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2010
Conference Paper
Titel
Trends in manufacturing execution systems
Alternative
Trends bei Fertigungsmanagementsystemen
Abstract
Today's manufacturing plants are equipped with heterogeneous software systems for different types of tasks, both manufacturing operations and factory planning. On the operating level software systems are neither yet integrated and thus support separate tasks such as production monitoring, sequence planning, work piece identification, maintenance order management, worker information and others. Nor are MES-systems parts of the integrated industrial engineering chain from mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, PLC-programming to operations. Today information technology becomes the main enabler for new processes and structures in manufacturing and logistics. In this paper the author presents six relevant trends for MES-systems, derived from actual R&D-projects with industrial partners. The mentioned trends are illustrated by examples from projects. (1) In the future, MES systems will be fully integrated within the digital factory. Among other things, this aims at permanent planning disposition, i.e. changes in production immediately result in the update of all systems involved. (2) MES systems will, in the future, be supported by concurrent simulators. In this process, the simulator will act, as it were, as a front-end to the user in the sense of a real-time simulation, allowing users to respond to unforeseen events in production immediately and effectively. (3) Future MES systems will be integrated vertically with the undeilying shop floor level, ensuring that standard 'plug-and-work' mechanisms support this kind of integration. (4) On the manufacturing level, individual MES components will be integrated horizontally even if they are provided by multiple manufacturers. This will be ensured by instruments such as ontologies, a service-oriented architecture and consistent data management. (5) MES systems of the future will be scalable, including the support of decentral self-organizing production Factory data acquisition will be replaced by automated capture using RFID systems, for instance. (6) By providing users with information in a role and task-specific way - information needed to fulfill the users' exact task in the process - MES systems will be more human-oriented in the future than they are today.