Why standardizing systems produces more valuable data

Transcript

Stan Miller: Hello everyone and welcome to ROK Studios.  I’m Stan Miller, I’m the PR & Analyst Relations Manager for Rockwell Automation in the EMEA Region, and I’m here with Etienne Fellay.  He is the IT Director at Constellium. Etienne, welcome to the studio. 

Etienne Fellay: Great.  Good morning.  Thank you for having me and giving me the opportunity to share my experiences with respect at Constellium.

Stan Miller: We’re so excited about this discussion. So, our topic is about why standardizing systems produces more valuable data. But before we get into the topic, would you mind just telling us a little bit about Constellium and your role there?

Etienne Fellay: Sure. So, Constellium is a global leader in the manufacturing of aluminum products for automotive, packaging and aerospace markets. And I’m in charge of our automotive structure business, where we are implementing PLEX as an ERP and MES system.

Stan Miller: Okay. That’s good to level set us.

Etienne Fellay: Yep.

Stan Miller: So, let’s get started. Can you help us understand what is the importance of real time data in a manufacturing environment and where does it offer operational benefits?

Etienne Fellay: Sure.  So, real time information is really important in our manufacturing business and it refers many benefits.  So, first, it gives future stability of your material floor, which improves the way you manage your inventory.  It also increases your visibility into your operation through various reports which allows you to drive effective decision making.  And then you can therefore, precisely control your production with real time indicators.  And you know managers nowadays, they need accurate and real time information from the shop floor – you know, to truly understand what’s happening inside the operation, so they can be more responsive, to challenges or disruption, instead of being reactive.  So, timely information is essential, yeah.

Stan Miller: Great points. Let’s move on a little bit to – help us get an understanding of how does standardizing your approach leads to more actionable data?

Etienne Fellay: Yeah.  So, standardization actually has been a key objective for us over the past years, because when your business operates with the same MES system and same processes, it’s really clearly a big advantage to analyze your data accordingly. So, we have defined a common approach for data collection, which ensures that your data remains current and consistent, and that makes them more comparable and easy to exploit, yeah.

Stan Miller: You mentioned Constellium is a global company. Let’s talk about the benefits of connecting plants on a global scale.

Etienne Fellay: Yeah, so , I think it’s really first off, a consistent and inter-connected ecosystem where your data is more actuatable, because all your plants are working according to the same standards. So, typically, as a great example, we have developed a global dashboard for our manufacturing KPI, including the OEE, and that’s really enabled benchmarking all our operations across our plants, identify and share best practices and ultimately to drive our operational performance across the board.

Stan Miller: So, how is this particularly relevant to green field sites?

Etienne Fellay: So, we have done a couple of MES implementation in green field sites and it’s really important in those sites to leverage your previous implementation, so it’s much easier when you have global solutions, so you can better align your processes as well, and you don’t have to deal with connection with legacy systems or equipment. So, PLEX has been a very good out of the box solution, very fast delivery, and a quick return on investment, yeah.

Stan Miller: What are the advantages of the cloud when it comes to standardization?

Etienne Fellay: So, first a cloud-based solution was important for us because it lowers your IT cost and simplifies your IT infrastructure and environment. You don’t need to manage upgrades to take care of all that infrastructure stuff.  So, that’s one thing.  Then when it comes to standardization, it makes your data collection easier because you are the same structure of data everywhere, meaning the same data model and actually you can access those data anywhere, which is also very helpful, yeah.

Stan Miller: Really good points. Etienne, thank you so much for sharing your perspective and your vision and strategy for what you’re doing at Constellium.  It’s really interesting stuff, so we really appreciate you coming into the studio today.

Etienne Fellay: It’s been a pleasure, yeah. Thank you, Stan.

Stan Miller: And thank you for watching. If you’d like to learn more about Rockwell Automation’s software solutions, including cloud-based solutions, visit www.rockwellautomation.com.