Interview with Mware-customer Willy Geuens, Panasonic's Logistics and IT manager

The streamlined operations at battery manufacturer Panasonic’s factory in Tessenderlo are undoubtedly one of the main planks of the company’s success. Panasonic has been working non-stop for over six years to upgrade and optimize its processes. And when it came to providing badly-needed software support for operations at the factory and packing center, MWare, produced by software company PEC, provided just the manufacturing execution system (MES) Panasonic was looking for. MWare also took over all of the warehousingactivities linked to operations, saving Panasonic overwhelming of integration problems. Just how all of this fell into place was explained to us by Willy Geuens, Panasonic’s Logistics & IT Manager.
For the whole interview please click here. [more]

PEC has signed a contract with Philips for the Automotive Playback Modules Business Line.

The objectives of the implementation are supporting the zero-defect automotive approach of the Business Line.

- Ensuring full traceability of products throughout the supply-chain.
- Integration of production data from suppliers and from the different Philips plants.
- Enforcing product routing on the production floor
- Capturing test and production data for fast analyses purposes The first implementation is done at the production plant in Györ (Hungary). After the first implementation a roll-out is planned for the Ukraine and eventually the Shanghai factories.

PEC is an international company headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, with direct operations in Europe, USA and Asia. It established its Central-European headquarters in Budapest in 1998, and has completed many successful projects in the region. The combination of an experienced project team and a global coverage has played an important role in Philips' decision. [more]

PEC signed a contract with the Hungarian National Bank for the delivery and implementation of the Vault Technology at their new Logistics Center.

Budapest 11/7/2005: The National Bank of Hungary (MNB) is establishing a new logistics center in Budapest. The logistics center is a green field investment and will be put in operation in 2008.

The logistics center will form the central cash processing and distribution center for Hungary. It will house different activities from the emission department such as the inspection, sorting, packing, storage and distribution of coins and bank notes.

PEC will deliver the vault technology related to this project, including the completely Automated Storage and Retrieval System (2 high bay cranes), the Automated Guided Vehicles, the MWare Logistics Execution Software and the storage containers. The total contract value is 2.5 million Euros.

The project concept is unique in Europe and will be the backbone of MNB’s future operations.

PEC, headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, with direct operations in Europe, USA and Asia, established its Central-European headquarters in Budapest in 1998, and has already completed many successful projects in the region. The combination of an experienced project team and a local presence has played an important role in MNB’s decision. [more]



PEC is extending its MWare Industry Solutions with an implementation model for the Tobacco Industry.

Leuven, 6/8/2005: PEC is extending its MWare Industry Solutions with an implementation model for the Tobacco Industry. The goal is to achieve a fast implementation of the MES functionalities and best practices, required by the industry.

The template was a result of a close cooperation between PEC and its customers and has already been implemented at several factories of market leaders.

Within our Tobacco Industry Solution we target the different challenges that are driving the manufacturers towards cost reduction, more flexibility and agility, supporting frequent changeovers and more detailed levels of traceability.

The new Industry Solution is an important milestone in the further fulfillment of PEC’s global ambitions, with a more vertical approach in different repetitive manufacturing environments. Besides its existing locations in Europe and the USA, PEC will open an office in Hong Kong later this year. [more]



ARC on PEC’s MES Strategy.

PEC is a manufacturing technology supplier with offices in both Europe and North America as well as partnerships in Asia. In addition to its focus on production management solutions, the company also manufactures battery test equipment and industrial computers. PEC’s management recently updated ARC analysts on the status of its MES solutions. [more]



PEC signed a contract with British American Tobacco Russia for implementing a new Manufacturing Execution platform at the YAVA factory in Moscow.

1/9/2004: British American Tobacco is the world’s most international tobacco group, with brands sold in 180 markets around the world. The YAVA factory produces several local and international brands and will be a pilot plant for the other Russian factories.

The project will focus on outbound traceability, by tracking and tracing the individual master cases from the secondary department to the shipping area. The following MWare modules will be used: Flow Control, Quality Control and Logistics Control. PEC also delivers the fully automated Print and Apply units, for unique identification of the master cases.

The project is an important milestone in the further improvement of the YAVA factory logistics as well as for the fulfillment of PEC’s Central and Eastern European ambitions. [more]



MWare has successfully completed Microsoft’s .NET Connected logo test.

