Newly Released Version of Popular Software Package Allows Companies To Manage Inventory, Execute Orders in Real Time and Route Material Through the Manufacturing Process

GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a unit of GE Enterprise Solutions, today announced the availability of a new version of its award-winning Proficy Tracker software that helps companies realize lean initiatives by managing the execution of orders and the related flow of materials. Proficy Tracker is in use in companies all over the world, managing the tracking and traceability and discrete operations, such as container management and packaging, of consumer products in industries from Automotive to Electronics.

Proficy Tracker 7.5 delivers lean production by helping to manage inventory, schedule resources in real time, and route material through the discrete manufacturing process. Tracker provides the ability to not only track the real-time location of orders on the production floor, but it can also be configured to perform routing logic on the movement of the product throughout the manufacturing facility. This unique capability allows manufacturers to manage the physical routing and delivery of multiple product components and subassemblies into complex product assemblies. Proficy Tracker can help companies:
• Monitor and manage production flow through the use of business rules
• Dynamically collect and store a variety of data about each component and assembly to create traceability records
• Provide control commands to production equipment in order to process and route materials
• Support inspection and rework processes, as well as production, assembly, and packaging operations

“Manufacturing today is shifting from build-to-stock to build-to-order,” said Erik Udstuen, Software General Manager for GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms. “In many operations, suppliers have to pay a penalty if the end user production sequence is not achieved. If the right components are not available, that order will have to come off the main production line until the parts arrive. This will have a direct impact on all subsequent operations if not handled correctly.”
Proficy Tracker’s Order Execution Management functionality is targeted at handling the ever-changing real world conditions of the production floor and coordination of suppliers. It provides production order management, bill of material distribution, supplier coordination, sequence and substitution management along with production hold management.

“Proficy Tracker is an excellent enabler to achieve a Lean Manufacturing environment,” said Rich Breuning, GE Fanuc Global Product Manager for Discrete Solutions. “Dynamic, business rule-based scheduling maintains the production sequence and supplier coordination. E-Kanban is achieved through monitoring consumption at the different assembly stations and issuing material delivery requests. Mistake-Proofing is achieved by ensuring the right products are assembled at the stations.”

Proficy Tracker works with a variety of production processes, making it easy for users to implement and operate a comprehensive work-in-progress tracking system. The application utilizes data from automated sensors and readers including bar codes, RF Tags, and other mechanical tag systems and provides graphic screens to display tracking paths and item information, and reflect production control commands. It also maintains detail data for all jobs in the system, including content, status, location, and production process counts and keeps cycle counts, repair information and carrier status online. It accommodates different types of carriers and containers within a system, allowing manufacturers to track and route products even when the process transforms them.

“The value of any software product is its ability to improve business performance,” concluded Udstuen. “Proficy Tracker, with its order execution management capabilities, is unique in the industry and offers a solution that manages and adapts to the real time situations that occur on the production floor.”
In addition, Proficy Tracker accommodates a variety of production flow adjustments, from minor modifications to major system redesign. The solution’s automation of tracking and routing can significantly increase the return on existing equipment by automatically sending defective materials to a rework area and scrapped materials to a recycling area; grouping batches of products to be painted the same color improving efficiency, reducing setup and waste; monitor carriers in need of maintenance; and providing line balancing during production start up.

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About GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a joint venture between General Electric (NYSE: GE) and FANUC LTD of Japan, is a high-performance technology company and a global provider of hardware, software, services, expertise and experience in automation and embedded computing, with products employed in virtually every industry, including manufacturing automation, defense, automotive, telecommunications, healthcare and aerospace. GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms is a worldwide company headquartered in Charlottesville, VA and is part of GE Enterprise Solutions. For more information, visit www.gefanuc.com.

Courtesy of GE Fanuc