How Can The MES System Eliminate Inefficiency In Automotive Sheet Metal Manufacturing?
In the chain of automobile manufacturing, sheet metal is like the forger of "skeleton", and its efficiency and quality are directly related to the quality and delivery speed of the whole vehicle. However, under the traditional management mode, information lag, process "black box", resource waste...are they still bothering your sheet metal workshop? It's time to let MES system inject intelligence into your sheet metal manufacturing! What value can MES system bring? If we summarize it in a concise way, where should we start?
What value can the MES system bring
The following content is a conversation with industry experts about the value of MES systems. "I think the value of MES systems to the manufacturing industry is mainly reflected in three aspects, which are like the three fulcrums of a three-legged stool." - Dan Meier.
1.Consistency
Ensure that each production follows the same standards. From the perspective of the MES system, we need to clearly define the process flow, the delivery of processing equipment on demand, the configuration of program parameters according to standards, and the process recipe parameters to ensure the consistency of each execution.
2.Improve production efficiency
Under the premise of ensuring consistency, improving production efficiency is the part of production efficiency. How to improve production efficiency? Specifically, it includes shortening the production cycle, optimizing the process time, and identifying and alleviating bottlenecks.
3.Ensure product quality
Ensure product quality while achieving consistency and high-speed mass production. Quality must be improved because defective products in high-speed mass production can have serious consequences.
Dan Meier compares smart manufacturing to a three-legged stool: many systems handle different areas, but true value comes from their integrated coordination. Beyond MES and factory productivity, automated decisions must support business goals—mainly delivering quality products and ensuring customer profitability. This requires a multi-dimensional evaluation system, with two core indicators: approaching zero defects and maximizing ROI on assets, equipment, personnel, and processes.
David Hanny emphasizes that smart manufacturing must create business value through system integration, multi-platform collaboration, and advanced technologies that boost efficiency. Real-time decision-making helps improve responsiveness and predictability, as Madhav Kidambi highlights.
Selim Nahas points out that SmartFactory enables production otherwise impossible or unsustainable with traditional methods. Success depends on personnel awareness, technical integration, scalability, and cost control. Ultimately, SmartFactory balances people, technology, and economics—the key pillars for evaluating any system.
Pain points of traditional sheet metal management
1.Scheduling Chaos
Plans can’t keep up with changes? Orders are frequently inserted, manual production scheduling is like “walking on a tightrope”, equipment is unevenly busy, and bottleneck processes are difficult to predict.
2.Unclear Production Progress
Is the progress unclear? Which process has a certain workpiece been transferred to? Is there any delay? What is the quality inspection result? All rely on manual reporting, which is delayed and prone to errors.
3.Difficult Quality Traceability
Is quality tracing like "finding a needle in a haystack"? If you find a sheet metal part that is defective, and you want to trace which equipment, which operator, or which batch of materials caused the problem? It is time-consuming and laborious to search through paper records, and you may even have no way to find it.
4.Unplanned Equipment Downtime
Equipment is put into operation with "defects"? Equipment is shut down for maintenance only after it breaks down, and the maintenance response is slow, resulting in large losses from unplanned downtime.
5.Opaque Material Flow
Does the material flow depend on workers' "shouting"? The opaque inventory of raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products can easily lead to backlogs or shortages, affecting production continuity.
6.Inaccurate Cost Accounting
Cost accounting depends entirely on manual estimation? It is difficult to accurately count labor hours, equipment energy consumption, and material consumption, and cost control lacks data support. These pain points not only reduce efficiency and increase costs, but are also likely to affect product quality and on-time delivery capabilities.
Automotive sheet metal MES empowers intelligent manufacturing
MES (Manufacturing Execution System) is the "nerve" that connects the upper-level planning (ERP) of the enterprise with the lower-level automation equipment (PLC/CNC). It has tailored a set of digital, transparent and intelligent management solutions for sheet metal workshops:
1.Intelligent production scheduling and dynamic dispatch
MES automatically optimizes scheduling based on equipment capacity, mold status, material completeness, and order priority, and responds to changes such as inserted orders and equipment failures in real time, dynamically adjusting task allocation. Result: Improved equipment utilization, early warning of bottleneck processes, and more controllable delivery dates.
