With Rockwell Automation’s Plex MES, BIC was able to transition from several fragmented pieces of software, some of which had been developed in house, to a fully integrated execution system. This alleviated the issue of many factories working with different software, servers, and operating systems, each of which yielded different levels of quality.
By simplifying the overall IT footprint, BIC achieved two things. Firstly, they now had one single MES solution that could drive most of the functions in the factory. Secondly, they were able to resolve the operational silos that caused some inefficiencies. This enabled the users to leverage the power of advanced machinery, share reliable information, and work with the same, accurate data.
Vakasi explains the benefits of this approach being that BIC now had full visibility over their entire operations. “We’re really discovering the way we do things, the way we document everything, which is great because it means we can find the right solutions that will directly benefit all our operators,” she said.
Making Improvements on a Global Scale
The BIC Plex MES solution covered end-to-end processes including 90 molding and assembly lines with various automation levels. Despite the plant’s scale and complexity, BIC achieved deployment of the MES Advance package out of the box and were able to improve shop-floor processes. During the initial go-live week, even with reduced production, daily recorded transactions saw thousands of produced containers, increasing to more than 100,000 finished good parts per single shift.
