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Mestec wins deal to implement MES at Thales Land & Joint Division in Glasgow (Dec 2006)Mestec announced today that it has won a deal to deploy ‘Phase 1’ of a major MES implementation within the Thales Land & Joint Division in Glasgow.“Following an initial ‘Phase 1’ deployment, we plan to roll-out the Mestec system across our entire Glasgow operation involving about a hundred users” states Alan Haigh, Supply Chain Director at Thales L&J. “There are also plans in place to standardise Mestec’s system across other sites in the Thales L&J group.”
“The tangible benefits alone provide a ROI period of 18 months, so the decision to buy Mestec was straightforward” continues Alan Haigh. “This short ROI period is primarily associated with increased operator efficiency and hence increased plant capacity. However, it is likely that the greatest benefits will come from the operational visibility that the Mestec system offers which heavily supports our continuous improvement initiatives.”
“The aerospace & defence industry is becoming tougher to survive year on year”, explains Alan Haigh. “Margins are under pressure and therefore our manufacturing strategy has to support this competitive approach. Therefore we have had to adopt a full-on lean manufacturing and 5S program in order for us to maintain our position at the top of our game. The Mestec system complements these programs precisely; not only does it drive critical information to, from and around the plant, but it gets it to the right place at the right time, every time without any manual intervention. The management and coordination of all the information that drives and reports on the manufacturing process will become completely automatic, dependable and consistent.”
“The Mestec system will allow us pinpoint wasteful activities and will provide us with the metrics required to model the ‘ultimate’ process. It will then ensure that this ultimate process is standardized and followed each and every time, allowing us to perfect every aspect of our manufacturing operation.”
When asked about their use of ERP, Alan Haigh insisted “Of course ERP is prerequisite for any sizeable manufacturing operation. It provides all the tools and functions needed to drive the planning process, but not the manufacturing execution itself. MES complements and extends ERP to manage the complexity and variability of the plant floor process. Without both you just won’t have the level of control and visibility that’s required,” concludes Alan Haigh.About Thales Land & JointThales UK is a major electronics and systems group serving defence, aerospace, security and services markets. Thales employs 9,000 staff in the UK and 60,000 people in 50 countries. Thales Optronics sits within the Land and Joint division and has sites in Glasgow, Bury St Edmunds and Staines.
All manufacturing is carried out on the Glasgow site with a product portfolio covering Land, Naval and Aerospace applications.
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