MES solution: intelligent digitisation for everyday factory life

Challenge

A long-standing customer, a multinational in the field of sensors and instrumentation for industrial process control, approached Qintesi to extend the MES project to the Mechanical Workshop department, following the successful implementation in other departments of its production plants.
The rapidly growing department took the opportunity of an internal reorganisation to digitise and optimise declaration and tracking processes, both in production and quality control.
The challenge for Qintesi was to develop the solution by adapting to the specific needs of the department, working with a Continuous Delivery approach, facilitated by the proactive communication relationship established over the years with the customer.

Solution

After the factory visit with the customer, the development team conducted an in-depth analysis of the project, leading to the definition of a precise release roadmap, aligned to the needs of the key users.

The solution developed by Qintesi in SAP MII and SAPUI5, on the HANA database, consists of the modules of digitisation of the progress and order declaration process; digitisation of tooling cards; tracking and monitoring of equipment wear; management of the creation and execution of Quality Control plans.

The development of the solution required improvements to the pre-existing communication processes between the MES MII system and the SAP ERP. These changes were necessary to ensure smooth integration between the two systems, optimising the exchange of information and ensuring that all relevant data were correctly synchronised and available in real time for the users involved.

The functions were developed with a focus on readability and user-friendliness, adopting a graphic style consistent with the rest of the solution. In addition, the visualisation and usage mechanics of the product were optimised in close collaboration with the customer, ensuring a more accessible transition to a paperless, more convenient and sustainable system.

Particular attention has been paid to the issues of monitoring equipment wear and tear and carrying out Quality Controls according to control plans defined by the relevant department.

By automatically acquiring data from the plants, the software is able to suggest to operators the need to change equipment before its wear and tear compromises the final quality.

Similarly, the digitisation of Quality Controls, hitherto recorded on paper sheets, has enabled accurate analyses aimed at reducing material waste.

The tracking of production events such as tooling, breaks and control stops has also made it possible to take action by identifying gaps in the production process and minimising efficiency losses.