MES in Tobacco Enterprises and Its Application

Foreword

The competition in the current cigarette market is becoming increasingly fierce. To win the market and users, it is necessary to comprehensively improve the overall competitiveness of enterprises. Information integration and system integration are comprehensive technologies for improving enterprise competitiveness in the information age. Although many tobacco companies have improved their production management level and market competitiveness by continuously improving the automation level of production lines and introducing advanced enterprise-level management information systems (such as MRPⅡ, ERP, etc.), MRPⅡ/ERP is mainly for enterprise resource planning. It cannot comprehensively, in real time and accurately reflect the status information and production data of the equipment on the production site. At the same time, the on-site production equipment control system cannot transmit real-time production information to the upper-level information management system. This "information silo" has become a bottleneck for the smooth implementation of enterprise ERP and other upper-level management systems. Enterprises are unable to react in real time, resulting in the lack of effective real-time information support from the lower level for upper-level planning and the lack of upper-level optimization scheduling and coordination in the lower-level control links [1]. How to effectively combine advanced production line control systems and enterprise-level production management information systems and build a bridge between them to provide information conversion is an urgent problem to be solved in enterprise informatization construction. Production Execution System (MES) can solve this problem. MES (Manufacturing Execution System) is the execution layer between the planning layer and the shop floor operation control system (SFC), primarily responsible for production management and scheduling. It utilizes comprehensive, real-time, and accurate data to optimize the entire production process from order placement to product completion. The tobacco industry is a typical process manufacturing industry with a high degree of equipment automation. To fully leverage the production capacity of advanced equipment, optimize production behavior, and comprehensively improve the level of enterprise information management, the construction and application of MES is particularly important. This paper, based on this idea and considering the current state and characteristics of information technology in tobacco enterprises, proposes the construction and application of MES for tobacco companies.

1. Current Status and Characteristics of Information Technology and Production Management in Tobacco Enterprises

With the continuous deepening and development of informatization in tobacco enterprises, "promoting industrialization through informatization" has become an inevitable choice for tobacco enterprises to improve their production and operation levels. In terms of management informatization, ERP and other information management software are widely used in enterprise management, resulting in certain management benefits. Furthermore, the entire production process in tobacco enterprises is highly automated. Over the long term, automation technology has been widely applied, achieving basic and process automation, and forming relatively independent systems. However, each system has its own processing logic, database, data model, and communication mechanism, forming "information silos" that lack necessary integration, information resource sharing, and unified management of the production process. More importantly, production process information, centered on process control and focusing on optimizing process parameters, is far from being integrated with ERP, which focuses on process management and resource allocation optimization. ERP/MIS systems often fail to function due to a lack of accurate and real-time data, thus preventing the effective utilization of information resources from automated systems. Among the resources that ERP systems focus on, production process information is consistently "offline" within the enterprise's management system. This information cannot be continuously, automatically, or completely reflected in the management system. This creates a gap in information flow between the management information system and the production control system. In cigarette manufacturing enterprises, this is a significant "chasm" affecting the overall level of enterprise informatization.

In addition, there are some common problems in the production management of cigarette enterprises: production planning and production organization fluctuate greatly with market demand; production information transmission technology and means are backward and information feedback is not timely; there are too many errors and omissions in production information and loopholes in the management of controlled documents; and the traceability of products is poor. The Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is a workshop-level management information system located between the upper-level planning management system and the lower-level production process control system [2]. It is an information bridge and link connecting the two and plays an important role in the informatization of tobacco enterprises.

2. Construction Goals and Structure of MES in Tobacco Enterprises

In tobacco companies, the main goals of MES (Manufacturing Execution System) construction are:

(1) Establish a unified production command and dispatch platform.
(2) Realize online monitoring of production process and product quality, improve rapid response capability, and develop production management from passive to proactive real-time management system with prevention as the main focus and online control.
(3) Provide online quality tracking control and early warning prompts to promote the transformation of quality management concepts and gradually transition the quality management model from sampling inspection to a prevention-oriented and real-time control model.
(4) Promote the optimization of quality management standards to make quality control more precise.
(5) Strengthen the application of statistical analysis methods and tools to better serve management at all levels.
(6) Achieve integration with other systems. When tobacco companies introduce MES into their operational system, they need to improve their management foundation first, select a suitable MES software system according to their own situation, and adopt scientific implementation methods to ensure that MES operates normally and plays its role effectively.

