SIMATIC IT

April 2, 1958, Siemens registered the trademark SIMATIC - a combination of the words " Si emens" and "Auto matic ". The SIMATIC trademark unites various means of industrial automation of technological processes of production at the enterprise ^[5] .

In 2001, Siemens acquired two companies developing process control systems ( MES systems): the Italian company ORSI Automazione SpA ^[6] , and the Belgian company Compex ^[7] . These purchases complemented the Siemens solutions portfolio with products such as SIMATIC IT Unilab LIMS and SIMATIC IT Interspec Specification Management.

In 2003, Siemens acquired the American company IndX, a developer of the XHQ Manufacturing intelligence solution for industrial intelligence ^[8] .

In early 2009, Siemens acquired Elan Software, a company based in France, thereby further strengthening its portfolio of MES solutions for the pharmaceutical and bioengineering industries ^[9] .

In mid-2013, Siemens announced the acquisition of Preactor, the developer of the APS (Advanced Planning & Scheduling) solution for operational planning and production schedule development ^[10] .

The development of the above companies formed the basis of the SIMATIC IT integrated MES solution, which allowed Siemens to become a leader in the field of software development for discrete and continuous production control (according to the research of IDC, an independent analytical agency for 2016 ^[11] ).

Since 2016, the entire range of solutions from the MOM portfolio, which includes SIMATIC IT, has been transferred to the management of Siemens PLM Software .

SIMATIC IT for discrete production - a set of solutions for managing production operations for enterprises with small and large-scale discrete production process (for example: automotive, mechanical engineering).

SIMATIC IT for Discrete Production has the following features ^[12] :

• Management of engineering data obtained from PLM systems and their transfer to production
• Built-in quality management processes, including support for visual control, automated collection of operation parameters, registration of inconsistencies, defect management with support for quality management methodologies such as Six Sigma
• Dispatch control of the production process with differentiation of access to the performance of operations of certain personnel
• Automatic generation and demonstration of electronic work instructions for the operation with support for three-dimensional animation, video and audio accompaniment
• Interaction with ERP systems to synchronize master data and receive feedback on production status to support JIS / JIT processes
• Systematic storage of data on quality, production status, personnel, equipment and materials to support genealogy, mutual blocking, obtaining key indicators and developing trends.

SIMATIC IT for continuous and hybrid production ^[13] - a set of solutions for managing production processes for enterprises with a continuous (process) or hybrid (discrete-continuous) production process (for example: food, chemical, pharmaceutical industries).

SIMATIC IT for continuous and hybrid production has the following features:

• Automatic data collection
• Automatic order dispatch
• Combining information flows from various systems and equipment
• Optimize hardware utilization and reduce downtime
• Real-time process monitoring
• Regulatory Compliance
• Integration with quality control systems and R&D

SIMATIC IT Preactor APS ( Advanced Planning & Scheduling ) - a family of solutions for creating production schedules with limited resources (FCS or Finite Capacity Scheduling).

The functionality of the SIMATIC IT AP (Advanced Planning) solution helps build production schedules for periods from several days to several months in advance. The solution allows you to take into account situations associated with the readjustment of equipment for the transition to the manufacture of a new product, and the multiple resource limits for a single operation, split the order into batches, depending on the planning decisions made. SIMATIC IT AP is configured for performance planning.

The product allows you to plan what, where and when to produce, based on information about the estimated demand, availability of finished goods in the warehouse and principles of ordering components.

SIMATIC IT AS (Advanced Scheduling) takes into account equipment, labor, tools, and materials when scheduling activities. The solution helps to minimize the changeover time and determine the preferred algorithm of action when switching production to a new product. If the proposed solutions do not meet the requirements of the user, there is the possibility of adding specially designed solutions. In addition, the solution supports the automatic linking of individual orders based on information about production orders for each specification level. The solution calculates the lead time of dependent orders based on user-defined rules.

There are additional opportunities for working with material lists (BoM) when using the “Ordering Opportunity” functionality. This module is not intended to replace the MRP module in an ERP system. It is used in the “on demand” mode, when the user needs to find an achievable completion date for one or more products ^[14] .

The system provides:

• automated formation and launch of batches of parts and assemblies necessary to ensure customer orders, taking into account work in progress and stocks of stock on finished parts and assemblies;
• automatic calculation of the need for materials and components necessary to ensure customer orders, taking into account the availability in warehouses;
• automatic generation of the list of purchased scarce (absent from warehouses) components and materials with the indication of the required quantity (taking into account the size of the minimum and maximum purchase lot) and the required delivery time.
• Calculation of the operational production plan taking into account various optimization criteria (minimization of changeovers, minimization of work in progress, parallel loading, expansion of bottlenecks, etc.);
• formation of production schedules for work centers;
• formation of analytical reports and managing production documents;
• transfer of calculation results to workplaces in the workshop, workplaces of enterprise managers.

SIMATIC IT Production Suite is a package of solutions for creating and supporting an operational process management system (MES system or Manufacturing Execution Systems) that allows you to synchronize, coordinate, analyze and optimize the work of the entire production. The system implements most of the functions of the MES system provided by the ISA-95 standard .

SIMATIC IT Production Suite consists of the Production Modeler environment and SIMATIC IT components. SIMATIC IT Production Modeler - is an object-oriented graphical application used by the user throughout the entire life cycle of the MES project, from planning and development to commissioning of the project. The remaining components of SIMATIC IT allow you to solve the tasks of managing production processes and perform the functions defined by the ISA-95 standard.

SIMATIC IT components are software modules that provide basic MES functionality in accordance with ISA-95. Each component relates to a separate production task, such as order management, material management, personnel management and report management and others, and has channels for transmitting information to SIMATIC IT Production Modeler.

The main components of SIMATIC IT are:

• SIMATIC IT Product Definition Manager
• SIMATIC IT Production Order Manager
• SIMATIC IT Material Manager
• SIMATIC IT Messaging Manager
• SIMATIC IT Personnel Manager
• SIMATIC IT Data Integration Service

SIMATIC IT Intelligent Suite ^[15] is a solution package combining the capabilities of SIMATIC IT Production Suite and SIMATIC IT XHQ solutions for industrial intelligence, which automates the collection of processes from various sources and consolidates operational production data, presents the collected data using web technologies to employees enterprises for analysis and decision-making on production efficiency at different levels of the enterprise.

SIMATIC IT R&D Suite - a package of solutions designed to automate the processes of research and development activities of the enterprise. SIMATIC IT R&D Suite is part of the MOM portfolio of products offered by Siemens PLM Software.

SIMATIC IT R&D Suite includes two products:

• SIMATIC IT Unilab - Laboratory Management System ( LIMS ), which allows to optimize the collection and analysis of data in the laboratory, as well as reporting.
• SIMATIC IT Interspec is an advanced product specification management system for food and beverage manufacturers.

• MOM Portfolio Page at Siemens PLM Software