Vandewiele, established in 1880, is a supplier of machinery for the textile industry. To modernize its production operations in line with Industry 4.0 requirements—such as increased visibility, better integration across manufacturing processes and risk reduction—Vandewiele realized it needed to update its legacy manufacturing system with a modern MES (manufacturing execution system), which it chose from Critical Manufacturing.
Critical Manufacturing’s MES was selected by Vandewiele after a thorough evaluation to ensure the system selected would address Vandewiele’s diverse production landscape, which ranges across multiple production areas including sheet metal, profile cutting and sawing, milling, machining and assembly.
The initial MES implementation will take place at Vandewiele's site in Kortrijk, Belgium, with potential expansion to additional sites and companies within the Vandewiele Group to follow.
Vandewiele is deploying core features of Critical Manufacturing’s MES, such as dashboards and business intelligence for real-time performance monitoring and data analysis to ensure informed decision-making by plant managers and operators. The OEM will also implement Critical Manufacturing’s MES material and container management features to maximize inventory control and enable resource tracking for efficient allocation, as well as routing and dispatching for streamlined workflows. Other advanced MES tools in Critical Manufacturing’s software that Vandewiele plans to use include layout and printing for customized production, alarm management, scheduling and maintenance management.
Explaining Vandewiele’s selection of Critical Manufacturing’s MES, Dries Misplon, project manager of MES at Vandewiele, said, “It's a fast, modern and modular application that matches our state-of-the art discrete manufacturing process.”
Gabriel Silva, sales manager for industrial equipment Europe at Critical Manufacturing added, "Having Vandewiele onboard reinforces our commitment to driving digital transformation in traditional industries. Our solutions are designed to empower manufacturers like Vandewiele to achieve operational excellence, optimize process connectivity and harness the full potential of Industry 4.0."
