Solumina MES Software

Dramatic improvement to manufacturing and quality control and risk mitigation

Huge. Aside from being paperless for the most part, the ability to quickly find data is the greatest benefit. Next, I would point to the risk reduction for data loss or missing data, as product cannot proceed to subsequent workstations without proper closure. Imagine gathering and copying data from 20 paper records kept in 20 different boxes that were put in long term storage out of state several years ago. Now imagine keying those 20 part identifiers into Solumina for a query and having the data returned in seconds!

Pros

Once dialed in, it manages inputs and outputs efficiently while providing very fast access to records.

Cons

I wish the font and icon size was customizable, and the green and red thumbs are tiny and too close together. I wish there were installation templates, or Best Utilization examples that would be useful for determining direction. As it is there is much left to the user, so the expertise of the user's configuration team is key to smooth deployment.

In supporting a difficult process, Solumina delivers sound features and superior customer support.

consistent manufacturing execution through standardized process plans. Quality of product improvements through integration of lean and SPC tools into the execution system.

Pros

Far and away, the customer support in working to deliver a robust solution for Manufacturing Execution, Quality Assurance, and management of our Supplier Quality is the number one positive feature of working with iBASEt. They continue to work to address nuances generated by the ways we run our manufacturing environment, and have brought insights and recommendations for improvement that are 'outside' the scope of the software solution they provide.

Cons

All process planning is '0D' based - text oriented, with any 2D or 3D data that is desired for inclusion or that we want to use as the 'foundation' of process plans merely attachments to the text based plans. If I had to pick a second 'con', it is the inconsistent level of 'client to server' communication which negatively impacts remote users; iBASEt continually updates their code to make remote access better, but often as a result of OUR finding where excessive database calls are made from the client causing repeated 'round trips' to be driven across the WAN.

Solumina is great - 10/10 would use again.

Pros

In my limited experience (and in the opinion of the team that evaluated various options and selected Solumina as the best), Solumina provides a greater amount of low-cost flexibility and customizability, and G8 offers a much greater out-of-the-box functionality than other commercially available MES.

Cons

It seems like customizations funded by individual companies are leveraged by Solumina into the next version of the software, but it doesn't appear that there is any type of pricing break for the software update to the customer that funded the development of the additional functionality.

We use this software in our daily business. It has a fantastic suite of capabilities.

Manufacturing in a paperless environment.

Pros

The software itself is wonderful. I would highly recommend it to business that need an electronic Work Instructions software. it allows the user to custom build different applications from Quality management to Supplier Quality as a well as Audit. Easy to use for manufacturing and the user interface is incredible.

Cons

Moving from previous versions is difficult and the migration process is cumbersome. Cusomter support is wonderful though.

Pretty efficient for the most part. Little slow at times toward the end of the day.

Pros

Easy to use. Pulls up the information that I need rather quickly. Requested information or material is readily available and concise.

Cons

There are operations that upon completion, stay on the same operation instead of forwarding to the next operation and making it cumbersome to have to perform extra clicks. Can be somewhat time consuming when you have to do that all day. Drops the database from time to time when you're in the middle of inspecting a Part.

learning the system takes times but then it is a great system

Being able to track your employees work ethics help with being more efficient as a manager, having all information at your finger tips is a God send.

Pros

by using this system traceability and accountability are at your finger tips. Being a manager this tool helps me with monitoring my employee.

Cons

there is much to much wasted time navigating through the system, there is a lot of having to go back and forth to get done what you have to get done

The shop floor can learn to use the system in minutes, authoring plans takes much longer.

Much better shop floor control than using paper work instructions.

Pros

Easy to teach operators how to log on, find a work order and execute it. Standard text and glyph buttons for links are nice. The operators like and use them.

Cons

In G7, some weird ways to get to some menu items (i.e. not very intuitive). The G7 text editor is very basic. In standard text mode no spell checker makes for more revisions after the fact.

Software is overall very capable, however, support is often slow and fixes are cumbersome

Pros

Software is very capable to handle a very large amount of manufacturing situations out of box. Traceability and control are very strong points in ensuring a high level of quality.

