Complete digitization with Smart Factory

The increasing competitive pressure on national and international markets has required productivity increases and innovations for years. Continuous adjustment of both products and production is necessary to maintain and expand a leading position in the market. Comprehensive digitization is essential here. In this context, it is impossible to imagine the term Industry 4.0 without it. It represents the fourth industrial revolution — a new era in organizing and managing the entire value chain over the life cycle of products. An essential basis for this is the availability of up-to-date and comprehensible information at any location and at any time during the processes. Solutions such as gboMES from gbo datacomp GmbH have been converting operating data into relevant information for years. A future task is therefore to enable integration with other areas of the value chain.

The demands placed on the manufacturing industry — a cornerstone of the German economy — are constantly increasing. In addition to innovations from research and development, flexible manufacturing and a versatile factory are therefore required to productively and profitably produce small quantities and individual items in accordance with individual customer requirements. This is not possible without digitizing processes. Production is changing even before Industry 4.0. However, Industry 4.0 has given this change a name. The federal and EU funding measures send an additional socio-political signal. External factors such as energy change and price increases due to scarcity of resources are providing further impetus. These aspects have already been considered in GBomes.

Some talk about an MES “out of the box”, others talk about an MES “plug and play”, meaning the same thing: an MES solution tailored to the needs of SMEs, which can be implemented easily and cost-effectively and meets the requirements of SMEs. With a compact solution like gboMES Smart, the goals of a smart factory are even easier to achieve and digital manufacturing is no longer a major challenge.

Manufacturing execution systems (MES) for monitoring machines and systems are now standard for many companies. Factors such as transparency and traceability are decisive for competition. However, SMEs are still in their infancy when it comes to using Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). A purchase is worthwhile not only to optimize manufacturing processes. For SMEs, MES solutions are a first and important step towards Industry 4.0.