Mini-Sode 4: ORTEMs 101 (feat D4M’s Axel Santillan)

Gene: Before we begin, tell me a little bit more about yourself. How long you’ve worked for D4M and what’s your level of experience?

Axel: I would say I’m a freshman; I’ve been working with D4M for about four months. My expertise is more related to engineering and technical knowledge; for example, knowing about the production lines manufacturing is one of the main part of what I do. I’ve been working with D4M as a consultant related to the advanced planning scheduling solution that Dassault System offers that is part of the Delmia brand.

Gene: Okay, so you brought up Dassault. So, when it comes to Dassault products, what do you do at D4M regarding Dassault and the Delmia brand specifically? You said that your level of expertise is more about production lines and so forth, so can you please talk more about Dassault and maybe how the Delmia suites help in this regard?

Axel: The Delmia brand is part of the solutions that Dassault System offers regarding about the production optimization.

Axel: First things first; the Delmia suite of software is the scheduling and planning a module that allows the clients to have a better visibility of what they’re doing, how they can improve their production lines, and to make decisions that allow them to have the best plan regarding to their needs/requirements.

Gene: Just to lay the groundwork for the discussion today, what is Delmia Ortems in general? Most of the time someone has discussed this concept, they blur the lines between the product line (Delmia) with the software itself (Apriso, Ortems, etc). What exactly is Delmia Ortems AND – if you could – please define the two separately.

Axel: So, the Delmia Brand has part of Dassault’s 3D experience platform (that helps various industries and services providers to connect the virtual world to design and the real world of manufacturing). When talking about ORTEMs, that software is part of their “optimized production” software – in other words, the preliminary stages of manufacturing — that involves scheduling and planning.

Axel: Overall, that’s the main concern that ORTEMs software is to help the clients to take the best decisions in order to their supplying lines.

Gene: From your experience with the platform, what exactly are the strengths of Delmia Ortems compared to other brands on the market? What is the specific selling point that really makes Delmia Ortems so special?

Axel: Most other competitors on the market are overly complex modules that allow them to do only part of the scheduling. This isn’t to say that the software is bad, perse; but sometimes, the software is too complex for its own good, and that doesn’t allow the client to reach their needs because it becomes more difficult.

Axel: Worse still, if the use/implementation of the software is too complicated, they may have to bring in a third party – adding even more to the cost of their system.

Axel: Thinking about the overall customer satisfaction, they also tend to have really good agreement with the clients to ensure they’re happy with the product. And I think that’s the one of the main parts of any rollout/integration process that we often overlook; if the customer can use the product properly, they’re happy AND if the customer is happy, that’s the true metric of success.

Gene: We’ve talked a little bit beforehand on the crucial part that scheduling and planning software as part of the digital manufacturing process. Why exactly should higher ups at a company implement this software generally? Afterall, I hear a lot about how most companies – huge companies that are household names with some enormous production plants – still do paper and pencil and still plan things just via Excel files. Can you please go into more detail about how scheduling software like Delmia Ortems can help in manufacturing?

Axel: As you mentioned, the traditional form of scheduling requires manually reporting using the Excel and is shared via email. I think that the main change that ORTEMs can provide is an opportunity to bring teams into new digital manufacturing process. A perfect example of this is industry 4.0. The traditional forms of information sharing are slow and imperfect and could not possibly keep up with the manufacturing revolution moving towards AIs.

Axel: Instead of completing schedules in the traditional way, this software will improve the scheduling/planning phase AND allows that digital upgrade. So, it will be easier to plan/change course more easily as all plans/executions will be part of the same digital software.

Axel: Though plants are not always willing to change with the times, it’s a step that will need to happen sooner rather than later. It allows greater collaboration, increased productivity, and allows all levels of production to access the information, Make this translation from a traditional paperwork will be really hard. It is the solution of the future and that’s what we have to keep in mind before you get left behind.

Gene: What are the most valuable benefits to the ORTEMs production schedule?

