Medical Design Briefs - July 2022 - 10

Manufacturing System Upgrade
managers, operators, planners, and quality
personnel. Managers and quality personnel
are particularly pleased with the
new level of information, control, and
visibility into the factory. Operators faced
a few challenges at first that the engineers
corrected. Now, operators also see benefits
of the system.
A Single Truth
Elekta saw benefit from the new MES in
having a single system collating and contextualizing
data from all manufacturing areas.
Prior to using the MES, the company had a
dashboard to see operations; however, that
view was not based on real- time information,
and operators could not " dig deeper "
into any collected data.
By installing the new MES, Elekta gained
enhanced visualization and control of
products, processes, specifications, and attributes.
In a single window with real-time,
up-to-date data, operators and engineers
can click to go deeper and gain new insights.
Advanced analytical capability translates
masses of real-time shop floor data
into accurate intelligence to enable them
to optimize and make strategic decisions
in manufacturing, quality, and for the wider
business. For example, Elekta can now
confidently price products to ensure profitability
without making products too
expensive.
Eweg reports, " Before, we made a
guess and measured with a stopwatch to
see how much time a step takes. Now
MES keeps track of everything, and it is
easy to report out the detail of how much
time it takes for each step and production
order. "
The MES also provides a flexible, configurable
dashboard to report on key
performance indicators (KPIs). For
Elekta, real-time KPIs include:
* Number of units to produce.
* Actual value-added time versus planned
cycle time.
* Standard hours per the ERP versus actual
labor hours.
* Production capacity in working employees
and available employees.
* On-time, in full (OTIF) completion of
orders - MES cannot close incomplete
orders.
* Cost of quality.
* Wait time between steps.
Broad-Based Visibility
Fig. 3 - Elekta's digital twin view and performance metrics in real time on one display.
Row Labels
17/Jan/19
18/Jan/19
21/Jan/19
28/Jan/19
4/Feb/19
5/Feb/19
Grand Total
6.00
5.00
4.00
3.00
2.00
1.00
0.00
32.75
32.80
32.85
32.90
32.95
33.00
33.05
33.10
Fig. 5 - The MES quality module shows results and trends in several ways.
10
33.15
33.20
33.25
Average of Test Result
32.9
33.0
33.0
33.0
33.0
32.9
33.0
Count of Paremeter
33.0
11
18
12
6
6
6
59.0
33.0
32.9
32.9
32.8
17/Jan/19
18/Jan/19
21/Jan/19
28/Jan/19
4/Feb/19
5/Feb/19
Count of Parameter
Average of Test Result
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
Kaak says, " The Critical Manufacturing
MES offers user-friendly interfaces
with graphical overviews of processes per
item with cycle times and standard
hours. The system provides comprehensive
process control and early issue alerts,
so we can respond before quality issues
arise. Flexible reporting and full eDHR
make it easy to see what is happening
and report on areas we are most interested
in as a business. The solution is scalable
and gives us the platform we need
to stay at the forefront of medtech manufacturing
into the future. "
The MES acts as a digital twin of the
production supply chain, according to
Elekta. Data from real-world, physical entities
such as equipment, workers, and
workstations flows into the virtual copy,
providing a correct understanding of
their state (see Figure 3). The current statuses
of the plant and specific work centers
are visible and color-coded in the
Critical Manufacturing FabLive module.
The MES addressed many of Elekta's
needs (see Figure 4). The system's configurable
GUIs provide operators with clear
work instructions and a view of only what
matters to them, including future tasks
and performance data.
Data for Traceability Without Paper
Before implementing the MES, Elekta's
manufacturing execution used " bills
of process " and paper work instructions.
Employees manually checked and signed
paper- based DHRs. Implementing the
MES transformed the company's operations
into a completely self-auditing electronic
system.
Quality is now built into the manufacturing
process, and the system automatwww.medicaldesignbriefs.com
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Medical Design Briefs - July 2022

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