What is your primary use case for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES?

I used GE Proficy Smart Factory MES from a technical support perspective, and I no longer use it in my current role. My role involved preparing and maintaining the environment so that production line operators could use the system effectively. I helped ensure that the system was ready for daily operations and supported the technical needs of the users. One example of something I did with GE Proficy Smart Factory MES in my support role was preparing the workstations for production line operators so they could access and use it during their daily activities. My role was to help ensure the technical environment was ready and to assist with technical issues that could prevent operators from using the system. This helped minimize disruptions and allowed them to focus on the production process. My experience with GE Proficy Smart Factory MES was mainly focused on technical support rather than using the system's manufacturing features directly. I helped prepare the environment for production line operators and supported the technical side of their daily use. This experience helped me understand how important system availability and a reliable IT environment are to keeping production operations running smoothly.

My main use case for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES is configuring the manufacturing execution system for four plants to digitalize the manufacturing processes. A specific example of how I use GE Proficy Smart Factory MES to digitalize a process in one of those plants is through the product genealogy module. Here, we monitor the raw materials coming in from the suppliers and how they transition into finished goods, allowing us to have the complete product genealogy that GE Proficy Smart Factory MES displays. This shows how the raw materials are moving through the manufacturing plant, the shop floor, and how the finished goods are being prepared at each stage. We followed a global template that was prepared with our client meetings and plant users. All the stakeholders were involved, so all the global templates were common for all four plants since the company, the client, was the same. We use global templates for all kinds of modules, including product genealogy, production order management, downtime tracking, and others.

My main use case for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES is to connect the shop floor machinery with the MES system and pass on the data to SAP, using OPC and Kepware OPC to connect different shops and retrieve data as needed for upper systems or storage in the database. To handle the integration between the shop floor machinery and GE Proficy Smart Factory MES, we typically use OPC, which includes Kepware OPC on DA and UA connection, and we later adopt the OPC UA unified method for connectivity. While we do not face challenges connecting to the MES due to OPC Kepware being a standard, challenges do arise between GE Proficy Smart Factory MES and Kepware, including occasional data loss. However, we have developed a strong connectivity mechanism to mitigate data loss.

My main use case for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES is that we implemented this in one of the factories two to three years ago as smart manufacturing to calculate the OEE and other KPIs. We have many use cases for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES because we use it for day-to-day activity. It is not only limited to OEE, as we also manage quality, performance, operations, and end-to-end traceability. Everything is included in this particular MES.

My main use case for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES is for recipes and batch executions. When using GE Proficy Smart Factory MES for recipes and batch executions, it depends on the customer process, but in reality, they get the orders, they get the scheduling, and then it goes into the manufacturing system where we can push it around depending on what needs to be done first or if it's a small order or big order. Additionally, I do quality checks with GE Proficy Smart Factory MES. They go back and take labs and then enter them in for each batch.

My main use case for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES is to analyze, monitor, track, and maintain downtime and power consumption. I use GE Proficy Smart Factory MES on a regular basis as a Plant Application administrator and Plant Client administrator for my day-to-day health checkup of production level reports, including how tags flow from one end to another. For downtime monitoring, when production level is down, I have to monitor the exact start time and end time to understand if the power consumption indicates that production was slow or stopped. We receive a report documenting what exactly might be happening at that time. For power consumption, when batches start running, the tag frequency increases, prompting me to check the trigger tag from the PlantApp model, along with the configured model to see how it works. We also check production and downtime events from the PlantApp model. Regarding my main use case, I face challenges when the Plant Apps models don't match the tag values with OPC Quick Client, which requires me to check and trigger with Historian Proficy, enabling or disabling and checking the data flow to ensure labels are printing correctly from GE Proficy Smart Factory MES. Specifically, in a Plant Application where I check from the stretch wrapper or the unit's placement in the configured models to obtain the source address and verify in the OPC Quick Client.

GE Proficy Smart Factory MES is primarily used for MES implementation and support across a variety of industries, including mining and consumer goods. The platform is utilized within the ISA-95 architecture for consumer goods clients, implementing modules such as production, maintenance, and quality. It is used to execute process and planned orders on the shop floor, capturing data on downtime, production, and quality against specific orders, and calculating plant KPIs based on this data. The platform also supports reporting structured data stored in the Prophecy database, using interfaces like Prophecy displays for operators or supervisors. Integration with plant systems such as PLC SCADAs and ERP at the top layer is also a crucial element of my use case. Integrating GE Proficy Smart Factory MES with plant systems like PLCs and ERP systems impacts daily operations positively, offering smooth execution. Although challenges with SCADA communications do arise, these fall under standard IT support and are managed and rectified efficiently. For recurring issues, problem methodologies such as RCA are employed to identify root causes and implement corrective actions. Overall, integration has been beneficial with no major negative impact.

My main use case for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES is for discrete manufacturing, as it is used for routings and BOM. I use GE Proficy Smart Factory MES for routings or BOM in my day-to-day work, where for every part, routings were created in SAP, and that used to flow to Proficy MES. The routing contains the operation steps and the sub-steps that are involved in manufacturing that particular part. Regarding my main use case, GE Proficy Smart Factory MES also connects to tags. For example, in my case, I was reading the raising temperature tag value, and it was created and mapped.

My main use case for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES includes downtime, overall equipment effectiveness, quality, and reporting. I use GE Proficy Smart Factory MES for downtime tracking by managing a few events. We have several downtime events that are preconfigured in the system so that we can see the downtime metrics of a particular machine. Once we have the downtime metrics from GE Proficy Smart Factory MES, my team typically uses them to calculate the OEE of the machine, and then we use the data to reduce the downtime of the particular machine and use it effectively for productivity. In terms of my main use cases with GE Proficy Smart Factory MES, we are mainly using it for unit operations to scan the raw material. These are the inbuilt views in the inbuilt tabs in the web client or in the Proficy applications client. We get to know all the information at a single point in time. We will be knowing everything that is happening on the plant in the application itself.