First, companies need to improve their own management systems:

(1) Fixed location and improved workshop environment. Skilled workers streamline logistics through fixed location management, providing a good workshop environment for the implementation of MES.
(2) Reasonable division of labor and clear responsibilities. The business processes of the enterprise should be reasonably reorganized, overlapping functional departments should be removed, ineffective work should be reduced, and reasonable division of labor and clear responsibilities should be established. This can not only simplify the permission settings and process control of MES software, but also ensure the timeliness of information processing, and provide organizational guarantee for the implementation of MES.
(3) Provide personnel assurance. Provide adequate training to relevant personnel.

Secondly, before the hardware is installed and the MES system is running, a series of basic data need to be prepared and entered, and a lot of analysis and research work needs to be done on the basic data that is missing or not yet clearly defined.

Furthermore, based on the simulation operation, the formulation of work procedures, and the entry of basic data, each module of the system should be tested item by item. During the test run, it is necessary to operate in both the original manual management mode and the MES management mode.

In addition, cigarette companies need to pay attention to several issues when building MES: they should focus on the characteristics of process production enterprises; they should emphasize the integration of the system and avoid information silos; they should pay attention to the different focuses of the same modules; they should do a good job of connecting MES and ERP; and they should attach importance to the accumulation of phased results.

After properly carrying out the preliminary work for MES, based on the characteristics of tobacco enterprises, the functional modules of the tobacco enterprise MES are mainly constructed, including nine major functional modules: data acquisition, real-time monitoring and alarm, production planning and scheduling, equipment maintenance management, process quality control, basic data and document management, workshop management, material tracking and statistical analysis.

(1) Data acquisition: The data acquisition system provides MES with comprehensive, real-time and accurate field data. At the same time, various standard documents, work instructions, notification and scheduling instructions are transmitted to each equipment site through MES to guide various on-site operations.
(2) Real-time monitoring and alarm: Based on the data collection of the whole plant, a highly integrated system monitoring platform is used to monitor the production status of each process in real time, realize online monitoring of production process, product quality and equipment status, and establish various online control parameter prevention alarm mechanisms to detect abnormalities, promptly alarm, and improve rapid response capability.
(3) Production planning and scheduling: Based on the production and sales plan, realize the production capacity balance calculation and alarm, automatic generation and issuance of the rolling and packaging operation plan, and compilation, adjustment and issuance of the yarn making operation plan to ensure that the production plan is implemented smoothly according to the time and schedule requirements.
(4) Equipment maintenance management: Equipment maintenance management includes equipment operation management, equipment preventive maintenance management, equipment inspection (point inspection) management, emergency repair management, spare parts management and spare parts consumption analysis, etc.
(5) Process Quality Control: Based on quality standards, real-time inspection and analysis of production process data are conducted to ensure product quality, and quality defect information is fed back to the production site in real time so that timely improvement measures can be taken. It has functions such as quality data tracking, management and analysis.
(6) Basic data and document management: including the maintenance and query of quality standards, process control parameters, maintenance items, basic equipment information and other basic data.
(7) Workshop cost management: Based on the collected data, the assessment and management of production costs are realized.
(8) Material tracking: Provides tracking functions for raw material consumption and batches.
(9) Statistical analysis: Based on on-site data, conduct statistical analysis on information such as production, equipment, quality, and consumption, continuously improve quality control standards, optimize production organization, provide equipment support capabilities, and reduce raw material consumption.

3. Analysis of Data Acquisition Technology for Roll Packaging Equipment

Data acquisition is a fundamental function of MES. We employ different data acquisition technologies and methods to address the varying characteristics of different roll-to-roll (RTL) devices.

