All production processes on a single application suite

J-Flex by Tecnest is the only software suite for Supply Chain Management developed in Italy which includes on the same application platform:

• an Advanced Planning & Scheduling system (APS),
• a Manufacturing Execution System (MES)
• solutions for Quality Management, Warehouse Management and Product configurations
• a solution for Operations Management
• a Supply Chain Collaboration system
• a Business Intelligence system for data analysis

All J-Flex software solutions are scalable and can either be installed as integrated solutions or as stand-alone systems to be integrated with the existing ERP or third-part software.

J-Flex 4.U / What's new

Agile

J-Flex 4.U introduces a real revolution in software usability thanks to the new Role-based interface which provides an advanced and "agile" user experience.

No longer do users need to shift from an application to another to find the information useful for their business roles. J-Flex 4.U delivers and presents all the information needed directly on the system's homepage.

Expert

J-Flex 4.U represents the output of Tecnest's over-25-year experience in supply chain and operations processes, with more than 300 customers in the world.

J-Flex provides solutions for 4:

• Make To Order companies
• Make To Stock companies
• Automotive industry
• Industrial Machines & Components industry
• Primary Metal Industries
• Electronic Equipment and Components industry
• Paper & Allied Products industry
• Wood & Furniture industry
• Plastics industry
• Textile & Fashion industry
• Process Manufacturing industry

Unique

J-Flex 4.U has been developed by Tecnest in order to give a unique, complete and specific answer to all manufacturing and supply chain management needs.

J-Flex 4.U, in fact, includes many solutions for Manufacturing and supply chain processes (an Advanced Planning & Scheduling system (APS), a Manufacturing Execution System (MES), solutions for Quality Management, Warehouse Management, Product configuration, Operations Management, a Supply Chain Collaboration system, a Business Intelligence system) on the same application platform.

hide

FLEX MES  supports manufacturing data management and acquisition and production monitoring processes

Main features:

Workforce Management:
it calculates the available capacity of resources in terms of hour/worker and it matches tasks with the available skills.

According to the definition of MESA International, the international association for MES topics, a Manufacturing Execution System is

“a dynamic information system that drives effective execution of manufacturing operations. Using current and accurate data, MES guides, triggers and reports on plant activities as events occur. The MES set of functions manages production operations from point of order release into anufacturing to point of product delivery into finished goods. MES provides mission critical information about production activities to others across the organization and supply chain via bi-directional communication ”

(Source: MESA international)

According to the MESA model (2008), 10 main exection activities represents the "pillars" of a MES:

• Process Management
• Dispatching Production Unit
• Labor Management
• Data collection & Acquisition
• Controls PLC; DCS
• Resources allocation & status
• Quality management
• Product Tracking & Genealogy
• Logistics and WMS
• Performance analysis

Since Manufacturing Execution involves many different processes and activities, multiple an different business roles are also involved: among them, the Production Manager, the Factory Supervisor, the Quality Manager, the Warehouse Manager. We describe here below the main roles related to the factory activity, while the ones related to Quality Management and Warehouse management, are described in the FLEX TQM and FLEX WMS solutions pages.

The Production manager

A production manager is involved with the planning, coordination and control of manufacturing processes. They ensure that goods and services are produced efficiently and that the correct amount is produced at the right cost and level of quality.

Tasks typically involve:

• overseeing the production process, drawing up a production schedule;
• ensuring that the production is cost effective;
• making sure that products are produced on time and are of good quality;
• working out the human and material resources needed;
• drafting a timescale for the job;
• estimating costs and setting the quality standards;
• monitoring the production processes and adjusting schedules as needed;
• being responsible for the selection and maintenance of equipment;
• monitoring product standards and implementing quality-control programmes;
• liaising among different departments, e.g. suppliers, managers;
• working with managers to implement the company's policies and goals;
• ensuring that health and safety guidelines are followed;
• supervising and motivating a team of workers;
• reviewing worker performance;
• identifying training needs. (Fonte: AGCAS editors 2012)

FLEX for Execution processes

---

The Factory Supervisor

A factory supervisor controls processes and operations that take place at a plant or factory.
He is in charge of the following activities:

• workforce organization and employees supervision in the factory
• ensuring the best machinery working conditions, through set-up, maintenance and planning activities
• operational control over all the procedures that occur at the plant (engineering, output, personnel management, logistics and other commercial activities)
• management of quality control, inspection and ensuring that materials are dispatched at the right time
• support to the Production manager in operational activities (workorders status monitoring, workforce management) (Source: Isfol 2010)

FLEX for Execution processes

---

Operational Roles

In order to carry out Manufacturing Execution processes, the following operational figures also play an important role:

• The Time & Motions Responsible
• The Workshop Responsible
• The Responsible of Production quality controls
• The Responsible of quality controls in receiving
• The Factory assistant
• The Machine set-up operator
• The Factory operator

FLEX for Execution processes

---

 

FLEX Role-based features for Execution processes

Thanks to the role-based features, FLEX provides monitoring and analysis features for different business roles.

These features can be activated both on the system entry application, and on specific configurable dashboards, through multi-panel interfaces.
Each business role in a company has, therefore, a real-time access to features, information and KPIs, useful for his job.
An example of the information and functionality available in the FLEX Advanced Planning & Scheduling area, are:

• Current Workcenter efficiency
• Monthly trend of N.o of waster products
• Monthly Value of the items stored into the warehouse
• WIP trend int he last N months
• Number of activities to start in the day
• Orders to be dispatched for production
• Alert for plant /manchinery stoppage
• Dealy hours on each workcentre
• Andamento Giornaliero dei Mancanti al Montaggio nel Mese
• OEE indicator in the last 5 days
• ecc.

Advanced configuration tools: FOR YOU!

Thanks to the role-based features, the user does not only have to opportunity to choose the most appropriate business role among the ones available in the default configuration system, but can also configure and personalize his role and his dashboards on his own. By using the "FOR YOU" Advanced Application Tools, in fact, each user can independently  manage and modify an existing configured role as well as build his own working panels, by selecting the features  he needs from the User Application Panel.

The FLEX Manufacturing Execution System (MES) has been designed and developed by Tecnest in order to provide a solution to all Manufacturing Execution processes' needs.

Complete

In compliance the international MESA model, the FLEX MES solution provides features to manage the 10 main pillars of MES: data acquisition, Dispatching Production Unit, resource allocation & status, labor management, process management, quality control, traceability and tracking, Control PLCs, warehouse management, performance analysis.
The central FLEX MES solution is connected to the Smart Factory Console of FLEX for Industry 4.0. This is a role-based web application for data collection and production process monitoring and to manage and analize the data and information collected from industrial machinery, operators and products within the Factory 4.0.

Real Time

FLEX MES is complementary to the FLEX APS (Advanced Planning & Scheduling) solution. The FLEX MES solution is, in fact, natively integrated with the APS one. These two modules create the FLEX PWE (Plan while Executing) solution which, thanks to an integrated data architecture,  provides a real-time synchronization between the planning and execution processes.
Thanks to this solution, it is possible to check (directly on the Gantt) the status of planned activities, while these are performed.  That means, it is possible to modify the production plan in real-time, as soon as it turns out to be necessary.

Flexible

FLEX MES can run as a stand-alone application or be linked to the other applications of FLEX Suite (APS solution and ERP Operations features).

It can also be easily integrated with third-part APS systems and with the company existing ERP (such as SAP, JDEdwards, Baan, Microsoft Dynamics, etc).