Solumina MES Software

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.

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.

We are currently in the middle of an exhausting migration from an old version (G5) to new version (G8) and it's been a long, difficult, expensive effort. The company clearly has used Solumina MES successfully in many projects, so it may just be an issue with such a large jump in versioning.

Caveat: I'm new to the product and may not have a full understanding of its value to the company and what competitors might provide.

Pros

It is very, very customizable. An impressive amount of development clearly went into the product.

Cons

The Solumina G8 browser client software looks like a relic from the Netscape era of UX, very sensitive to network interruption. Bolt-on code can leave something to be desired.

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.

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

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.

Central storage

Pros

The search view gets the user to almost every location for daily use. Actually very little that I do like.

Cons

Multi-media management, memory to small, not being able to adjust system setting fonts, settings that seem to make no sense like 100 character min. Word processor is outdated for the version we use. Not sure if current with best version in the market place.

Better automation of manufacturing processes

Pros

The product is configurable, with access to the internals of the system. This provides a higher level of control over the actual processing that needs to be done in support of manufacturing processes.

Cons

There is not a lot of responsiveness in providing missing features to the suite of tools as they are identified. There are missing bits of functionality that are incongruous with the software audience in their absence.

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

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.

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.

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.

Ability to modernize and automate the quality oversight of our manufacturing processes

Pros

Good basic functionality for manufacturing, allows us to modernize the manufacturing processes at our facility

Cons

Lack of features expected to be included in software of this type, lack of integration with other systems to acquire quality evidence

Pros

Solumina MES is a great application with many features and iBASEt can customize the application to support various business models and business processes.

Cons

User experience for Solumina MES is not intuitive. A learning curve is expected however working around the interface is cumbersome. As part of the implementation team, the customer service and consultants I worked with could be a little more responsive and helpful.

Pros

Empowers the business with capability to grow their manufacturing process (and product lines) without needing IT involvement.

Cons

Architecture. Is not open. REST APIs or C# libraries would be very helpful to allow automation. Data concurrency needs improved to prevent data corruption at times.

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.

Pros

Linkage of appropriate documentation is very easy for users and administrators. Controlling information exchange/view to appropriate users is also straightforward. Having the ability to establish sign-off criteria within each particular work order is also excellent.

Cons

Navigation is not logical and could be simplified for user interaction. This would simplify training.

Provide work instructions for aircraft flight controls

Pros

Lists the most recent revision of the travelers you need to work on. Easy to add pictures to work plans.

Cons

Would like to see a description field. This would facilitate faster retrieval of repair work plans.

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.

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.