In the modern metal fabrication shop, the high-mix, low-volume scenario is no longer a challenge – it’s the standard way of operating. Customers need their parts yesterday while the complexity of their orders has only risen. As the senior applications engineer for tube lasers at BLM GROUP USA, Evan Shirey hears about the operating environment customers work within on a regular basis.
“We’re seeing a lot more complexity in our customers’ work along with product mixes and volumes that go up and down,” he says. “Customers are dealing with tighter delivery windows and trying their best to meet deadlines and work through backlogs. On top of that, finding people to run the equipment puts a lot of pressure on the shop floor as they’re also trying to be more responsive, more efficient and better positioned to handle all of those needs.”
Meanwhile, Shirey hears about the old-school method of managing production that is still in place at some customer locations. To know which jobs to run and which jobs are associated with which orders, these customers still rely on manual spreadsheets and paper “travelers,” as Shirey refers to the printouts from the front office that are delivered to operators on the shop floor.
“That creates a lot of back and forth between the ERP system and the shop floor as decisions are made around due dates and priorities and what can realistically be processed on the equipment,” he says.
On busy days – which is basically any day of the week that ends in “y” – those bottlenecks and data silos are the norm. Therefore, to stay competitive – and stay sane – fabricators are looking for smarter ways to sync the equipment on their shop floors with their planning departments in the front office.
Critical connection
Enter BLM GROUP’s Prometheus, a manufacturing execution system (MES) designed to streamline the flow of data between the front office where orders originate and the shop floor where orders become actual parts. The system is named after the Greek Titan Prometheus whose name means “forethinker.” Looking at it from a high level, the system helps fabricators understand what’s happening today on their shop floors and what will happen in the future. Shirey explains the role of Prometheus and how it serves as a critical link between front-office planning and shop floor reality.
“Prometheus lives between the front office and the shop floor, acting as an execution system, meaning it isn’t just for planning,” he says. “Jobs originate from the ERP system as a work order and Prometheus receives that information and translates it into an actual production job, which is aligned with a machine’s capabilities and the required material.
“Once that’s released, Prometheus coordinates the execution by assigning the jobs and tracking progress in real time,” he continues. “In other words, as those orders and parts are being produced, operators, supervisors and management are receiving feedback in real time to see what’s running, what’s queued and what was actually produced without relying on manual updates or spreadsheets – that old-school way of tracking production.”
Automated data flow
One of the most significant hurdles of this outdated way of working is the “manual gap” between the ERP system and the machine. Prometheus, however, eliminates the need for operators to manually set up batches or enter part quantities that already exist in the ERP database. And fortunately, it isn’t a heavy lift to make the connection between these two worlds.
“Prometheus is designed to complement the ERP system and not replace it, so the ERP system continues to maintain order and customer information while Prometheus focuses on the execution of that work on the shop floor,” Shirey says. “The integration is handled through a web services interface, which sends standardized data from the ERP system that Prometheus can then read and translate into production orders, part quantities and priorities. Once that connection is established, it’s bi-directional, meaning Prometheus can also feed data back to the ERP system, such as actual production results, material usage and machine status.”
Integrations come in two types: a basic integration where a Prometheus user finalizes jobs before they’re sent to the machine or a full integration where the ERP system gives Prometheus the pertinent information to create a nest and run the job.
“Some customers only want to send the part number and quantity from their ERP and handle the rest at the machine level,” Shirey explains, “but others don’t want to touch anything at all. It really depends on how far they want to take it.”
Regardless of the level of integration, fabricators are able to reduce the risk of human error and the time-consuming back and forth between the front office and the machine. On top of that, once a job is complete, the front office automatically receives production results, material usage and machine status to use for reporting purposes and inventory management.
“You can take that information and determine where bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the process lie,” Shirey says. “You can also use the data to compare job run-time expectations to the actual processing times to improve your quoting process.”
Distinct data
Today’s fabricators have to juggle a lot – work that is complex and varying, a labor market that is squeezed almost dry and economic issues that change by the minute. On top of that, they also have to juggle a lot of data coming from the front office and the shop floor. Shirey says that while there’s a lot of information to manage, the most successful integrations are the ones that take data into consideration first.
“The customers that start with a well-defined process and understand what information they want to utilize will have the most success,” he says. “When they can define what data they want to release with their orders, what information they want to receive back and which metrics are important for production tracking, they’re going to do well.”
