Early investment in simulation gives 6-fold return

The Manufacturer Live 2004 has the most powerful message in today's manufacturing marketplace: investment in plant and process simulation early in the planning process can repay itself sixfold

Tecnomatix demonstrates the cost savings and efficiency improvements made possible by up-front plant and process simulation to manufacturers.

Tecnomatix comes to The Manufacturer Live 2004 with one of the most powerful messages in today's manufacturing marketplace: a GBP1 investment in plant and process simulation early in the planning process can repay itself sixfold.

Peter Jones, simulation engineer at Swindon Pressings, will be backing up the claim in a workshop (at 1pm on Thursday 16th September in the IT in Manufacturing zone) in which he will describe how, following the introduction of simulation as a routine part of capacity planning, his company shaved 20% off a new project's total budget by avoiding unnecessary resources while making an additional GBP57,000 annual saving.

The Manufacturer Live also sees the first UK showing of a new version, (Version 3.0) of Xfactory, the Tecnomatix manufacturing execution system.

With new features including a self-contained track and trace module, improved genealogical reporting, enhanced communications and customisation capabilities and faster implementation, Xfactory 3.0 offers greater flexibility and scaleability than ever before.

eM-Plant, the product used by Swindon Pressings, will be among several mechanical and shopfloor products on show on the Tecnomatix stand (5).

Staff will be explaining how simulation at the planning stage is a key element in ensuring that the final processes, as well as the plant itself, are optimised before they go on-line - and sometimes before they come off the drawing board.

The benefits to manufacturers include faster new product introductions, less plant or equipment down time, less product rework at a time when deadlines are approaching and higher product quality.

This can translate into lower overheads, higher profits, improved company reputation and expanding order books.

Tecnomatix Mechanical Division will be focussing especially on eM-Plant, eM-Engineer, eM-Sequencer and eM-Planner.

As well as enabling the rapid installation of new lines, these products can be used to modify or optimise throughput in existing facilities.

The work can be done offline, so does not interfere with current production.

eM-Plant allows users to model and simulate production facilities so as to optimise material flow, resource utilisation and logistics.

It can be used for all levels of plant planning from international production facilities to local plants and individual lines.

eM-Engineer enables users to plan, model, visualise, simulate and optimise their manufacturing processes.

eM-Sequencer creates schedules by setting priorities based on the availability of resources and capacity needed to fulfil customer order commitments.

eM-Planner is for planning, analysing and managing manufacturing processes throughout the enterprise.

With its ability to store and capture processes and process data, this is sold as the backbone for many of the other products, particularly eM-Plant.

It also sits beneath other Tecnomatix products for pre-planning, detail engineering and shop floor implementation, each of which has different target segments.

Also on show will be FactoryLink and Xfactory, from the Tecnomatix Shop Floor Division.

FactoryLink is one of the world's leading supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, with more than 75,000 users worldwide.

It monitors, supervises and controls processes, providing the knowledge and control needed to perfect companies' products and processes.

It is highly scaleable and can be used in virtually any organisation, from the very small to the multi-site, multi-national.

Designed to manage day-to-day plant operations and production process integration with trading partners, Xfactory captures real-time manufacturing data from the shop floor and communicates it to the people and systems that need it, when they need it.

Key among the new features is the inclusion of the Xfactory Traceability Solution (XTS).

This provides a simple, self-contained track and trace system as well as allowing Xfactory information to be shared over the Internet - across an extended enterprise, for example.

In addition, the new version of the software introduces defect tracking, an enhanced genealogy explorer and a number of features that make Xfactory implementation even faster than before - some solutions can now be put together overnight.

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