Solution Modules
SmartFactory™
Harnessing, extending and delivering on the power of advanced technology to manufacturers worldwide
Comprehensive Operational Control for Manufacturing
Hover over the area you’re interested in to explore the most powerful, versatile, and scalable smart manufacturing solutions available.
ERP Integration
ERP Connectivity and Integration is one of SmartFactory greatest benefit to an organization. The ability to harmonize your actual MES / Shop Floor activities with your ERP system of record is essential in today’s digital business world. SmartFactory is designed to easily and automatically connect to your ERP or function as a standalone solution. Your choice!
SmartFactory ERP connectivity is bi-directional and automatically maps the relevant Item, BOM, Bin, Work Order, Routing, Work Center and related transactional and operational data to ensure your ERP and MES are synchronized.
Benefits
Connecting your manufacturing operations with your ERP platform improves overall Costs of Goods Produced and Profitability while keeping timely and accurate transactional and General Ledger reporting.
ERP Platforms, Apps, Connections, & Licenses
Manufacturing Execution System
SmartFactory’s Manufacturing Execution Systems (Shop Floor) enables all production reporting capabilities: finished good production, material usage (controlled items included), component waste, downtime, labor usage and production notes. Label printing as well as scanning are supported with basic production and quality labels and the ability to modify and even add new labels.
Shop Floor acts as the hub to other SmartFactory solutions and incorporates data from them, including quality management, machine integration, kitting and compliance to provide a comprehensive view to operators. The Shop Floor interface is highly configurable we predefined elements for each of the solutions to make tailoring the solution straight forward.
Benefits
Improved Operating Effectiveness, Productivity, Resource Utilization, Customer Service, Profitability and Reduced Manufacturing Costs to Produced
SmartFactory MES Apps, Options, and Licenses
Advanced Operations
Advanced Operations offers solutions to minimize time spent reporting and integration alternatives that can enhance data processing.
Production Manage allows planners or supervisors to prioritize or group work orders to ensure an optimized Shop Floor sequence. Prioritization of in-process and released work orders within a 3 – 5 day planning horizon generates a dispatch list for each work center that integrates seamlessly to the MES. It also allows grouping of operations that benefit from concurrent execution (e.g. slitting, casting, injecting, molding) in the same work center. Operators are alleviated from reporting individual operations based upon established build ratios.
Advanced Processing can bring to bare third party systems that add retry logic to harden SmartFactory to temporary communications or service interruptions.
Benefits
Improves production order sequencing reduces product changeover / setup costs lower overall conversion costs. Also improves customer service and on-time delivery.
Advanced Operations Apps, Options, Licenses, and ERP Compatibility
Machine Integration
Machine Integration enables machine or edge device connectivity via the most common IoT technologies – OPC and MQTT. Data can be automatically collected from machine signals or connected devices to improve reporting efficiency and accuracy.
Machine reporting can be configured to allow ‘man-in-loop’ review of the data to ensure accuracy and avoid miscounts that might be associated with start-up or change-over cycling. When appropriate, reporting can be made fully automatic and leverage assignment of machines to work orders to properly contextualize the data for processing.
Machine Integration can capture production counts, material consumption, process variables, and downtime events.
Benefits
Improved Efficiency and Utilization. Reduced Downtime and Process Variation
Machine Integration Apps, Options, Licenses, and ERP Compatibility
Connected Worker
All activities for users of SmartFactory are tailored based upon the individual association with their work center. Checking in/out of work centers is generally only a click away to accommodate flexible teams and assignments. Connected Worker also provides personnel on the shop floor with enhanced labor reporting functionality. Operator can dynamically clock in and out of work order operations. Subsequently, applied time to each production effort (e.g. lot, batch, shift) is automatically calculated and can be applied as direct cost to improved accuracy of labor costs. The individual clock in and out times may also be transferred to the ERP for further analysis of labor utilization and efficiency.
Benefits
Improves labor productivity reducing labor costs per unit produced.
Connected Worker Apps, Options, Licenses, and ERP Compatibility
Note: Connected Worker is not designed to be a Time & Attendance solution or integrate with payroll systems.
Batch Management
Kitting supports manufacturing processes that can benefit from pre-assembly of raw materials either for traceability or to accommodate equipment limits (i.e. batch sizing). Kitting enables minor or hand-weighed ingredients to be associated with a permanent or temporary container that can simplify material movement and use in production to a single interaction with the container. Containers may be bar-coded to improve accuracy and even allow for locating a specific container. All contents of the kit become part of the batch traceability once dispensed to the production activity.
Traceability for each batch produced against a parent work order includes material usage and finished good production details to ensure compliance to the recipe or formulation. When coupled with the Quality Management solution, additional inspection information can also be associated with each batch record. In order to address audit needs, the batch information may be saved to an immutable completion record. In Regulated Industry Tulip Accounts an e-Signature may also be applied to the batch data.
