In these days when we are adapting to Industry 4.0 applications and talking about Industry 5.0 innovations, the importance and necessity of Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (MES) are increasing day by day. The Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, machine learning, which have entered our lives with Industry 4.0 and have an important place, are carried to another dimension with Industry 5.0. The process of transition from the Information Society to the Super Smart Society is accelerating with the technological developments. The virtual world and the real world are being made to work together, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is being utilized more and in different areas. Along with these developments, customer and related party expectations are also changing, and the competitiveness of companies is evaluated in direct proportion to the speed of adaptation, change and development they provide to these developments.
Today's technologies, resources and economic developments have changed the expectations of customers and end users, and have brought the understanding of competitiveness to a completely different dimension. Competitiveness criteria, which were previously explained with the understanding of quality and reasonable price, have now become criteria for the following concepts.
a) Favorable Price
b) Quality Product
c) Flexibility & Agility
d) On Time Delivery
e) Continuous Improvement
The effects of MES utilization on Competitiveness Criteria can be listed as follows;
a) Affordability:
The first step in price competition is to reduce the resources used and prevent inefficient use. Companies using MES can collect instant data from production lines and machines and prevent excessive and wasteful resource consumption with instant interventions. In addition, gains can be made by extending the life of the machine / equipment with the measures taken in line with the signals and data from the machine / production line. MES offers the opportunity to produce at an affordable price and to be more competitive in terms of price with the improvements obtained from resources.
b) Quality Product:
With MES
- Before production, it is ensured that the equipment, raw materials / semi-finished products required to produce quality products are connected to the production plan.
- Initial approval, process and final controls are designed and managed. Discard and scrap rates are analyzed and improvements are made, and defective parts are discarded in mass production.
- Corrective and preventive actions are initiated for faulty production and the process can be monitored.
c) Flexibility & Agility:
MES increases your competitiveness in terms of flexibility and agility by enabling you to adapt to changing demands instantly and implement changes quickly.
d) On Time Delivery:
MES enables you to accelerate your operations with the instant / historical data it provides from the planning stage to the delivery stage, and also prevents risks such as line downtime / production delays. With these advantages, it increases your competitiveness in terms of on-time delivery from the first moment of implementation.
e) Continuous Improvement:
Continuous improvement is the basic requirement and subject of all Quality Management Systems and customer requests. For continuous improvement, which is one of the building blocks of sustainability, which we have encountered a lot recently, companies need clear data about their operations and a good tracking system. Apart from the follow-up activity, MES provides us with precise data for improvements, instantly or retrospectively, and also acts as a repository for their effective use. As a result of the effective follow-up and use of this data, competitiveness in terms of Continuous Improvement is also increased.
MES application is the most fundamental step towards digitalization of companies. With all the advantages provided by the MES application, companies have further increased their competitiveness and market power in today's age of technology and competition.
