UGS said that its Tecnomatix Production Management software effectively expands the value of product lifecycle management (PLM) by bridging the gaps between product design and production processes, enabling manufacturers to accelerate product launches, streamline regulatory compliance, facilitate lean manufacturing and implement continuous process improvement.
Production Management is part of UGS’ Tecnomatix suite of digital manufacturing solutions and includes Tecnomatix FactoryLink for shop-floor connectivity (SCADA/HMI), Tecnomatix MES (formerly Xfactory) for production monitoring and control, and Tecnomatix Production Management Portal for manufacturing event reporting and shop-floor intelligence.
Manufacturing execution systems (MES) have long been able to accept process definitions to establish manufacturing parameters that are monitored and reported back to management. However, the lack of a way to automatically link this production information back to the product and process definition through a common database can lead to a mismatch between ‘as planned’ and ‘as built’ configurations that can negatively impact launch dates and product quality.
UGS claims that Tecnomatix Production Management is the first solution to address this need by establishing a shared database between the MES and PLM systems. The company says that its integrated solution enables a smooth transition from planning to production and creates a closed loop feedback mechanism so that changes that occur in planning can be instantly synchronized with production, and feedback from production can suggest changes to product or process design.
