Industry Summary Articles

Visitors to the 2020 Paris Salons Solutions trade fair in September will see how WORKPLAN’s combined ERP and MES functions in a single database, are making the software increasingly important to both large and small industrial SMEs.

"The Smart Manufacturing ethos of Industry 4.0 isn’t just a goal for large manufacturers. We have more and more small companies turning to us, wanting a full digital chain, integrating specifications and automating production management," says Hexagon’s MES and WORKPLAN Product Manager Christophe Mas. "The MES business is becoming a key asset for manufacturers in the general mechanics, aerospace, prototyping, tool and die, sheet metal and woodworking industries."

The 2021 WORKPLAN release from Hexagon’s production software portfolio will be presented at the Paris Salons Solutions Show from between September 22 and 24. Visitors to Stand C24 will be able to see numerous demonstrations, including how enhancements to the ‘Activity Basket’ function allow all baskets for the same project to be created in just a few clicks.

"This revolutionises the management of time tracking, and promotes automation and flexibility in the workshop," he says. "It also simplifies the management of assembly activities, heat treatment and finishing operations."

WORKPLAN’s technical and sales teams will demonstrate how the software meets all organisation, planning and monitoring needs through its ‘Planning’ module. Users work with established priorities and the availability of resources. The GANTT chart, integrated into WORKPLAN, optimises work capacity, reduces bottlenecks and helps to meet deadlines.

The planning function can also be accessed by shop floor operators using touch screens to check the production line workflow, and to see the load of different machines in the fleet, in real time.

Finally, Christophe MAS says WORKPLAN continues to integrate into all Hexagon solutions, demonstrating its increasingly essential role in the full digital chain. The latest interface with Hexagon's software for CNC simulation and ISO code verification, the NCSIMUL Monitoring module, enables real-time supervision of the workshop, thanks to the feedback of machine events such as in-cycle, shutdown, and alarms. To consolidate productivity indicators -- the availability rate, TRS, TRG...and also to report machine times (masked times) automatically in WORKPLAN – operators only have to clock in their work time.

WORKPLAN: Pavilion 7.2, Stand C24, Salon Solutions Porte de Versailles - September 22 to 24. ­

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