As many fabricators know, however, collecting data is only part of the equation. The value is in how it’s analyzed, put into context and acted upon. Fortunately, Prometheus can help in that regard.
“The system has a built-in dashboard that tracks machine performance and gives customers visibility into what’s happening on the shop floor,” Shirey says. “It includes filters that allow you to drill down into specific machines or individual operator performance, and from there you can see how much time a machine is actually spending in production versus setup or waiting on operator intervention.
“Based on when a job completes and when the next one starts, you have an understanding of post-production time,” he adds. “Having it structured like that makes it easier to manage and analyze the data. There’s tons of data out there, but Prometheus organizes it and makes it easy to read and understand.”
When fabricators can track specific machine states, such as whether a laser is in production, waiting for material or cleared after an alarm, they can pinpoint exactly where their inefficiencies lie. Prometheus also features what’s called a cockpit display, which offers an at-a-glance status of what every machine is doing in real time, including remaining job time and current material. Many shops display this on large screens so that the entire team can see what’s in progress and what’s coming around the bend.
Predictive planning
Data collection and analysis are great, but what about the day-to-day work fabricators need help managing? Does Prometheus know how to prioritize jobs? Can it identify due dates or delivery dates and schedule work accordingly? “Definitely,” Shirey says.
Prometheus is broken into three modules: web services, which makes the connection between the front office and the shop floor; the cockpit, which displays everything that’s happening in real time; and the planner, which is, essentially, a scheduling assistant that shows the timeline of what’s being produced and what needs to be produced.
“The planner can schedule based on due dates, but you can also reorganize and reschedule work as needed – for example, if a hot job comes in and needs to be produced right away,” Shirey explains. “It can also set release dates for jobs that you don’t want to produce until the customer gives the go-ahead. The release date keeps the job from entering production until it’s actually released.”
The planner also gives company-wide visibility into a job’s progress. If a customer calls wanting to know the status of their order, the planner instantly offers up that information. In a landscape where delivery windows are tightening, the ability to visualize work in progress and then pivot quickly, if need be, is essential.
From a user’s perspective, the planner is straightforward. Jobs are displayed as blocks on a calendar based on actual shift hours. Because the system knows how long a job should take, it provides an accurate visual of where production will be days or weeks into the future. If a hot job arrives, supervisors can manually drag and drop it into the timeline. Automatically, the planner shifts subsequent work to keep production going.
“You’re doing less firefighting and instead are systematically managing the workflow and what’s happening,” Shirey says. “When those hot jobs come in, you can see where you have capacity and where you can fit them in to make it work.”
In terms of data that is continuously being collected for analysis and decision-making purposes, the planner provides opportunities for that, too. Customers can take a snapshot of the planned week on Monday and compare it to actual Friday results to analyze shop performance and improve future planning. The possibilities of how to use that data can be pretty powerful.
Shop transformation
Currently, Prometheus can be connected to BLM GROUP tube lasers, flat lasers, 5-axis lasers and benders, and Web Services provides access to production data and integration with external systems. This ensures machine status and production data are broadly available across all platforms. In addition, set up, installation and training are part of a well-organized plan to ensure the customer is fully positioned to achieve their goals.
“The machine installs typically take about two weeks,” Shirey says, “but before that even happens, we provide training for new operators here in our training facility where they spend a week doing operator-specific training. We also have programmer training that focuses on the software, how to create part programs, how to use the nesting software and Prometheus, which also takes a week.
“We typically try to time everything so that the install is finishing up while the operators are here training on our machines,” he adds. “When they get back to their shop the following week, their machine has been installed and we do ‘ramp-up’ training where they’re running their parts in-house on their machine with our trainer. That lasts another week. And then we do a follow-up. So, all in all, the full install with training and everything involved usually takes about four weeks.”
Ultimately, Prometheus from BLM GROUP can transform a shop floor from a reactive environment of “firefighting” into a streamlined, data-driven well-oiled machine. Fabricators find the visibility and flexibility they need to not only keep up with the high-mix market but also scale their businesses and grow. For those looking to replace old-school manual tracking with the “forethought” required for modern manufacturing success, Prometheus can be a powerful tool.
BLM’s Prometheus manufacturing execution system is a great example of the powerful and sophisticated software tools available to fabricators today and highlighted in Techgen Media’s archive of software-related articles. If you’re looking to streamline your operations, it’s a good place to start your research.
