MES and BI: union is strength

One product, endless data. In the era of Industry 4.0, the success of a company starts with big data. More than just numbers generated by unspecified technological devices, this is valuable information for knowing and understanding the past, present and future of your production. Embracing a “data culture”, collecting, analyzing and interpreting information means making strategic choices, promoting innovation and remaining competitive in the market. For us at Anicrin, this marriage is achieved through the meeting between MES and BI.

MES and BI: integrated technologies

The Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is an increasingly used tool in combination with Business Intelligence (BI). The former provides an immediate and accurate picture of production progress at each stage. The latter makes it possible to process and organize that data into intuitive, customized dashboards useful for the company to guide future steps.

The more accurate the data, the more valuable decisions can be made in a timely manner. In this regard, BI helps keep an eye on key performance indicators (KPIs), showing whether or not production is performing at its best.

KPIs that can be analyzed with BI

To give a few examples, linking MES and BI facilitates the analysis of parameters such as:

• OEE, the overall efficiency of a production line in terms of availability, efficiency and quality;
• machine downtime, to know how often it occurs and, more importantly, what is the cause and how to intervene;
• production waste, to know which items generate the most waste and the reason for it;
• shift efficiency, including time management by employees and distribution of workloads.

By making MES and BI work together, you have a valuable weapon in your hands: a comprehensive, orderly and always up-to-date database around which to shape decisions.

Various aspects of utility

Business choices are not the only benefit of adopting a business intelligence system. Reports provide a holistic view on multiple aspects, such as:

• the organization of business operations, as areas of opportunity can be identified;
• the satisfaction of employees, who, being able to read data without the intermediary of analysts, can contribute to improved results more quickly;
• customer experience, in order to respond to customer needs in a timely manner.

Linking MES and BI also allows the business to have a degree of competitiveness, as market changes can be monitored and customer needs can be anticipated.

Looking inward to expand outward?

On one hand, the MES system acts as a mirror for the company to allow it to know itself, its strengths and weaknesses. On the other, the business intelligence system lays the foundation for understanding where and how to intervene to improve and evolve. This extra step does not predict what will happen in the future, but simplifies the effort needed to connect the dots to think of viable solutions to potential scenarios. How? Through dashboards, reports, charts, maps, detailed and quick-access tables, with possible slight differences depending on the platform chosen (among the most in use, to give an example, is Power BI). The way to open up to a different kind of productivity starts from here, from putting the “data lifecycle” at the center thanks to the marriage of MES and BI.