Process Solutions, Inc.

Overview

UGS is well-known for developing high-value software solutions based on advanced IT platforms. One of our most innovative products to date is Xfactory, a Tracking and Production Management system. Xfactory is an open platform combined with software applications that manage the day-to-day plant operations and the plant's integration to the extended enterprise and its supply chain. Based on a flexible object-modeling framework, Xfactory is ideal for customers seeking the benefits of a tailored solution with the lowest cost and shortest implementation time.

Xfactory is designed to capture and communicate real-time manufacturing data from the shop floor to the people and systems that need it, when they need it. Xfactory makes it easy to connect to a wide variety of external data sources such as serial devices and OPC servers and associate the data with manufacturing events in the system to automatically drive your production environment. Information provided by Xfactory helps you make better-informed decisions and reduces manufacturing costs and lead times. Xfactory is designed to track all aspects of manufacturing production - providing defect tracking, traceability, route and materials enforcement, and providing a complete and accurate product genealogy - so you can reduce work in progress, lower cost of errors, and lower cost of compliance with government regulations. The result is increased revenues, improved customer satisfaction, and reduced manufacturing costs.

Xfactory also makes it easy to communicate with other business systems with its PLM/ERP Connector. This connector uses a standards based XML implementation of the ISA 95 standard to allow customers to expand its interoperability with high-end business systems.

Xfactory consists of several flexible software components that provide manufacturers both real-time and historical views into their manufacturing environment to increase company revenue, competitiveness, and effectiveness, and to reduce costs and liability.

Comprehensive Functionality

Xfactory 3.5 introduces a complete functionality of the production solution loop: Process Planning, Simulation & Optimization, Launch & Deployment, Execution, Analysis & Process Improvements.

Process Planning

• Route Modeling
• Mix Model Support
• Variant Modeling
• Versioning
• Integration to ECR/ECN

Deployment

• SDK (Software Development Kit)
• Customization Tools
• Integrated VBA

Process Execute

WIP & Batch Management

• WIP and Batch Tracking
• Forward and Backward Genealogy
• Route Enforcement
• Component, Material Tracking, and Consumption Enforcement
• Labor Tracking

Quality Management

• Statistical Process Control
• Defect Tracking
• Product Quarantine
• Alerts and Reports

Shop Floor Visibility

• Pre-defined Reports
• Ad-hoc Reports
• Key Performance Indicators Monitoring and Alerts
• Early Warnings
• Web Portal

Integration & Partnerships

• Integration with ERP systems
• Integration with Planning & Scheduling
• Out-of-the-Box Integration to Barcode Readers Through OPC
• HMI/SCADA Component
• S95 Support
• Biztalk Connector

Technical Benefits

• Xfactory is the culmination of leveraged technology developments (distributed application design, client-server systems, object-oriented programming methodologies, multi-tiered architecture systems) and a broad understanding of manufacturing, applied to the solution of business and integration needs.
• Faster Implementation because open standards, ease-of-use, and drag-and-drop functionality facilitate an amazingly fast implementation time.
• Fully adaptable and extensible - changes can be made at any time without shutting down processes, rebuilding databases, or recompiling applications.
• Fully web-enabled, so it provides access in real time to production information for organizations, partners, and customers.
• Upgrades are performed automatically. The need for client database connectivity configuration is eliminated.
• Xfactory database schemas never change, so reports work for every installation and every configuration.
• The software is Windows-based (Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003 Server) and scalable from the smallest to the most complex manufacturing installations.
• Tracks all inventory items that are consumable, ranging from final products to the consumables that comprise the final product. It also tracks all equipment that is associated with the process to manufacture the product.
• Allows you to customize the application to fit the specific needs of your company without a lot of unnecessary predetermined configuration.

Xfactory® 3.5

Production Management Your Way

The Xfactory® Production Management system is an open software platform combined with software applications and development tools. This versatile platform provides an unprecedented level of visibility that gives people in your organization instant access to the information they need - whether they are on the shop floor, in the office, part of the extended enterprise, or part of the supply chain. Xfactory is ideal for customers in a variety of industries seeking the benefits of a tailored solution with the lowest cost and shortest implementation time.

Xfactory serves manufacturing-based enterprises that need to be responsive to customers within their supply chain. Xfactory is especially well-suited for companies who manufacture a high mix of products and for those whose manufacturing processes add high value to the final product.

Unlike most custom applications, which are either equipment or product centric, Xfactory provides the ability to view the data from several different perspectives, such as by route, product, work in process, tools, equipment, material, and labor. This ability helps you meet the needs of the diverse groups in your organization.

Xfactory complements your ERP and SCM systems by capturing manufacturing data to a level of detail and precision that ERP and SCM systems cannot match. The resulting information allows rapid identification of the cause of problems with fast reaction to limit the financial impact of these problems. Xfactory supports S95 as a standard interface to ERP systems, making it easy to integrate with the best-of-breed ERP packages. This provides real-time visibility for reconciling production data with your ERP and SCM systems to allow production order information to move quickly and seamlessly, creating new opportunities for cost control, improved efficiency, and enhanced customer service.

Xfactory is the culmination of leveraged technology developments (distributed application design, client-server systems, object-oriented programming methodologies, multi-tiered architecture systems) and a broad understanding of manufacturing, applied to the solution of business and integration needs. Now you can "do it your way" without sacrificing any functionality or performance.