Building Product Manufacturer Implements Cutting-Edge MES Solution At 15 Plants And Counting

Project Summary:

CertainTeed, a division of Saint-Gobain North America, has adopted Ignition along with many of the core Sepasoft modules to deploy ‘FaCTory+’ – a Vision-based MES solution. This system is currently being utilized by 15+ plants with many more on the roadmap. The key reason behind its success is the close collaboration between the IT, operational, and business teams; its user-friendly and data-centric UI; and the sophisticated architecture that has allowed CertainTeed to scale easily from site to site.

Problem:

The main problem was a lot of the plants either used legacy MES systems or, in many cases, simply paper. For the former case, it was difficult to get support when it came to additional requirements and improvements or troubleshooting. For the latter, it was hard to keep track of production orders, raw material usage as well as tracking downtime and scrap cost for analysis purposes.

Solution:

Ignition allows CertainTeed to pull in production orders from SAP directly using the Business Connector Module by Sepasoft. The OEE Module from Sepasoft allows CertainTeed to see 24-hour performance of a line at any given point such as uptime, downtime, maintenance etc. In addition, CertainTeed can use production KPIs such as OEE, compare current production run to previous run, as well as track top-five downtime/scrap reasons at any given point. The Live Analysis feature allows CertainTeed to see real-time KPIs such as work order, run ID, equipment state, etc.

The application also allows operators to report scrap quantities and assign reason codes to captured downtime events. Finally, the supervisor will verify the ‘balancing’ of each run, i.e., whether total production (comprising finished goods and scrap) aligns with raw material usage. After validation, all relevant data such as machine hours, slow time, down time, scrap, and raw material is sent to SAP. There is also a shift log list which allows operators to document shift notes, report issues, etc. This is accomplished using the Vision Module for operator stations and the Perspective Module for mobile tablet use.

Results:

This system is much more efficient, saves time, and allows operators to view key information at any given time. Additionally, engineers can now run reports to track production history, analyze top downtime reasons, which lead to better data-driven project plans.

Start Date: March 2021

Deploy Date: Ongoing; 15 plants live as of today