Real-time Production Monitoring

The most visible and most valuable feature of a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is the user display that gives a production manager a “dashboard” showing the current state of production.

The Mattec ProHelp® EPM monitoring tools have been developed in close co-operation with managers in manufacturing plants from plastics to metal forming to final assembly.  ProHelp® EPM is the fourth generation of Mattec’s real-time production and process monitoring systems. This system is capable of monitoring up to 4,096 machines and supporting hundreds of simultaneous users in single site installations or in multi-national, multi-plant operations.

System features include:

• Real-time production monitoring.
• Process control for analog and digital signals.
• Job scheduling.
• SPC/SQC analysis.
• Scrap and downtime reporting.
• Preventive maintenance management.
• Operator tracking.
  

The Real-Time Display shows the status of all machines at a glance, including machines that are running out of specification limits, machines that are down, and operators who have called for help.  Data on the display is updated automatically and in real-time.
Individual users can easily create their own displays allowing them to focus on the equipment and processes under their control.

The official production schedule will typically be loaded into ProHelp® EPM from the core ERP system.  The actual cycle times, downtime, scrap, etc. are captured via our MIUs and can extend the amount of time it will take for a job to run.  This is reflected in the real-time job schedule display.  Jobs that will finish on-time are colored green; jobs that will finish late are colored red.

Users can easily right-click on a job from within the Job Schedule and launch the Job Control program. The Job Control program allows the user to start, stop, and suspend jobs for any machine.
Family Molding options within ProHelp® EPM improves dramatically the accuracy and ease of job scheduling.  Family Molding is used for
Left/right and front/rear parts
Color changes for the same part
Multiple releases of a part for a large order
Unrelated Parts Made With The Same Base Mold

A job family is scheduled as a unit, but production and process history is stored for each child job individually. This makes data analysis much easier as the family has a forecasted end date in the job schedule while the system will also forecast the end date for each individual child job.
Machine and tool Preventive Maintenance features assist in tracking and managing preventive maintenance regimes. Users define maintenance codes (categories) and how often the maintenance is performed. The system automatically tracks machine and tool run time and cycles and accurately predicts when maintenance will be due.

The material tracking features allow you to configure the materials that will be used for every part that is made. You configure an appropriate part weight, runner weight, and percentage of re-grind to use and the system will accurately forecast material usage based on the actual job schedule. Once a job is running, the system will automatically record the amount of virgin and regrind materials used in the process.

When material lots change, the machine operator enters the new material lot number at the MIU. The system keeps track of an unlimited number of material lot changes for things like the primary material, colorant, additives, etc.

If you are a medical manufacturer, or are otherwise regulated by the FDA, then 21 CFR Part 11 is surely a growing concern of yours. Mattec is the leading supplier of real-time production and process monitoring systems to medical manufacturers, in part because we have helped so many customers to achieve compliance with FDA 21 CFR Part 11.

ProHelp® EPM offers two optional features to facilitate Kanban scheduling. These allows users to eliminate the need to manually track Kanban cardsand allow users to manually create and start Kanban jobs from a supported MIU.

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