
- Custom views based on the user's role (operator, supervisor, etc.)
- UX with configurable views to make users more productive and give them the ability to create their own customized environments
- Integrated reporting and customizable according to the role
- Possibility to create a highly customized interfaceif desired