Hewlett Packard (HP) LaserJet manufacturing is saving millions of dollars per year in information technology expenses and has increased production by up to 120% by switching to an open-source manufacturing execution system (MES). Beginning with an effort to reduce system-related downtime and a heavy support burden, the company evaluated both custom and commercial off-the-shelf alternatives before deciding to standardize on a custom MES system that had been originally developed as a 'grass roots' effort in one plant. The key advantage to this new system is that it uses common file systems as a data repository for work-in-process information, instead of a relational database, which increases execution speed and dramatically reduces hardware and support requirements.

Not wanting to get into the MES development business, HP hired POWER Engineers, Inc, of Boise, ID, a firm specializing in systems integration for manufacturing software, to complete the enterprise MES functionality, improve the user friendliness of the system, and to provide support. HP has subsequently released the code into the open-source market. Pinata manufacturing software is now running at eight plants operated by five HP LaserJet contract manufacturers around the world.

Credited largely to Pinata's supportability, annual savings are running at up to $1.5 million at each of the three United States plants, while savings at other plants are averaging about half this value. The trickle rate, which is the average interval between units coming off the line, has been cut from a low of 40 seconds to an average of between 10 and 20 seconds by eliminating delays caused by heavy database transactions. "Most important, we now have full control of our factory systems which presents the opportunity to rapidly discover and implement product and process improvements," said Jason Wright, IT Segment Lead for HP, Boise, ID.

Basically, an MES is responsible for providing data to, and collecting data from, workers and machines on the shop floor. Core MES features include enforcing and tracking product build specifications, enforcing business rules, managing defect tracking, performing finite scheduling, and performing automated transactions to enable 'Lean' manufacturing or 'Configure-to-Order'.

The MES must interface heavily with enterprise systems: receiving bills of material from the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and providing actuals and as-builts; receiving schedules from the supply chain management system (SCM) and in return, providing actual order status; receiving configurations from and providing available to promise data to the service support management (SSM) system; and receiving design documentation from and providing nonconformance data to product life-cycle management and processing engineering systems. Just as important, the MES is required to provide recipes and instructions to control systems, such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), that operate automated manufacturing equipment within contract manufacturers' plants and interface with supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems that provide real-time status information for work-in-process inventory.

Previous MES Systems Were Costly To Operate

In the past, HP LaserJet contract manufacturers operated a number of different MES systems, none of which provided fully satisfactory results. These systems included a custom system that was developed at HP from scratch and then spun off and sold by the developers as a commercial product, an off-the-shelf system to which about 30% custom code was added to meet HP requirements, and a contracted collaborative MES that was originally designed to address cost and flexibility issues.

Four to six full-time IT people were required at each facility to support continuous production by the MES. Many were highly skilled and paid database administrators (DBAs), needed because of the transaction-intensive nature of the applications. These same database transactions served as a bottleneck that forced operators to spend a considerable amount of time waiting for the next transaction to be completed. Finally, each level in the manufacturing software hierarchy, PLC, SCADA, MES, and ERP systems, was supported by different vendors, which led to finger pointing whenever a problem occurred.

To address the situation, a summit meeting was held that included HP manufacturing staff and contract manufacturers from around the world. The collaborative MES, which was originally developed in the Netherlands for isolated use within a single plant, was selected as the worldwide choice for several reasons.

• First of all, it is based on flat files and saves each product unit's information in a straightforward, readable format with easily referenced tags and values, so it has a much smaller footprint and is more understandable by non-IT support personnel than a database system.


• Second, the software runs on PCs and redundant workgroup-class file servers, so it eliminates the need for leasing UNIX servers, which would have raised the costs of both the commercial and custom alternatives.

A critical requirement for rolling out this application worldwide was the selection of a vendor to develop it to commercial standards and support it on a worldwide basis. "We selected POWER Engineers because of their strong background as certified integrators of multiple MES systems and extensive experience in dealing with the ERP, SCADA, and controls layers that integrated with the MES system," Wright said. "HP gave POWER the ability to be creative and employ their engineering and development expertise for a unique and highly integrated factory," said Paul Peterson, project manager for POWER Engineers. "A long-term relationship made it possible to dedicate a consistent team to understanding the business needs at every level from factory floor to supply chain."

Development Took 4 Months

POWER began development of the MES system and interfaces to ERP, SCM, SCADA, PLCs and other add-on modules with a team of seven programmers. Four months later they were ready to begin implementation at the first plant. The simplicity of its architecture reduced implementation costs far below alternatives. In HP's typical large-sized plant, implementation required only two weeks, for a total labor cost of about $54,000. Equipment costs, also considerably lower than with either a packaged or custom solution, ranged from a differential cost of $5,000 to $150,000 depending on the size, level of automation, and existing equipment in the facility.

As developed by POWER Engineers, Pinata provides the core functionality common to MES systems and its scalable, open architecture snaps onto other existing manufacturing, defect tracking, reporting, and scheduling systems. Operators log into the system by entering their name and station type. An order manager is used by line supervisors for prioritizing and viewing work order progress. Work orders are selected to run on the line based on easily defined business rules and priorities, and work order progress with drill-down detail information is readily available.

Pinata easily performs complex serialization, lists materials to be processed in the current step, and enforces process routes while displaying completion percentages and status of each part. An interface was also developed to stations that perform product diagnostic or quality tests, allowing Pinata to capture the test results. A palletizer module tracks pallet contents while handling multiple pallets simultaneously. The failure tracking system provides context-sensitive logging of information about any product or process failure and allows operators to launch part replacement and test functions. The software also connects to a backend database system that retains an entire history of each unit, utilizing data from the product and process systems.

Doubling Production While Reducing Support Costs

The implementation has been a complete success. Production was back on track at each facility within two weeks of implementation. At some sites, output exceeded 120% of the target within the first two months of operation. Local IT support requirements dropped from an average of four to six people to one or two people at each site, and the elimination of the need for highly skilled IT staff means costs dropped more than proportionately. The savings at just one large site were sufficient to pay for the entire project over a six month period. The savings at the other seven sites averaged about half that level.

Just as important, the current version of the product provides functionality that wasn't available in the past. Product genealogy and holds are supported and quality can be more thoroughly analyzed. With Pinata's contract manufacturer connectivity module, the visibility, granularity and authenticity of the data are assured. Pinata has allowed HP to improve their focus on the product life cycle by providing accurate and complete information in real time. Specific support is also provided for LaserJet manufacturing processes including support for serialization nuances, scan masks, assembly processes, and flexibility in manufacturing.

The Move To Open Source

After the success of the implementation was apparent, HP decided to release Pinata manufacturing software to the general public for development and use without any license fees. The open-source approach allows their contract manufacturers to embrace the MES system as a low-cost flexible manufacturing system for internal use and to continue development of the system to suit their particular needs. It removes the MES from HP control and supervision, while creating a standard software control repository from which version control is administered by representatives from each of HP's regions.

"The open source model puts contract manufacturers of any scale in an ownership position of a proven MES solution, and enhances their ability to meet the data requirements of customers such as HP," Peterson commented. The open-source approach also allows for competition to drive down support costs and opens up regional support options for HP's enterprise. POWER Engineers currently provides project management, ongoing development and 24/7 support for Pinata for HP and others.

"HP is encouraging manufacturers in any industry to take advantage of this world-class MES that you can use without any licensing fees, you have access to the source code, and you can develop the capability to respond quickly to changes in your products, markets, or build processes," said Wright.