SMART MANUFACTURING
“ THE PANDEMIC HAS SHOWN COMPANIES THE VALUE OF BEING AGILE AND DEPLOYING SOLUTIONS THAT FORTIFIED THEIR ORGANISATIONS SO COVID- 19 DIDN ’ T NEGATIVELY IMPACT THEIR BUSINESS ”
JOE GERSTL DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT , GE DIGITAL
Why is Smart MES important for manufacturers ? When asked this question , Gerstl emphasises that “ it ’ s so important for today ’ s manufacturing companies that don ’ t want to be left behind . Many of our customers have been deploying our leading-edge solutions for years and were well prepared for what COVID-19 brought .”
However , “ some needed to quickly add to or modify their solutions to address the needs of a more mobile and distanced workforce . Smart MES solutions like Plant Applications enable manufacturers to be flexible because it ships with out of the box , ‘ mobile first ’, vertical user experiences ( UX ) for process , assembly , and component manufacturers . These UXs are made up of ‘ widgets ’ ( components ) that can be reconfigured into customer / role specific screens using a rapid application development environment . Since these are mobile ready , operators can have their own tablets instead of a shared kiosk which lets them stay spread out and safe in terms of the virus .”
Reflecting on the impact of the pandemic , Gerstl states that “ ultimately , the pandemic has shown companies the value of being agile and deploying solutions that fortified their organisations so COVID-19 didn ’ t negatively impact their business .”
The challenges of adopting Smart MES solutions Speaking with Gerstl back in July 2020 , he explained some of the key challenges when it comes to the adoption of smart MES solutions , “ aging infrastructures , greater productivity challenges and tighter budgets need to be considered as profitability pressures rise . What ’ s more , with budget restrictions , resources for plant systems are often limited , making it difficult to carry out
Joe Gerstl Director of Product Management Manufacturingglobal at GE Digital . com 61