Machines

Machines are a piece of equipment in a factory that performs one or more manufacturing operations. Machines are used to represent physical equipment, such as manufacturing units, equipment resources, or work centers. For example, a press, oven, conveyor, and assembly process. Although machines provide flexibility in representing real-world equipment, the following key rules apply:

• A machine operates as a single unit and must start and stop as a whole. One section of the machine cannot stop while another is running.
• Production output, defects, and rework are recorded at the machine level to enable accurate OEE reporting at the production line level.
• Quality inspections are assigned to machines and carried out on machines.
• Tools are loaded onto and unloaded from machines as required.
• Each machine is associated with a single line section, and a line section can be linked to multiple lines.
• A machine is mapped to an ERP work center. However, this mapping varies depending on how worn centers are modeled in the ERP system.

Machines include various configurable properties, such as machine name, machine type, location class, line section, collection modes, and reasons sets.