Cons

Interfaces are convoluted and performance is not great. For more specialized industries or situations, developing solutions is expensive both to create and maintain, so outside processes or systems may have to be used.

very flexible for customizations but lacking in training/demonstrating features

Pros

I'm able to customize UDVs to display more meaningful information and hide fields that are not used by the company. I can also substitute UDVs and create custom ones to have the exact data I want.

Cons

no visual training on software capabilities. There are written manuals but there should be a more visual training manual showing examples of the system and how it should operate

Have been working with Solumina for over 10 years and really like the application and all offeatures

Pros

The ability to create work instructions using the different tools provided and exploring new ways to improve processes.

Cons

Given our location, the location of the database and the amount of users, the application can be slow. There are some features that need improvement such as the inspection planning and the ability to tie the inspection definition into the process work plans.

I've used Solumina at my last two companies. I've been instrumental in developing the process and tr

Real-time WIP Tracking, Data and Quality metrics

Pros

Ability to track as built history and have Quality integrated into it.
Great for complex lower volume assembly.

Cons

Custom reporting can be more challenging. Exports are easy though. May not be as suitable for high volume serial controlled assemblies (too many entries required) especially if the flow is not continuous.

Solumina MES is essential to our organization.

Pros

It is easily customizable and user friendly. It works well in a large manufacturing environment. The company provides great customer support.

Cons

If you do a lot of customizations, it is hard to keep up with the latest version of the product. This is not a fault of the software, but something to keep in mind when implementing.

Solumina MES

I had a great time, the instructors were quite knowledgeable and had lots of information to share. I enjoy the location of the training course and the gift and prizes were greatly appreciated. Thanks again. Hope to have an opportunity to attend another session.

Pros

I like that way Solumina seems confusing at first, but when you start using the software it is actually quite intuitive.

Overall, Solumina has been a very positive system for our business since start-up.

Pros

The software is easy to use, both from the user side and the engineering development side. It was a great selling factor during our audits with the FAA.

Cons

The system processing is sometimes slow. Also, had a lot of bugs to work thru during start-up. Also, customer support has sometimes been lacking or not timely.

Solumina G8

I have been using Solumina for 8 years.

Pros

The new interface looks good. Unfortunately it is a Delphi applications that causes other applications to crash.

Cons

I think it is convoluted. Confusing. The database behind the application seems convoluted.

Solumina MES is feature rich!

Consolidated multiple applications across our manufacturing sites by adopting Solumina

Pros

Solumina provides a single point of information for operations for Work Instructions, Labor Charging, and discrepancy generation.

Cons

The complexity of the software and its features can present a learning curve to operators or process engineers, but once you are past that it has great audit features and stability

Our company has been a long time iBASEt customer. We use Solumina G5, G7, G8, and MES.

Pros

It is used at our location to run the shop floor. Operations would not be able to make product without it. Solumina is our lifeblood.

Cons

iBASEt's technology is stale and even in the latest versions, it is behind on the technology curve for Application and what it is developed on.

MES adjusted for Costpoint

Our company converts Solumina's version of MES to be compatible with Deltek CostPoint and additionally runs it through Citrix Receiver to all our work stations. The multiple layers of connections leaves us with a lot of slow responses and forced logouts. This is likely not really an iBaseT issue, but it's one of the biggest things we struggle with. However, for the most part when it works it works quite well.

Pros

The software has very good visual interactive displays to present work instructions. The software is also very customizable.

Cons

Being able to batch work orders together is something we were told was going to be a functionality coming to the software, but successfully being able to use this function hasn't materialized yet.

A difficult but rewarding journey

Labor and time savings. The hardware is visible

Pros

Having data in one system has simplified certain aspects of the MFG floor. After getting up to speed it gets easier to understand

Cons

Takes a while to learn, not very logical compared to other programs. Creating custom reports is difficult if not even possible. At times we have to adjust how our mfg floor functions to accommodate Solumina's limited abilities. Interfacing with machines and 2d bar codes is extremely time consuming and difficult - far from plug and play. Training is more or less thru trial and error, since everyone runs their production floors differently. Several Solumina quirks like pop open windows getting smaller in size or text disappears or arrows move for no reason, ETC. Nothing to make me mad just annoyed.

Always prompt and provide solutions

Pros

The data validity and capability to track multiple WO against plans. Also DB structure is tight with procs and triggers.

Cons

Super confusing looking and menu names can be abstract. Solumina G8 browser is not a good fit for a G7 environment.