Castors and wheels manufacturer Tente has selected Barco to provide a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for their plant in Ballymote, Co Sligo, Ireland.

Following a detailed evaluation of potential suppliers, the PLANTMASTER MES will be installed at the modern injection moulding facility in Ballymote to provide real-time visibility of all Key Performance Indicators (KPI), targeting operational excellence and rapidly respond to changing conditions.

As Europe's largest castor manufacturer, Tente share Barco's commitment to continuous innovation, product perfection and customer support. With a global manufacturing base, over 1,000 employees and a product range of over 10,000 variations of castor, Tente realized the benefits real time monitoring would offer their Irish facility.

"Previously our data collection methods were entirely manual" explained Ciaran O'Murchu, Project Engineer. "Installation of the PLANTMASTER system will enable us to automatically monitor cycle times, optimize efficiencies and reduce manual paperwork."

"One of the reasons Tente chose Barco was the ease of configuration and the flexibility of their software. It was essential for Tente that the MES system was adaptable. PLANTMASTER will allow us to quickly create and modify reports as required without requiring specialist IT knowledge."

At any stage operators can configure their own reports using the integrated report design tool. PLANTMASTER users do not have a limited or fixed suite of reports forced upon them, which is often the case with many other MES systems. During implementation, Barco engineers will discuss precise requirements with the client and create a fully customized installation to suit their specifications. When new reports or modifications are required, the customer is able to make changes quickly and easily.

All injection moulding machines at Ballymote will be equipped with Barco's wireless data units to communicate live performance data to the PLANTMASTER system. The wireless Bluetooth architecture offers real-time data integrity and security, whilst providing considerable savings on installation costs over traditional cabled solutions. Flexibility for the future is a further benefit should new machines be added or the existing layout altered.