Sustainability is the word of the decade, but for manufacturers putting products into packaging, there aren’t many practical solutions around.  

For FMCG manufacturers dealing with many SKUs (stock-keeping units), waste is an ongoing issue.

Whole pallet loads can be dumped due to the wrong labelling, coding, compliance or a dozen other reasons. 

Our team recognised that the key to a sustainable FMCG manufacturing operation is Overall Line Efficiency (OLE), where waste of all types, including labour, is minimised.  

Our answer to the OLE challenge is FM Link, a new-release software developed for the FMCG industry that reduces waste at every stage of the packaging process.

FM Link is a comprehensive, dynamic software system that monitors, tracks, documents, and controls the process of manufactured goods.  

It provides a functional layer connecting the enterprise resource planning (ERP) and the manufacturing control systems (Line MES) and gives decision-makers the data they need to make the plant floor more efficient and optimise production.

It acts as a digital bridge between the manufacturer’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and the factory floor. 

Right Product, Right Package, Right Label

FM Link provides industry-leading advanced capability to control entire packaging production lines (using OMAC PackML machine language standards), delivering the following customer benefits: 

• Paperless manufacturing
• Integration to the ERP system, creating a single source of data, and truth.
• Fully automatic setup of all devices on the line during product change, resulting in faster product changeovers.
• Specifies dry order goods and order fulfilment and reports back.
• Integrates seamlessly to Foodmach Line MES Line Control
• Improves line uptime and ROI 

Through recipe management and a neural network of sensors, FM Link provides the information for our advanced line control software, Line MES to deliver the right product into the right package, with the right coding and labelling, 100% of the time.

It enables fully digitised, paperless manufacturing, which eliminates human error.

Paperless Manufacturing

FM Link delivers absolutely accurate information down the line to set up all the equipment on the line with the right information, even printers, laser coders and pallet labellers.

It takes all the human error out, of the equation and is a single source of truth.

When changes need to be made, they’re made once, in the ERP. For our larger customers, it has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of dollars a month on reworking or dumping product.
 

FM Link can:

• Take production orders, allow the line manager to schedule the order they're run in, and deliver all the set-up data to the lines for each machine and device.
  
  
• Collates production data, quality etc and sends it back to the ERP, all paperless.
  
  
• Take the label data from the ERP and update the coding and labelling equipment with the correct info for the SKU being run.
  
  
• Read the applied codes / labels and verify they are correct and readable, then send a confirmation back to the Line MES (line control).
  
  
• Enable the line to be changed over with no operator intervention save for physical change parts and an acknowledgement of the SKU change on each machine. We can extend this functionality using handheld barcode scanners to require the operator to scan the dry goods / consumables to validate that the correct containers, product labels, etc are loaded in the machines, thus preventing the wrong product from ending up in the wrong packaging.

Versatile

FM Link includes the following modules: 

• Digital Work Orders: Interfaces to ERP/Management Execution Systems (MES) to receive process orders. Tracks and manages the full life cycle of a production process.
  
  
• Production Scheduling: Starts and completes work orders. Monitors order status in real time.
  
  
• Automated Quality Checks: Captures completed checks as they happen, alerts operators to upcoming tasks and measures completion conformance. Production start is dependent on compliance being met.
  
  
• Warehouse Management: Provides real-time visibility into inventory. Reports raw material usage and completed product tracking. 
   

Industry 4.0

The FM Link software suite integrates seamlessly with any ERP or legacy system.

It is delivered as an addition to our widely promoted Line Manufacturing Execution System (Line MES), which is the real-time execution system for FMCG manufacturing lines.  

FM Link, together with Line MES, facilitates a truly lean manufacturing operation and is, in our experience, the only way to deliver all the benefits of Industry 4.0.

Sound interesting? Why not get a demo to see how it works.

Just ask us