e-F@ctory Alliance

In an era where most work depends on data — for analysing information, fixing problems precisely, and controlling operations conveniently so that work runs smoothly and responds to every event in time — Mitsubishi Electric has developed solutions together with a company in the e-F@ctory alliance partner network: Lertvilai and Sons Co., Ltd., a leader in the development and design of automated robotic systems in Thailand. Developed jointly with Mitsubishi Electric, they are two solutions of considerable importance in helping to develop and raise the standard of manufacturing processes in Thai industry: Q-ERP and Q-IIoT

This collaboration grew out of recognising the importance of management systems in the automated factory, which creates an advantage for industrial plants in the Industry 4.0 era and in the highly challenging New Normal.

The solutions that Lertvilai and Sons Co., Ltd. developed together with Mitsubishi Electric are two solutions of critical importance in helping to develop and raise the standard of manufacturing processes in Thai industry: Q-ERP and Q-IIoT



Q-ERP — a solution for managing production data systems

The Q-ERP solution is an enterprise management software system developed by a Thai company, suited to business organizations of every size and particularly to the manufacturing sector, where it supports planning for production businesses and product distribution across every kind of manufacturing plant. It comprises purchasing, sales, warehouse, accounting and finance, and production modules. It is certified to Revenue Department standards under approval number 0562, supports the preparation and submission of e-Tax Invoice & Receipt data, and its software development process is certified to the international standard ISO/IEC 29110.

Q-ERP Manufacturing is an integration of the Q-ERP Trading system and the Manufacturing system, which lets industrial plants control operations easily with detailed, accurate data. The production system can be extended and linked to data in other systems, covering both raw material calculation according to the production formula and production cost calculation according to that formula. This improves management effectiveness for executives, who must plan production, stock and finances alike, using Pivot Table analysis — production volume analysis, sales analysis, warehouse analysis, and cash/bank receipts and payments analysis — and it can close the financial accounts, which is the heart of the business.

The Q-ERP solution comes in two versions to meet the needs of both small and medium-sized industry:
■ Express version (Q-ERP/xM): suited to no more than 10 concurrent users. Easy to get started, economical, and functionally complete
■ Enterprise version (Q-ERP/eM): suited to 35 or more concurrent users, with the full range of functions (purchasing, sales, warehouse, accounting and finance, and production). It improves rigorous stock management through lot reservation for sales, remaining-lot handling in FIFO, FEFO and manual lot-selection modes, and production cost calculation using actual raw material costs and expenses

The Q-ERP solution therefore suits small through medium-sized businesses, from 10 to 500 users, covering manufacturing plants of every type, buy-and-resell businesses, and service businesses

Using Q-ERP carries conditions on the data storage system: it requires Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition or Standard Edition or higher, and the plant must have a server on premise or on cloud before the Q-ERP solution can be installed.

Functions within Q-ERP
1. The software was developed on the basis of real working businesses, so its functional coverage is complete
2. Pivot Table analysis — production volume analysis, sales analysis, warehouse analysis and purchasing analysis — letting executives review summary figures and change the view themselves, easily and as required
3. Support for connecting to frontend add-on systems such as Q-IIoT, e-commerce, POS, HRM and real-time time attendance systems



Q-IIoT — a solution that connects machinery and equipment for real-time operation

The Q-IIoT solution is software for connecting to and communicating with production equipment and machinery in real time. It suits manufacturing plants of every kind, from small businesses through to large ones, and can connect to a wide range of devices — including PLCs fitted with an OPC UA Server conforming to IEC 62541, with no limit on the number of PLCs (subject to the computer's memory), using the opc.tcp protocol; robots and production machinery are examples.

Functions in the Q-IIoT solution Calculated and presented on a real-time dashboard, namely: 1. Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) for each machine or device
2. Power consumption for each machine or device, and the ratio of energy use to production volume (intensity)
3. Operation status of a machine or device — stopped or running
4. Highly secure data transmission and reception



Q-ERP and Q-IIoT differ in that Q-ERP is an ERP system, whereas Q-IIoT is software for connecting to and communicating with production equipment and machinery in real time



This is only part of the ERP and IIoT solutions from LERTVILAI and Mitsubishi Electric that help industrial plants meet their needs for data analysis and problem solving — making operations efficient and fast, and answering the demands of manufacturing in the 4.0 era