2.Transparent traceability of the entire process
Through barcode/RFID/equipment connection, the process flow, processing parameters (such as stamping, bending angle), operators, quality inspection results, timestamp and other data of each sheet metal part (or batch) are collected in real time. Result: Managers can "see" the dynamics of the workshop at every moment in the office; any quality problem can be traced back to the source in seconds, with clear responsibilities and evidence for improvement.
3.Lean Material Management
MES accurately monitors the storage, use, and consumption of raw materials, as well as the flow and inventory status of semi-finished products and finished products between various processes. Result: Achieve "JIT" lean management of materials, reduce inventory occupancy, and avoid shutdowns due to lack of materials.
4.Device interconnection and health management
MES integrates key equipment such as CNC punching machines, bending machines, and laser cutting machines, and monitors the equipment's operating status (startup, operation, shutdown, reminders) and OEE (overall equipment efficiency) in real time. Results: Preventive maintenance based on data reduces sudden failures; accurately analyzes the causes of equipment efficiency loss (such as waiting for materials, debugging, and failures), makes targeted changes, and improves OEE.
5.Paperless operation and quality management
The work instructions, drawings, and process parameters are electronically pushed to the workstation terminal or equipment display screen. The quality inspection process is standardized and digitized, and the inspection results are entered into the system in real time to automatically generate reports. Result: Reduce human errors and improve operational standardization; Real-time analysis of quality data and SPC process control.
6.Accurate data drives decision making
MES automatically generates a variety of production reports: order progress, production efficiency, equipment OEE, quality pass rate, material consumption, working time statistics, etc. Result: Managers say goodbye to "making decisions based on their own ideas" and make production decisions, cost accounting and continuous changes based on real-time and accurate data.
True value: Automotive sheet metal companies’ earnings jump
Deploying the automotive sheet metal MES system not only improves efficiency, but also brings about a qualitative change in comprehensive competitiveness:
1.Efficiency surges
Equipment utilization rate increased by 15%-30%, and production cycle was shortened by 20%-40%.
2.Quality Leap
The process controllability is enhanced, the first-time pass rate is significantly improved, and the quality loss cost is greatly reduced.
3.Cost Optimization
Reduce work-in-process backlog, reduce material waste, optimize manpower allocation, reduce equipment downtime losses, and reduce overall costs.
4.Delivery guarantee
Plans are more accurate, processes are more transparent, responses to changes are more agile, and the on-time delivery rate for customers is significantly improved.
5.Management upgrades
Achieve data-driven lean management and improve overall operational level and decision-making capabilities.
Choosing the right sheet metal MES: key considerations
Not all MES are suitable for the automotive sheet metal industry. When choosing, you need to pay attention to:
1.Industry adaptability
Do you understand sheet metal processes (punching, shearing, folding, welding, riveting, etc.) and business processes? Can you support special needs such as complex mold management and nesting optimization?
2.Equipment integration capabilities
Can it seamlessly connect to mainstream brands of CNC punching machines, bending machines, laser cutting machines, robots, etc.?
3.Traceability
Is it possible to achieve traceability of the entire process from raw materials to finished products and at the key process parameter level?
4.Flexibility and scalability
Can it adapt to the production mode of multiple varieties, small batches, and frequent orders? Can it be flexibly expanded as the business develops?
5.Implementation and service capabilities
Does the supplier have extensive experience in implementing MES in the automotive industry? Is the localized service support timely and reliable?
Conclusão
The intelligent transformation of automobile sheet metal manufacturing is an inevitable trend. The MES system is no longer exclusive to large enterprises, but is the only way for the majority of automobile sheet metal enterprises to enhance their core competitiveness and move towards high-quality development. Say goodbye to the "blind, busy, confused" traditional management, embrace the "transparency and controllability" brought by MES, and make your sheet metal workshop a powerful engine driving vehicle manufacturing!
Sobre nós
A Durmapress é especializada na conceção, fabrico e venda de vários equipamentos de processamento de metal, incluindo máquinas de dobragem, tesouras, punções, máquinas de corte a laser, etc. A empresa foi fundada em 2000. Com anos de experiência e acumulação de tecnologia. DurmaPress tornou-se uma das marcas bem conhecidas na indústria de máquinas de processamento de metal da China.
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