HCL Technologies has announced a partnership with Portugal-based Critical Manufacturing to provide manufacturing execution systems (MES) in complex manufacturing for hi-tech, semiconductor and medical device manufacturing industries.
The tie-up involves pre-and post-sales consulting, development and implementation support. It will initially focus on North America and Europe, and quickly scale to become a globally available offering.
The partnership brings the much-needed amalgamation of Industry 4.0 with MES to achieve the end-to-end digitalisation between various plant floor systems, while also providing a holistic environment for real-time information exchange and efficient decisions, said G H Rao, President for Engineering and R & D Services at HCL Technologies.
"An increasing level of intelligence is being built into MES, even as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence play pivotal roles in shaping the manufacturing industry," he said.
Francisco Almada Lobo, Chief Executive Officer and President of Critical Manufacturing, said the company's strategy is to work with a few partners with in-depth expertise in delivering manufacturing digital transformation with MES and leverage their capabilities on a global basis.
"This ensures standardisation in both approach and execution of their services," he said in a statement.
Critical Manufacturing provides a flexible and configurable MES which helps manufacturers stay ahead of stringent product traceability and compliance requirements, reduce risk with inherent closed-loop quality, integrate seamlessly with enterprise systems and factory automation, and provide deep intelligence and visibility of global production operations.