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Software streamlines production processes

A GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms UK product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 9, 2008

With Proficy Workflow, companies can improve, eliminate and automate steps in production to make their organisations more lean.

GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms has released Proficy Workflow, powered by the new Proficy Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).

Proficy Workflow provides an industrial business process management (BPM) solution that streamlines production processes, from work instructions and SOPs to corrective action and HACCP monitoring.

With Proficy Workflow, companies can improve, eliminate and automate steps in production to make their organisations more lean, decreasing time to value on materials, speeding response, lowering TCO and ensuring sustainability.

This new industrial BPM software combines manual and automated work processes without custom code, allowing production experts to solve problems immediately without demands on IT.

Built on an SOA platform, Proficy Worfkflow integrates information and services on a Plant2Enterprise basis, adding value to all existing ERP, MES and HMI systems.

Companies can integrate business and production processes across systems and departments for reliable, repeatable process execution.

"A key tool that will enable today's plants and factories to realise [the] strategy for operational excellence is the ability to define the process or workflow steps required to achieve a logical execution path", said Craig Resnick, Research Director with ARC Advisory Group.

"Proficy Workflow appears to meet this criterion of a tool that will help move manufacturers, processors and OEMs to a single environment where the existing systems are connected and interacting with each other to maximise the information value of each asset, which will positively impact plant and factory productivity and profitability".

As an industrial BPM solution, Proficy Workflow takes a production "flowchart" and digitises it, connecting the people, materials, equipment and systems involved in the work process.

Unlike BPM in the enterprise, which operates in hours and days, industrial workflow operates in a time window of seconds and subseconds.

"Proficy Workflow enables companies to achieve a responsive, data-driven, event-based production management strategy", said Greg Millinger, Workflow/SOA Product Manager for GE Fanuc.

"By digitising processes with industrial workflow, users can capture process, traceability and quality data, drive lean initiatives based on factual information and close the loop for production improvement".

Workflows can involve basic tasks such as asking an operator to check tank levels every hour, or more complex tasks like managing an entire production process or orchestrating data transformations between ERP and MES.

The workflow system - and its reporting - can touch almost all production personnel, including quality managers and quality technicians, maintenance, operations supervisors and industrial engineers.

Common uses include orchestrating high-level processes and managing the data between systems, digitising good manufacturing practices (GMP) tasks, digitising standard operating procedures and work instructions, HACCP monitoring procedures and corrective action, alarm and event response, corrective action, manual assembly error-proofing, plant task management, and line, workcell and machine setup.