17/06/2004: PEC has chosen completely for the .NET architecture and will keep on launching new MWare functionality on this platform. [more]



PEC announced MWare Release 2.4 to be general available by October 2003

15/07/2003: Release 2.4 will introduce the full .NET compatibility in MWare. All business logic is available over web services, supporting common protocols such as http, XML and soap. With the MWare web services, the system opens up to enterprise integration tools, ERP systems and other third party products.With 2.4 MWare is moving completely to zero-deployment User Interfaces for the factory. The User Interfaces are completely configurable at the server side, without further rollout issues. This technology is also supporting thin client platforms over fixed or wireless networks, bringing MWare online to forklifts, trucks and other mobile users. 2.4 will also add more functionality to the standard MWare modules. The logistics components have increased support for assembly processes and individual serialized products. [more]




PEC announced MWare Maintenance Manager

15/07/2003: The MWare Maintenance Manager is the newest module in the MWare framework. The basic goal of this module is to bring the operational side of Maintenance Management to the factory floor, supporting different maintenance policies and concepts.With the ever-increasing success of TPM, MWare adds support for typical operational issues, such as the planning and execution of maintenance tasks, generating tasks based on alarm situations….MWare MMS supports the configuration of equipments, tools, sensors, thresholds…. Using these objects, MWare will have basically all information for detailed OEE calculations on the machine and also the equipment level.MWare will also provide interfaces to ERP and External Maintenance Management Systems to retrieve and update information in the more cost-oriented administrative environment. [more]



New MWare Contract with Hansen Transmissions

19/05/2003: PEC signed a contract with Hansen Transmissions for implementing a new Manufacturing Execution platform in their existing and new plants in Antwerp and Lommel.Hansen Transmissions, part of the INVENSYS group, is specialized in the engineering and manufacturing of gear units for industrial and wind turbine applications. Due to the increased success in the wind industry, Hansen Transmissions has decided to implement a complete new software platform, including ERP, MES and WMS functionalities. For the MES and part of the WMS functionalities, MWare was chosen, because of the rich integrated standard functionality in different areas such as traceability of serialized components, quality control, shop floor control, location and relocation management. This was essential to guarantee the requested short implementation time of nearly 5 months for the first phase.The MWare project encompasses the complete factory, including the component manufacturing and the final assembly and testing department. [more]



Parity TelTech becomes North American Integrator for MWare

15/10/2002: PEC, an international group (Belgium) providing the latest manufacturing technology, has announced the Business Solutions Division of Parity TelTech, a well-known United States based Manufacturing Execution System integrator, as it’s North American Integrator of MWare.
"We at PEC are convinced that the impressive MES experience of Parity TelTech, as well as their excellent business domain knowledge and nationwide customer base will give the best guarantee to make MWare as successful in North America as it is in Europe today, according to Raf Goossens, Managing Director of PEC."

MWare is an object-oriented and component based Manufacturing Execution System (MES) designed for discrete and mixed manufacturing processes in a variety of industries. MWare allows companies to capture and distribute all production data throughout the company in real-time, giving everyone in the company, from operators to management access to the same up to date information.

MWare interfaces with other factory automation systems like ERP, SPC, and SQC systems. The integration with LIMS, SCADA, and Process Control Solutions is realized through open interfaces, which enable seamless integration of all manufacturing automation systems.

“We are really excited about the opportunities for MWare here in North America. The functionality and architecture of the product will give our clients another superior MES product from which to choose”, states Ted Felouzis, Vice President of Business Solutions for Parity TelTech.

For more information: http://www.parityteltech.com/bsd/default.asp



PEC announced MWare Release 2.3 to be available by September 2002

24/07/2002: MWare Release 2.3 will be adding more functionality to the MWare Quality components. It will allow Quality Engineers to configure quality sheets and recurring inspection plans on incoming materials and work in progress.
Release 2.3 will also add advanced features to the MWare Logistics components and selection algorithms in MWare Warehouse Management.
As always these modules are fully configurable in the MWare Configuration Manager.



PEC announced MWare Communication Server

24/07/2002: The MWare Communication Server will serve as a W3C Compliant XML gateway between MWare and external applications such as SAP, BAAN, JDEdwards…. Using the standardized XML Schemas and Microsoft XML parsing technology, interface development and deployment will be possible in days in stead of weeks work. [more]



CMG established as Certified Implementation Partner

01/5/2002: CMG Oost Nederland, member of the CMG Group, has been established as MWare Certified Implementation Partner. CMG is operating from Arnhem, the Netherlands; CMG is an independent ICT solution and service provider with approximately 13,500 employees in 140 business units. [more]



Connect established as Certified Implementation Partner

01/12/2001: Connect, member of the Real Software Group, has been established as MWare Certified Implementation Partner. Connect is operating from St.-Antonius-Zoersel, Belgium, and offers turnkey solutions for the Manufacturing Industry since 1985. [more]



Contract with Panasonic Batteries

30/11/2001: PEC signed a contract with Panasonic Batteries for implementing a new Manufacturing Execution platform in the finishing and packaging department. This project will be a basis for creating plant-wide visibility in the whole battery manufacturing process, as it will be rolled out through the entire plant.

The decision has been made after a successful finalized pre-study phase, in which PEC consultants and Panasonic Batteries key users have collaborated to set the MES master plan for the next coming years. Integration was the key word for this master plan.

Panasonic Batteries will be using the MWare MES system in the following areas: logistics, flow and quality control.



New Contract with Philips

PEC signed a new contract with Philips for building a new IT and automation platform for the manufacturing floor. A complete automation of the material handling and process control equipment forms the basis for the project.

Philips will use the MWare system in the following areas: planning, logistics, process and quality control. Project realization will be done in different steps, with a pilot implementation in the first half of 2002. [more]