PILOT: MES: A Mobile Nerve Center of Your Factory

An efficient factory is like a healthy human body. In a thriving organism, every muscle and every organ has its own place and its own job to do. Everything – even the smallest process and the tiniest cell of a body has a meaning to it and helps in building a harmonious whole. But even a creation as masterful as a human body needs a reliant commander – a brain. Without a healthy brain, there is no productivity – life becomes very difficult for a human organism.

Strikingly similar is the way any factory works. Built from hundreds of machines and devices, each of them having specific functions and tasks. But they wouldn’t be able to work efficiently without the guidance of the command center – the brain of a factory which is a well-suited Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software suite.

In this article, we’ll introduce you to a project that can change your perspective on productivity improvement in your factory forever.

 

PILOT: MES: A Mobile Nerve Center of Your Factory

PILOT: MES is a long-term joint project of SolDevelo and FELTEN, that we have been working on for many years, constantly developing it and adjusting to specific needs of each client. Its main goal is to enable a fully-digitalized future-oriented production in factories all around the world.

With our innovative application PILOT: Mobile it’s even easier to achieve a perfect control over manufacture.

How does it work?

It was a client suggestion that led to us developing a mobile version of PILOT. The client requested that the software be NFC compatible which is a contactless technology that allows to read the data stored on a chip. The data can only be read if a worker brings the device close to the chip. This way it ensures that, an employee has to be at a specific location when performing the desired task – especially important when it comes to maintenance or security tasks. It allows one to have control over every process in a factory. It also enables monitoring of all employees’ tasks.

 

What does it do?

Pilot allows you to manage the crucial parts of production: execution, performance, planning, warehouse, product quality, weighing, digital checklist, and more. Using one application, you can gain control over the whole factory. Pilot Mobile can connect to independent, wireless devices, provide real-time information, store data and notice any errors as soon as they occur, giving a chance for a quick repair and minimizing the loss.

The application itself provides digital questionnaires, mainly to ensure quality, aide in maintenance or for security tasks. Thanks to NFC technology, certain parts of the questionnaires will not be available, if an employee does not actually come close to the machine he is supposed to check, and scan the tag attached to it. This way the manager can be always sure that the work gets done correctly and nothing is omitted or overlooked.

What problems does it solve?

Improving Efficiency 

Improving efficiency is undoubtedly one of the most important aspirations of any manufacturer. It is difficult to achieve better results, while at the same time reducing costs of production. As challenging as it might be, with the help of modern technology nothing is impossible. Digitalizing the processes and the workflows is one of the best ways to optimize your production. Software adjusted to the specific needs of every client can become a game changer on a way to growth and improvement. Using Pilot, you can save time, money, and material by measuring and analyzing performance, managing tasks in the most efficient way, and storing the history of data for future reference or compliance purposes. 

Staff Shortages

One of the problems that the manufacturing industry faces these days is staff shortages. Rapid growth of production leads to increased demand for new skilled workers. Unfortunately, due to an aging workforce, many job vacancies stay unfilled. 

Incorporating Pilot into your work might be a great help in solving this problem. Our application allows you to take care of many tasks automatically. In factories, there is still a need for human workers. However, having many of the tasks handled by Pilot, you can invest more time and resources into training highly qualified personnel to deal with crucial matters. It will result in higher quality of your products and higher productivity of your workforce.

Furthermore, digitalizing certain parts of your production process allows you to minimize the risk of accidents especially in sectors where highly dangerous conditions (high temperatures, noxious chemicals, etc.) are present. 

Inventory and Supply Chain Management 

Managing your inventory is a huge challenge. While neglecting this part of the manufacturing process can result in financial losses, doing it correctly can greatly increase your profit. Dealing with massive amounts of data and constantly analyzing them without a proper tool is both expensive and inefficient.

Pilot can come as a great help in tracking and managing the supply chain, providing you with real-time data, so that nothing escapes your attention. It makes sure you are always up to date with the inventory levels. It also immediately informs you of any issues that require intervention.

Features and Benefits of Using PILOT: MES

PILOT: MES consists of many features, answering various needs of our clients. Here are the main features as well as the possible benefits coming from using each one of them:

Our clients

PILOT: MES has become a helpful or even crucial tool with more than 100 installations so far, providing them with smart and efficient solutions to every problem that emerges. We care about each and every client, tailoring modules and plugins especially for their individual needs. To make sure that our product stays as useful and efficient as possible, we always keep an eye on its functionality, offering constant fixes and adjustments, to suit your requirements.

We are working with a variety of companies from different economic sectors. Our clients  are producing foodstuff, medication, cosmetics, cleaning products, dairy products and more. Flexibility of our application makes it possible to adjust it to any kind of needs.

 

Technologies used

Pilot is written in Java and AngularJS. In the mobile version, we also use the latest technologies, such as the Cordova framework. It allows us to access native functionalities of devices (such as an NFC scanner or a camera) through various plugins, and then compile them for various platforms. PILOT: Mobile can run on any device. We support iOS, Windows and Android.

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