GE Digital’s New Proficy Plant Applications Showcase Expanded Discrete Manufacturing Capabilities

GE Digital showcased the latest version of its Manufacturing Execution System (MES) Proficy Plant Applications, part of the Proficy Smart Factory portfolio, at the 26th annual ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, Florida. New features in the 2022 version include expanded discrete manufacturing capabilities developed through co-innovation with existing customers, as well as a better user experience for the modern connected worker.

The new discrete features include extending support for serialized and lot-based discrete manufacturing, such as job shops and complex discrete environments. These extensions include the ability to support the execution of very large lots plus the flow of complex routes that include optional, parallel, and mutually exclusive operations. Proficy Plant Applications has also expanded the scope of discrete to include complex receiving inspection rules as well as linking them to non-conformance.

Implementation speed of the Proficy Plant Applications solution has been improved with a new low-code Data Flow Editor, easing integration with other systems and modelling complex logic. These capabilities help to allow faster installs and upgrades, including more seamless ERP integration with approximately 20 out-of-the-box messages for MES-ERP communication.

Proficy Plant Applications is also designed to help empower the modern Connected Worker and operating teams with easier, more flexible access to their manufacturing data to help for better decision making. The software provides a more contemporary Web User Interface (UI) with widgets as embedded in out-of-the-box screens and available for custom screen development in the software’s no-code development environment.  This helps to afford operators and supervisors with real-time interaction on mobile devices, such as iPads, Android, and Windows tablets. Enhanced web UIs include user persistence for filters, column settings, and queues. They also include the ability to capture videos and pictures as comments using the camera on the device. Browser-based apps and functionality include Route Management, Operator Execution including work instructions, Order Management, Non-Conformance, Genealogy, Receiving Inspection, Time Booking, Waste Management, Process Order Execution, Approval Cockpit, Bill of Materials (BOM) Editor, and an In-Progress Work Order Editor.

Available on-premises and in the cloud, the software includes four modules: Efficiency Management, Production Management and Tracking, Quality Management, and Batch Analysis.

Customer results with Proficy Plant Applications have included saving up to 45 minutes per shift, per line, per business unit at one of the world’s largest consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies; up to a 3X increase in throughput for an automotive battery manufacturer; and up to an 80 percent reduction in downtime at a pharmaceutical company.