MES - Machine Utilization

Kinetic ERP
1

Good afternoon,
I have been asked to look into getting machine/spindle utilization rates from each machine on the shop floor.

I think that is what MES is for, but we don’t currently use it.

Can anyone help point me in the right direction?

How can I tell if we already have this capability? Is this part of a module we would have to purchase?

Have you pulled this information from your machines? How’d you do it?

Thanks for your time!
Nate

EDIT: I can see under Site Config > Modules > Production > Machine MES, that we do not have the integration turned on. It seems I can turn this on in pilot, but I don’t know how to integrate with my machines. I am reading the Kinetic ERPMattecIntegration PDF now.

EDIT: The documentation looks like way more than what we need. Does using MES in Epicor assume that we are using some extra 3rd party MES application (is that what Mattec is?)
Can I just pull the machine utilization data from epicor without extra software?
Thanks again!

2

Hi Nate

We use the MES to just report quantities against a job. Other features, we are not using, allow you to start jobs and end jobs and it allows you to report total time i.e. i start 10:47 and finish 10:59 so 12mins.

You can do other things like request a move and scrap parts etc. I would have thought just developing BAQs against you current job would give you what you need.

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In simple terms, the regular Kinetic MES is a data collection system allowing various material and labor transaction entries on the shop floor. It also provides operation queues and some other things.

Advanced MES - the product known as Mattec previously - is a more complicated version of MES plus it contains additional capabilities when interfacing with PLC devices to collect data like spindle speeds, cycle counts, downtime, etc. This will cost you for the new license and implementation.

BUT… this is a very large endeavor.

There are a few folks here that have home-grown solutions - maybe they will chime in as well.

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Hi Nate,

Here are some interesting resource to have a look at:

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5

Does the regular Kinetic MES support pulling out utilization metrics from the machine? All of these other features sound great. However, at this time, I am just looking for some simple data extraction. Ideally, with no noticeable change to the machine operator.

We do have some other software that manages loading and reporting from the machines. I’ll look into that. I should be able to add a few g code lines to create/retrieve a utilization variable.

I see in the Site Config > Modules > Production > Machine MES that I need some credentials to integrate my machines with Epicor. Can anyone tell me a bit more about those credentials?
Thanks for all your input!
Nate

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The standard MES does not do anything with machine data. Id’ look into your other software, maybe write some of that to a UD table so you can use the data inside ERP.

Inside ERP, “Machine MES” means “keep this thing in synch with Mattec/Adv MES module.”

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