In manufacturing sites in Thailand, the introduction of “traceability” systems that manage the movement of materials and manufacturing processes has been accelerating. This article introduces a case study of an MES and traceability system implementation at PIOLAX (Thailand), the Thai subsidiary of the PIOLAX Group, which has been a pioneer in KAIZEN activities using IT systems within the industry.

A System to Visualize Material Flow and Prevent Human Error

At Piolax, an ERP system had already been implemented to manage accounting, sales, production, and inventory. However, on-site material movement, production results, and lot control were still managed using handwritten ledgers and Excel files. The factory employs nearly 380 people and handles approximately 2,000 product items. With a high daily production volume, material movement was frequent. In order to meet increasingly strict customer quality requirements, the company began to feel the limitations of manual ledger-based management.

As a result, Piolax decided to introduce a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and a traceability system to visualize all material movements from raw material receiving, through the manufacturing processes, to the shipment of final products.

▲ Product storage warehouse inside the PIOLAX factory

▲ All items managed with QR codes from raw materials to finished products

▲ Production progress by process displayed on office monitors

Since the introduction of the core system in 2019, the system has been continuously improved and enhanced with additional functions such as human error prevention features by incorporating feedback from on-site staff.

“In addition to objectives such as labor-saving and resource-saving (paper reduction), this system implementation was carried out with a medium- to long-term vision of linking traceability with our ERP system. In addition to system development, we have also signed a maintenance contract with Thai NS Solutions (hereinafter ‘Thai NS’) and entrust them with comprehensive system management. By understanding our on-site operations, they have contributed to system construction from a holistic perspective—linking systems together rather than treating them as isolated components.” (Mr. Kodaira, PIOLAX)

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PIOLAX selected Thai NS as its partner for the following reasons:

＜Key Reasons for Choosing Thai NS Solutions＞