The release of MESA International's latest white paper shows how a chemical manufacturer used MESA's new model to develop an integrated manufacturing execution system throughout its organization.
"MES Harmonization in a Multi-Site, Multi-Country and Multi-Cultural Environment: Case Study of a Plant to Enterprise Solution," is now available to MESA Premium Members at its Web site, www.mesa.org. The white paper is co-branded with MESA International and Atos Origin.
The study focused on implementation of an MES system at Akzo Nobel Base Chemicals, a subsidiary of Akzo Nobel, a Netherlands-based healthcare products, coatings and chemicals with activities in 80 countries and more than 60,000 employees. On January 1, 2009, Akzo Nobel Base Chemicals changed its formal name to Akzo Nobel Industrial Chemicals.
Akzo Nobel Base Chemicals' goal was to create a uniform environment for all plants to be able to share plant information, create a single production accounting system and enable plant performance benchmarking. The MES system would focus on acquiring plant information, creating possibilities for plant performance benchmarking and harmonizing the plant IT infrastructure.
Using the MESA model as a baseline for setting up goals, objectives and procedures for the system, Akzo Nobel rolled out the system in one Dutch plant. Very soon, Akzo Nobel was able to easily adjust the system to manage data and share information among all 13 plants that were part of the harmonization effort. Today Akzo Nobel is better able to manage data across multiple plants and drive best practices and benchmarking using the MESA model and the available MES technology.
"The final conclusion of performing such a comprehensive MES harmonization program is that the program itself will lead to some quick wins, but it is these new opportunities that will lead to substantial wins in the long run," the report concluded. "You have to be persistent and persevere in completing the program. Such a program is a long-term strategy and in the end it will certainly pay off."
This paper is an example of how members and member companies can maximize the value out of their relationship with MESA. The end user applied MESA concepts and methodologies to the application, speeding the time to delivery and publicizing their success throughout the MESA community. Contact MESA today to find out more about how you and your organization can participate in this kind of work.
About MESA
MESA is an association of manufacturers/producers, solution providers and industry professionals, promoting innovation and best practices sharing, with a goal of delivering valuable knowledge around operations-centric enterprise solutions. MESA defines industry standard methodologies and approaches that allow manufacturers/producers to bridge execution excellence with enterprise level requirements. MESA's industry events, symposiums and publications help cultivate understanding, analysis and the exchange of strategies and innovation to achieve manufacturing leadership.