For customers with less rigorous needs the batch information may be reviewed using the Interrogate App which provides contextualized navigation to data across the various SmartFactory solutions/apps.
Benefits
Improved batch management results in higher product compliance, batch efficiency and lower costs per batch. Improve batch traceability assist in product compliance and lot traceability.
Batch Management Apps, Options, Licenses, and ERP Compatibility
Quality Management
Quality Management enables the conversion of your paper-based quality and inspection events into digital processes and records. Easily create new inspections to capture your manufacturing process and product attributes to ensure compliance with your SOP’s or regulatory requirements.
Inspection data capture can be accomplished by either a step-by-step flow that provides rich context (instructions & images) or by a consolidated data entry page that mimics paper processes more closely.
Inspections can be initiated either manually or by way of configured rules that monitor operator actions or define a schedule.
Quality Reporting can incorporate digital signatures and when combined with the Compliance solution can enforce additional verification and authorization.
Benefits
Improved Quality, Material Yield and First Pass Yield. Improve QA resources productivity with a digital QA process.
Quality Management Apps, Options, Licenses, and ERP Compatibility
Compliance and CAPA
Compliance supports regulatory requirements (i.e. 21 CFR, Part 11, SQF, GMP, etc.) by enabling QC release processes for production operations. All data that is collected by SmartFactory including inspection results can be independently reviewed and validated by QC personnel. Once authorized, the data is digitally signed and maintained in an immutable record structure to accommodate regulatory and audit demands.
CAPA (Corrective and Preventive Actions) augments continuous improvement efforts/initiatives by allowing team members to identify, investigate, and address issues with products, processes, or systems. Observations and concerns can be initiated from most other SmartFactory apps but are managed and dispositioned from a restricted Quality Events app to ensure accurate and timely disposition.
Benefits
Improve overall Product and Process Compliance reducing overall costs of compliance.
Compliance & CAPA Apps, Options, Licenses, and ERP Compatibility
Administration
SmartFactory offers a wide variety of configurable options to tailor the solutions to specific manufacturing needs. These range from controlling how work is presented to operators to which production data must be reviewed for compliance. Nearly all configurable aspects of the solution are managed through two administrative apps – one for general manufacturing setup and one specific to managing machines and integration to them.
When the Stand-Alone (non-ERP) version of SmartFactory is utilized the maintenance of manufacturing artifacts such as items, assemblies, routings and work orders is accomplished via a Master Data application. The data being managed is consistent with data that would be received from an ERP system so later transition or upgrade can be made with minimal effort and little to no retraining of operators.
Finally, to assist with data inspection via intuitive drill-down, the Interrogate app is available. For NetSuite integrations this includes the ability to directly navigate to the source data in the ERP system.
Benefits
Configure and control the solution to best fit your business and operational needs.
Administration Apps, Options, Licenses, and ERP Compatibility
Materials Management
SmartMaterials is a NetSuite SuiteApp that is designed to reinforce a manufacturer’s material staging discipline and visibility. Capable of examining all work orders that are available to SmartFactory for processing, it provides a work center view of material shortages and overages and streamlines staging and put-away bin transfers to ensure that material is where it needs to be.
Benefits
Improves Inventory accuracy and visibility of raw, WIP and Finish Goods leading to improved inventory turns, material yields, reduced stock-outs and downtime waiting on material resulting in overall lower material costs per unit.
Materials Management Apps, Options, Licenses, and ERP Compatibility
Scheduler
SmartFactory Scheduler is a powerful, cloud-based finite scheduling solution that optimizes manufacturing execution to improve production costs, resource utilization, and service levels. It combines cutting-edge optimization algorithms, cloud scalability, an intuitive planning dashboard and concise KPIs that convey each schedule’s efficiency.
SmartFactory Scheduler evaluates equipment, tooling, resource/skill and operating calendar constraints to develop schedules tailored to your operational needs. Its speed and efficiency allow for efficient replanning and comparisons.
Benefits
- Improved resource utilization; equipment, labor, and tooling.
- Reduced delays, work-in-progress costs, and non-value-added time due to poor coordination
- Increased operating efficiency, leading to higher customer service levels and on-time delivery
- Lowered Cost-to-Produce
Scheduler Apps, Options, Licenses, and ERP Compatibility
Insights
SmartFactory offers a broad set of KPIs, analytics and graphical displays throughout the various apps (across its solutions). These provide real-time snapshots of what’s currently happening in your operations to help guide and motivate manufacturing personnel.
SmartFactory Insights provides manufacturing leaders have actionable insights based upon historical data to help proactively spot problems, identify root causes, and provide options for solutions. Cloud-hosted and built on top of advanced data technologies and including an AI layer that allows for intuitive interrogation to gain those insights more rapidly.
Benefits
Deep insight into manufacturing processes, production, labor productivity, and overall effectiveness, identification of bottlenecks, and better cost control while heading off problems before they happen.
Insights Apps, Options, Licenses, and ERP Compatibility
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