Medical Design Briefs - July 2022 - 12

Manufacturing System Upgrade
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Fig. 6 - Manufacturing work orders are up each year at the Veenendaal plant in the Netherlands, yet
Elekta has not had to add administrative headcount to manage this increase.
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Variables
coming
from MES
Fig. 7 - A typical MDR label, showing where the MES feeds critical information into labels. MES enables
Elekta to generate many labels automatically.
control capabilities (see Figure 4). Quality
is up and costs in terms of wasted time
and other resources are down.
Optimization. The MES displays steps
and enforces that the operator follows
them. In rolling out the MES, engineers realized
that the processes they believed to be
best practices were not always. The MES
forced a new level of process understanding
that allows them to optimize procedures.
Engineering efficiency. Fortunately, correcting
a work instruction now takes only
an hour when it might have taken three
months in the past. The work instruction
process needs 50 percent less labor and is
no longer dependent on other departments.
Now, everyone can work true to
best practices as a standard approach.
Administrative efficiency. The company
has nearly doubled revenue over the
five years. Manufacturing orders (MOs)
are up almost 35 percent over four years
in one of the plants with MES (see Figure
6). Yet, the company has about the same
number of employees. Eweg estimates
they no longer need four FTEs just for administrative
action work.
Audit efficiency. Using electronic records
and signatures makes audits
much easier and more cost- effective.
Eweg reports, " For audits, it's a really
big benefit. Quality assurance is very
happy to get an eDHR from five years
ago in 20 seconds. Before, we had a process
in place. But the main fears during
an audit were finding the DHR and
checking that it's OK. "
Agility. Elekta can now make products
to order, optimize inventory, and readily
share best practice business processes. Real-time
information helps minimize rework
and exceptions and optimize manufacturing
steps to reduce lead times.
Insight to Improve
The system provides comprehensive process control and early issue alerts, enabling the company to
respond before quality issues arise. (Credit: Shutterstock/Gorodenkoff)
these cancer-fighting products have in
countries around the globe. It will also
support custom orders.
Scheduling. The latest upgrade Elekta
did for the MES in the fall of 2020
includes enhancements to scheduling.
With some new planners on board, using
this module fully may happen later
in the cycle, yet it is a goal to ensure efficiency
by using the best resources for
each manufacturing order. Resource
scheduling has historically been a pain
12
point, and the scheduling module was a
significant capability Elekta wanted in
selecting the MES.
Benefits and Payback
Quality. Per the original vision, Elekta
has significantly reduced the cost of
poor quality. Using the MES interface to
collect specific measurements provides
the fuel for statistical process control
(SPC). This MES also includes a quality
module including SPC and other quality
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The new MES, rolled out across three
global Elekta production facilities, gives
Elekta enhanced visibility, deeper understanding
of manufacturing processes, and
the tools it needs to enhance quality.
Elekta builds some assemblies in both the
UK and China. The MES enables easy
knowledge transfers as work instructions
and flows can be cloned and then only
translated.
Collating and contextualizing masses
of shop floor and broader business data
to form valuable business intelligence,
Elekta is reaping the benefits of increased
production efficiency, reduced
Medical Design Briefs, July 2022

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Medical Design Briefs - July 2022

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