posted on 5/16/2011 11:25:51 AM
The company is leveraging Microsoft Business Intelligence to add an analytical component to its FlexNet operations management platform, helping to synchronize and improve control across global plants and the supply chain.
Apriso, a purveyor of manufacturing operations management software, is adding real-time manufacturing intelligence and analytics to its flagship FlexNet product.
FlexNet Manufacturing Process Intelligence (MPI) will become a standard new capability on top of the company’s manufacturing execution system (MES), providing visibility across multiple plants to help companies improve continuous-improvement initiatives such as Lean and Six Sigma, Apriso said.
In addition, because FlexNet is said to incorporate business process management (BPM) within the platform, Apriso claims that the addition of MPI will improve synchronization and control across the product supply chain.
Rather than tap into the data of a single plant, the manufacturing intelligence tool can leverage FlexNet’s global data model and unified data repository. “[MPI] solves the single biggest problem with analytics, which is getting the data,” said Apriso’s Tom Comstock, executive vice president of worldwide marketing and product strategy, in an interview with Managing Automation.
In addition, a data integration wizard allows non-technical users to get the data they need. “It means the shift supervisor can [see the line’s] performance in real time, and the operator can get data on how he is doing,” Comstock explained.
Apriso is using Microsoft’s Business Intelligence suite for the analytics and Excel to output data, including graphical charts, for analysis sharing and reuse. A dashboard offers a view of all manufacturing sites, providing the ability to compare and analyze data from any location. And there are methods for drilling down to gain deeper visibility into operations and root-cause analysis, according to the company.
Overall, MPI’s operational data store is said to provide instant, standardized access to comprehensive analytics on aggregated production, quality, warehouse, maintenance, and labor process data. The application, which has been in development for the past year, is in pilot tests at several of Apriso’s customer sites and will be generally available this summer.
“As an extension of the FlexNet platform, MPI…is building on the breadth of operational data already collected and managed by the FlexNet manufacturing execution system,” said John Fishell, Apriso’s vice president of product management, in a statement. “This architecture ensures data integrity and accuracy for process changes implemented within FlexNet, helping our customers extend the value of a platform-based approach to manufacturing operations management.”