Axel: I think that the main benefit of the production scheduler is that it is – first and foremost – a decision support tool.

Axel: ORTEMs allows the users to define their planning strategy, analyze the scheduling results and modify the suggested plan. In short, it allows for the creation of not only an achievable plan but a realistic one based on the resources available.

Axel: As we already mentioned, a traditional scheduling process takes several months or offers the capability to reduce the duration of this elementary part. Thinking about it from a strategic point of view, DELMIA ORTEMs allows better responsiveness and management.

Axel: Now, regarding the financial side of things, we can lower cost through optimization, reduction of stock and working capital.

Gene: Since you’ve been mentioning a bunch of industry terms today, I’d like to take this opportunity to make sure that we’re not necessarily splitting hairs or confusing terminology.

Gene: So, first you mentioned a lot the concept of “APS” and then, you also mentioned the concept of a production scheduler. Are these two things the same or are they completely different types of software? If so, could you please elaborate on these two things?

Axel: Oh yeah. APS stands for “advanced production scheduling” solutions. The Dassault version of that concept is DELMIA ORTEMs. “PS” refers to the “production scheduler”. That acts as that’s, let’s say, the module the APS software that will enable to the clients to use in order to check and to manage their schedules/plans via their machines. The production scheduler is a part of the software not a software itself.

Gene: Before this interview, we were talking back and forth regarding some of the key features of DELMIA ORTEMs, and one of the subjects that keeps coming up is the concept of “Improved visibility” through this product.

Gene: Can you please go into more detail about how DELMIA ORTEMs pertaining to improved availability, visibility and traceability?

Axel: As part of their improved visibility factor, ORTEMs brings the traceability features to the forefront through the built in indicator chart. ORTEMs also has continuous monitoring of the global performance and KPIs.

Axel: Besides that, Dassault’s key area of expertise is their extensive simulations to compare the different scenarios and the impact of various changes in order to choose the desired outcome based on the expectation of the client.

Gene: That being said, do you have any additional thoughts with regards to DELMIA ORTEMs?

Axel: I think it’s a really powerful tool; It makes the scheduling process really easy to handle and really easy to see their improvement areas. However, app doesn’t make up for poor planning/scheduling software. Your organization needs to know what it wants based on what resources are available to you. Don’t expect your production output to triple in the first few weeks. Once it is set up, you will see results over time.

Gene: Now that we’ve gone over some central concepts, let’s talk a little bit ORTEMS implementation in more practical terms. You keep mentioning how easy it is to implement DELMIA ORTEMs. So, just out of curiosity, how long does a typical implementation of Delmia Ortems take?

Axel: Typical implementation of scheduling software takes really several months. Granted, if the implementation is done by seasoned professionals who have various templates to speed up rollouts, it can take much less time than that.  

Axel: It also entirely depends on the set up of the plant itself. There are a variety of constraints that – without seasoned veterans – can prolong a project indefinitely.

Axel: However, that said, the pros far outweigh the cons, as it will greatly improve the production schedule over traditional spreadsheet planning

Gene: So, just out of curiosity – since most of the interviews I do are regarding SAP, ERPs and automotive -what size corporation can implement ORTEMs? Is it possible to implement said software in other industries outside of automotive?

Axel: I think that the one of the best parts of Delmia Ortems is that it can adapt to any role of the company nor does it haves to be implemented in large companies. ORTEMs can adapt to any of your company demands and it can be really adapted to anything that you require.

Gene: Doing research before going into this interview, it seems to me that what also makes Delmia a great solution is that you don’t necessarily have to do a company-wide integration and implementation. You can essentially do one or two plants. And as long as another one is set up that it can still track the information.

Gene: Is that correct? And, if so, how many plants can access data under this one system network integration?

Axel: Yes and no. Delmia software is typically installed for one plant to assist in planning/scheduling. However, due to the various integration features, one installation of ORTEMs – if connected to an external piece of software like an ERP – could allow you to access that information via a network.