Validation; These are the procedures required to prove that the method used accurately and precisely performs what is expected. In other words, it ensures to check whether a planned production is realized within the plan or not.
When working with a validated method, it is ensured that the operation performed is precise, accurate, specific, consistent, valid and reliable.
Not all work can be done by every worker working in the shopfloor. Some jobs can only be done by competent people. It is asked to be done. This is a validation. This ensures that the work done is under control. MES does this electronically. It also checks mechanically and stops your machine in case of an failure. If a problem occurs in the electronically tracked work, MES stops the work and prevents faulty production., the machine does not work and possible errors are prevented.Thanks to such features, high quality, continuous and accurate production takes place. This is an important feature that saves companies both time and money in every respect.
Polyvalence literally means the competence of a worker or operator on a job. For example; Let’s consider a factory that produces white appliances. There are many processes in the factory. The competence levels of these operators differ from process to process, machine to machine. Not every operator can use every machine. Polyvalence determines the competence levels here.
Preparation of the polyvalence board: In the polyvalence board, personnel are evaluated according to the following criteria. Scoring is done separately for each criterion. The effect of the criteria on the overall scoring is different. Personnel evaluation criterias;
Experience: A score is made based on the experience of the personnel for the machine and / or work in question. For example; Like 20 points between 1-2 years and 40 points between 2-3 years.
Equipment Usage: The ability of the personnel to use the equipment is evaluated. This scoring is done by the department manager. The criteria to be considered are as follows;
Perform: An oversight committee should be established at this stage. This committee should include Production Manager, Department Officer, Maintenance Officer and Quality Officer. Scoring is done by this committee according to the following criteria;
The result of all these evaluations is scored over 4 and competence is determined.
If we need to process a sample Polyvalence table, we can think as follows. Let’s consider some processes as follows;
– Steel Cutting
– Lathe
– CNC Machining
– Heat Treatment
There is only one operator involved in each of these processes. If the operator in the steel cutting process is very good and does not make mistakes for a long time, the polyvalence is 4. In other words, he becomes one of the most competent persons in these processes and can work uncontrolled. If the operator involved in the Lathe process is good and does not make mistakes for a long time, the polyvalence will be 3 and he can work uncontrolled. If there are jobs that the operator in the CNC Machining operation needs to learn, and the polyvalence is 2 at a medium level. It can work in a controlled manner. If the operator in the heat treatment operation is not good, the polyvalence will be 1 and he cannot work in any way.
The polyvalence board also shows the current polyvalence and target polyvalence status of the operator. Annual training plans can be made using the polyvalence board. While posting a job, deficiencies are determined by using the polyvalence board. It can be used when determining the raise rate to be given to the operator. The polyvalence board can be used while making appointments. These operations are usually carried out in the human resources department at workplaces. A sample polyvalence board;
Validation operations in MES systems can be evaluated in two main categories. One of them is the verification of the production process, the other is the verification of whether the consumption process is progressing correctly, in other words, validation.
When we consider the production process, of course, the first verification work that comes to mind is polyvalence validation. When we say personnel competence verification, naturally we actually do a qualification check. In addition to quality control in the context of personnel, quantitative control can also be done. For example, it may be a necessity for more than one operator to work at the same time in order to perform certain production operations. Serial press operations that produce more than one piece at the same time can be an example of this. In such cases, only the qualification of the personnel is not sufficient, and it may be desired to check whether there are enough personnel at the machine to work that work order. In this direction, we already have partners with whom we worked together on validation works.
Another important topic that is required to be validated outside of manpower before and during the production process is equipment control. In the field, the process starts with the operator choosing a work order to work on the HMI or panels of the MES system at the beginning of the production. Choosing the right work order is the backbone of the data collection setup. Choosing a wrong work order also means misevaluation of very important process elements such as cycle time, production stock, consumption stocks, planned production amount, which can lead to problems such as failure to calculate efficiency and deterioration of warehouse stock balances. is critical.
Equipment control is also a sensible validation tool in the context of correct work order selection. The equipment code foreseen to be used in the work order selected by the operator can be controlled in various ways in the MES system when the operator wants to load / start working. One of them is to barcode the equipment and when the operator wants to work a work order, first of all, he has to have the barcode on the equipment he plans to use read to the MES system with the help of a barcode reader and to compare this equipment / mold with the equipment that is intended to be used in the work order. In case of verification, it is ensured that the process continues as it should; otherwise, the operator is directed to load the correct work order by showing the relevant warning.
Another method is the method that requires the MES system to communicate with the PLC system at a high level. What we mean here at the top level is not a bit-level signal communication that we call 1 and 0, but the communication between the machine and the MES system with open messaging that can be read by the human. In this way, without the operator having to read the equipment barcode with a barcode reader, the right equipment / mold and correct work order control can be done by comparing the equipment that is planned to be loaded with the current equipment code on the relevant machine. In addition to this control at our partners, it is ensured that the relevant control is made and action is taken not only during the start of work, but also when there is a setup or mold change stop during production.
Under the heading of the consumption process, sub-validation examples such as stock, stock balance and lot control can be considered. Here, of course, it would be a healthy method to perform balance and lot inquiries in integration with the ERP system. At the beginning of the production or during the production notification, it can be verified whether the raw materials and semi-products planned to be consumed are actually raw materials and semi-products that the operator is about to consume at that moment, and in addition, warehouse balance checks of the relevant consumption stocks can be carried out and this control can be taken one level further and the batch / lot Traceability can also be achieved by performing consumption validation in the form of follow-up.
Make personnel entry mandatory or no production notification is made before personnel entry is made;
The work done must be guaranteed to be precise and correct. What will guarantee that this work is correct is a parameter developed to control whether the right person is doing it or not. Since the production data are constantly collected in MES, of course, the produced parts and the ones responsible for that production are also recorded digitally.
Speed restrictions;
A metal semi-finished product from previous downstream operations can be subjected to the furnace annealing process. For example, this oven’s conveyer should has an ideal flow rate minute/meter. This conveyor belt speed is continuously monitored with MES systems in order to speed up or slow down and prevent any quality problems in semi-finished products, and whether it is within the desired range or not is continuously checked. Through this, quality problems that may arise are prevented before they occur beforehand.
Do not have another barcode scanned before a certain period of time when serial production is made;
Let’s consider a line that counts as production number with barcode. Let’s say 30 seconds for this work order given a certain cycle time. We expect each product to appear in 25-35 seconds. However, in order for the production to be followed correctly and to get the correct numbers, we ensure that the operator can read the barcode by complying with this cycle time. This system, which collects barcodes aside and prevents them from repeatedly reading, makes accurate data collection precise and consistent.
Inspection of some specific components in production with special patterned barcodes can prevent all possible mistakes and confusion.
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