Improving productivity involves the whole of the value chain, not just production. The value chain is a set of activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs to deliver a valuable product or service to the market. How value chain activities are carried out determines costs and affects profits.

The manufacturing value chain takes a holistic view of organisations by considering manufacturing as a system, made up of subsystems. Each inputs, transformation processes and outputs involves the acquisition and consumption of resources – money, labour, materials, equipment, buildings, land, administration and management.

Investments should focus improving productivity by removing cost from all parts of the supply chain to improve productivity of the manufacturing process, and deliver more value to the customers. Typical actions will include automating processes, improving product quality and reducing waste, optimising stock holding, reducing energy consumption and delivering quality product on time and in budget.

Customers expect more

To succeed, manufacturing companies face tough competition. Customers expect perfect production quality and fast and punctual delivery, all for the lowest price. Considering how to enhance the efficiency of production processes, Mitsubishi Electric developed e-F@ctory. E-F@ctory is based on integrated system solutions for industrial and factory automation that ensures a continuous flow of information through all levels, from the shop floor to management with a reduced total cost of ownership (TCO). It evolved from expertise Mitsubishi developed in-house as a global manufacturing enterprise facing the same challenges their customers face. It has been implemented in real world applications and has delivered dramatic results.

The new Nagoya Works facility is an uncompromising implementation of Mitsubishi Electric’s e-F@ctory concept. The result is a transparent factory, in which every employee -from the machine operator to the manager always has real-time access to the process data that are relevant for them. The result is a productivity increase of 80% compared to conventional manufacturing facilities, combined with faster delivery times.

e-F@ctory = visibility

The demands for improved speed and agility conflict with a business’ ability to respond. Visibility into current operations, including the control system, is the primary reason manufacturers buy Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). This visibility provides the information necessary for informed decision making in real-time by all levels of personnel plant floor to the executives. However, where does the MES get its data from?

MES applications contain the critical business processes for executing a production schedule. These systems perform the production-centric functions of planning, controlling, operating, and informing. Control systems execute these functions to produce the goods needed to fulfil customer orders.

By integrating MES with control systems, manufacturing becomes more agile for responding to change in this increasingly dynamic business environment. Integrating the control system with the MES allows for a more effective and broader set of production management functions to improve operational performance.

To improve their response to operational issues, managers look to technology for connecting plant floor and business systems for automated business processes. Some manufacturers have implemented point solutions on a case-by-case basis. Because of the higher development costs and support issues, this approach is not optimal. An integration platform is needed.

 Data integrity

Mitsubishi Electric’s e-F@ctory concept for manufacturing systems provides data integrity while supporting network security and lower project risk. e-F@ctory provides a far superior platform than one based on a point integration solution with a Windows PC. It is complemented with products from producers worldwide under the e-F@acory Alliance programme.

By reducing costs, improving output and avoiding unnecessary wastage, Mitsubishi’s Nagoya Works has already demonstrated how its e-F@ctory solution has improved its Return on Investment (ROI) and achieved a much shorter time-to-value, so critical in a demanding manufacturing environment.