Manufacturing companies are constantly seeking ways to enhance efficiency, flexibility, and competitiveness. One trend that’s accelerating: the shift toward cloud-based manufacturing execution systems (cloud MES). But why are leading manufacturers making the leap now, especially when so many of them already have viable MES in-place, and with numerous on-premise options still on the table?
With such high expectations for cloud MES, our team of digital transformation experts and smart manufacturing engineers are often skeptical about software developers’ ability to deliver cloud MES that can deliver sustainable value for the long-term. When we visited Sanmina in Guadalajara, Mexico, we were blown away by the power and flexibility of the cloud MES they use: 42Q.
Sanmina invited digital transformation consultants from On Time Edge and executives from three manufacturing companies to an open house event at their production facility in Guadalajara, Mexico. They wanted to showcase their use of next-generation Industry 4.0 manufacturing, and show us results from Smart Manufacturing in action.
Sanmina is a leading global provider of integrated manufacturing solutions, components, products, repair, logistics, and after-market services. Recognized as one of the world’s largest and most successful contract manufacturers, they are a technology leader, providing end-to-end manufacturing solutions, delivering superior quality and support to 700+ original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) primarily in the communications networks, cloud solutions, medical, defense and aerospace, industrial, and automotive segments. Sanmina manufactures 250M products per year across 200K different top-level assemblies produced each year with up to 20K forecast changes per week.
42Q is a full-featured, cloud-based manufacturing execution system (MES) developed by manufacturers for manufacturers to simplify and accelerate any factory’s digital transformation.
Initially, we expected to see how Sanmina uses 42Q cloud MES in just their electronics assembly. However, they also took us on a tour of their impressive integrated manufacturing services for printed circuit board production, metal fabrication, small/medium and large machine assembly, and medical device assembly. The Sanmina operations leaders who were conducting the tour shared the results they’ve achieved with 42Q cloud MES including quality improvements, reduction in waste, and increases in efficiency. The plant achieved all that, while also contributing to a sustainable future with a carbon-footprint reduction strategy – a strategy enabled by 42Q cloud MES, that allows them to deliver the future of manufacturing to the organizations they serve. With a wealth of out-of-the-box dashboards and reports, the smart manufacturing core modules in 42Q MES101 provide the fundamental building blocks for shop order management and route control while add-on modules such as CMMS, OEE/TEEP, IIoT, business intelligence, business connectivity and additional features can be included in 42Q MES+.
Though Sanmina is well-known across medical device, aerospace and defense, automotive, electronics, and industrial manufacturing sectors, their utilization of 42Q makes clear that modern cloud MES and rapid deployment lends itself to additional functionality for consumer packaged goods (CPG), food and beverage, and pharmaceutical to name a few.
With many out-of-the-box dashboards 42Q, the single largest contributing factor of success with any 42Q implementation is organizational alignment – that is, the ability to quickly align people, processes, and technology. 42Q cloud MES can be implemented regardless of MES maturity or how automated a plant is currently. What it all comes down to, is your company willing to change the way it works to achieve the benefits of efficiency and agility, to capture improvements in profitability?
Many On Time Edge clients express concerns about data silos inside and outside their enterprise. They recognize the need for product traceability and regulatory audits that require a great deal of manual intervention. They believe if they could access a combined view of production capabilities against identified KPIs, their manufacturing enterprise would be more efficient, agile, and profitable. 42Q cloud MES provides a consolidated view for tracking operational KPIs across everything needed to drive product traceability and meet regulatory audits. What’s also exciting is that it can be implemented to track production and offer insight in as little as 6 -12 weeks in most cases. Companies that use 42Q cloud MES can expand their use of it over time, by adding data from more equipment, or by adding more automated processes. The time to value with 42Q MES is industry-leading, and the overall functionality allows manufacturing companies to immediately benefit as they make further process improvement investments.
We’re planning to visit Sanmina Guadalajara again very soon, and we hope you can join us for an experiential and informative visit to discover the power of 42Q cloud MES.