(1) For the PROTOS cigarette machine, without changing the current SRM weight control system, the IT80 display is replaced with an industrial computer. The system adopts a combination of signal acquisition from the equipment terminal block and data extraction from the industrial computer. This not only realizes the real-time acquisition of various data on the original IT80, but also the acquisition of consumption data such as filter rod, paper roll, and tipping paper. At the same time, the interfaces on the original display terminal are localized into Chinese.
(2) For the PASSIM70/PASSIM80 cigarette making machine, firstly, production data acquisition: relevant production data is extracted in real time from the MAID-N system/industrial control computer by a dedicated intelligent communication system. For production data not collected in the MAID-N system/industrial control computer, such as paper rolls, filter rods, and tipping paper, the corresponding sensor signals are extracted to achieve complete data acquisition. Secondly, equipment operation status acquisition: equipment operation status data is directly extracted from various statistical data in the MAID-N system/industrial control computer.
(3) For the GDX2 packaging machine controlled by PLC, the equipment itself has data acquisition function, and various field data can be displayed in real time on the human-machine interaction terminal OPC. By dissecting the communication protocol GDLAN between the GD main controller and OPC, various field data are extracted from the GD main controller (SERVER). Without adding any external sensors, real-time acquisition of various field data such as the main production and consumption data of the equipment, equipment status data, reasons for fault shutdown, and rejection of cigarettes (packs) is realized. The acquired data is complete and has strong real-time performance.
(4) For GDX2 that is not controlled by PLC, a combination of signal acquisition from equipment terminal blocks and data extraction from MICROⅡ ​​network is adopted to realize real-time acquisition of field data.
(5) For GDX1 (soft packaging machine), use PLC to collect relevant sensor information or process digital or pulse signals, establish corresponding data processing models, and thus obtain corresponding production statistics and equipment operation status information.
(6) For the B1 packaging machine, since the equipment itself does not have a complete data acquisition function, in order to realize production data acquisition, the method of extracting some of its sensor signals and installing external sensors is adopted; the equipment operation status collection method is as follows: First, the display in its electrical cabinet is translated into Chinese and the equipment operation information displayed on it is extracted; Second, the indicator light signals on its three equipment operation prompt boards are collected and the equipment operation status is statistically analyzed.

4. Exploring the Development Trends of MES

4.1 Benefits of Implementing MES

MES is a production management technology and real-time information system oriented towards the shop floor level. It is a basic technical means to implement the enterprise's agile manufacturing strategy and realize the agile production of the shop floor. Its application has brought huge economic benefits to enterprises. The following statistics are determined by the International MES Association through survey and research and have sufficient basis [3]: average reduction of manufacturing cycle time by 45%; average reduction of data input time by 75%; average reduction of semi-finished products (WIP) by 24%; average reduction of paper work prepared for shift handover by 61%; average reduction of guidance time by 27%; average reduction of losses caused by paper work and design blueprints by 56%; average reduction of product defects by 18%.

4.2 Challenges Faced by MES

* How to create a win-win situation for the company and enterprise when implementing an MES project.
* There are significant differences in the application of MES across different industries.
* Conflicts regarding the maintenance of the MES system.
Establishing a common language is not an easy task when integrating MES.
* Establish a common communication protocol.
* Establish an effective management change mechanism.
* Accurately assess the root cause of the problem.
* Perform quantitative analysis and configuration of transaction load and data model requirements.

4.3 Development Trends of MES

As enterprise production models gradually develop towards agile manufacturing, the implementation of business process reengineering (BPR), the heterogeneity of enterprise environments, and the formation of dynamic alliances between enterprises will all place higher demands on MES. Traditional MES solutions are difficult to adapt to the requirements of agile manufacturing. At the same time, the development of information technology and the competitive needs of manufacturing enterprises will also drive the continuous progress of MES application technology. MES for agile manufacturing should not only be reasonably priced, but also have good integratability, configurability, adaptability, extensibility, and reliability [4]. Therefore, many organizations and research institutions abroad have begun to study MES for agile manufacturing.

5. Conclusion

(1) MES plays a crucial role in the entire enterprise information integration system, serving as a bridge for information communication between production and management activities. For ERP, without MES, it is impossible to organize, manage, and optimize production according to market demands.
(2) To ensure a quick return on investment in enterprise information technology networks, starting with MES is a wise choice. However, the implementation of MES requires proper planning and detailed analysis.
(3) The development and application of MES is a long process. To achieve long-term success, it is necessary to transform the manufacturing environment, obtain organized support, and make adaptive changes to the management mechanism.
(4) With the development of computer support technology, it has become possible to develop more modular and flexible MES, and the cost of implementing and maintaining MES has been greatly reduced. Therefore, as the core of process CIMS, MES has a good application prospect in the comprehensive automation process of process industry enterprises.

References:

[1] Wu Cheng (ed.). Introduction to Modern Integrated Manufacturing Systems: Concepts, Methods, Technologies and Applications [M]. Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, Springer, 2002.6.
[2] MESA International. MES Explained: A High LevelVision[C]. MESA International White Paper6, 1997.
[3] Michael mcClellan. Applying Manufacturing ExecuionSystems[M]. US: CRC Press, 1997.
[4] Yu Haibin, Zhu Yunlong. Integrable Manufacturing Execution Systems [J]. Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems (CIMS), 2000, 6(6): 1-6.