Lockheed Martin is seeking to increase the speed, control, and visibility of several government satellite programs being carried out at its Littleton, Colo. Space Systems facility. The company is looking to the FactoryLogix Manufacturing Execution Software (MES) from Philadelphia-based Aegis Software for the solution.
The software is a good fit for manufacturers in aerospace and defense applications areas—in particular, for mission-critical applications where accessibility of real-time factory data can help find potential defects in a product and alert operators that changes must be made even as a design is on the production line. Lockheed Martin Space Systems plans to use the software to access details on intelligent digital work instructions and advanced data analytics, so as to overcome any design issues and improve the efficiency of the production line by avoiding delays due to defects.
The facility is responsible for building satellites for a number of space missions and has a history of exploring advanced digital technologies throughout product design and manufacturing cycles to improve product quality and manufacturing efficiency (see photo). The Digital Tapestry approach used by Lockheed Martin Space Systems helps identify nonconformance to production-line parameters and specifications, resulting in reduced time to market.
MES is an integrated suite of manufacturing software modules—such as NPI, Logistics, and Production—that can be used to adapt to different manufacturing environments. They can coordinate such functions as aerospace assembly validation, scheduling, warehouse maintenance, and even equipment wear prediction for efficient management of a production facility.
