You already have a schedule. But do you know what’s happening on the shop floor?
For many manufacturers, creating the production schedule is no longer the problem. Opcenter APS provides the visibility and control needed to build achievable plans based on real-world constraints.
The challenge is maintaining that visibility once production starts.
Teams still rely on manual updates, shift handovers, spreadsheets, and disconnected systems to understand progress. By the time issues are identified, the opportunity to prevent them has often already passed.
The plan exists.
The challenge is connecting it to execution.
The Problem
Across many manufacturing sites, the same patterns show up:
Inconsistent Execution Across Shifts
Production plans may look good on paper, but execution often varies between shifts. Important information gets lost during handovers, workarounds become embedded in daily operations, and teams can end up working from different versions of the truth.
Limited Visibility Into Performance
Many manufacturers still rely on spreadsheets and disconnected reports to understand performance. By the time OEE, downtime, and loss data is reviewed, opportunities to intervene have often already passed.
Disconnected Systems and Data
Operational information frequently sits across multiple systems, making it difficult to understand what is happening on the shop floor in real time. ERP systems, machines, maintenance records, and production data often remain disconnected, limiting visibility and slowing decision-making.
For Opcenter APS customers, this creates a disconnect. APS tells you what should happen. The shop floor still struggles to show what actually happened — and why.
The Solution
Factorise is a composable digital shopfloor platform built specifically for the people who run manufacturing operations every day. With six integrated suites, more than 40 applications, and a single shared data model, it provides a connected foundation for managing execution, performance, quality, maintenance, and operational visibility.
Built on Mendix, a Siemens business, Factorise sits alongside your existing systems and connects planning to execution without disrupting production. Rather than replacing what already works, it helps manufacturers solve operational challenges one step at a time, starting with the areas that deliver the greatest value.
Production Execution Suite
The Production Execution Suite creates a digital bridge between ERP systems and the shop floor, providing greater visibility, consistency, and traceability across day-to-day operations. Applications such as Shift Handover, Order Execution, Production Order Progress Tracking, Quality Checklists, and Changeover Checklists help standardise processes while ensuring critical information is captured and shared in real time.
The result is a more connected operation where shifts start informed, operators follow consistent processes, and production performance becomes less dependent on tribal knowledge. Typical customer outcomes include productivity improvements of up to 28%, cost reductions of 20%, and shift handovers completed up to 85% faster.
This will read much better in a two-column or stacked layout and gives you a natural break between introducing Factorise and introducing the first suite.
Digital Lean Suite
One tool for lean daily management using SQDEC Performance Reviews, Daily Actions, Gemba Walks, and CI Projects.
Before digital lean management, teams often spent valuable time chasing actions across whiteboards, spreadsheets, email threads, and printed KPI reports.
Improvement activities were difficult to track, ownership was unclear, and important actions could easily be lost between shifts or departments.
The Digital Lean Suite brings these activities together in a single connected environment, giving teams greater visibility, accountability, and control over continuous improvement initiatives.
From daily performance reviews and Gemba walks to corrective actions and CI projects, everyone works from the same information and can see progress in real time.
The result is a more structured approach to problem solving, faster decision-making, and a stronger culture of continuous improvement across the organisation.
Typical results
• Up to 75% improvement in cross-shift collaboration
• Up to 30% productivity improvement potential
Beyond Production Execution
Factorise extends beyond production execution to help manufacturers improve problem solving, maintenance performance, and workforce management. Each suite is designed to address common operational challenges while providing a connected view of the shop floor.
Issue Optimiser Suite
Solve Problems Faster and Prevent Them Returning
The Issue Optimiser Suite brings issue capture, 4C root cause analysis, action planning, and Co-Operator AI together in a single connected environment.
Teams gain visibility into operational issues while ensuring ownership and corrective actions remain clear and accountable.
By identifying root causes faster and tracking actions through to completion, manufacturers can reduce recurring problems and improve operational performance.
Typical results:
• Up to 40% faster issue resolution
• Up to 60% fewer recurring issues
Machine Lifecycle Suite
Improve Equipment Reliability and Reduce Downtime
The Machine Lifecycle Suite brings equipment information, maintenance activities, service orders, QR-based asset access, and spare parts management together in a single connected environment. Teams gain greater visibility into asset performance while keeping maintenance activities organised and accessible.
By improving equipment visibility and maintenance coordination, manufacturers can reduce downtime, improve reliability, and support more proactive maintenance strategies.
Typical results:
• Up to 30% reduction in unplanned maintenance
• Up to 25% reduction in maintenance costs
Workforce Excellence Suite
Improve Workforce Visibility and Team Capability
The Workforce Excellence Suite brings skills management, team availability, training requirements, and shift planning together in a single connected environment. Teams gain greater visibility into workforce capability while ensuring the right people are assigned to the right activities.
By improving workforce planning and skills visibility, manufacturers can accelerate onboarding, improve utilisation, and strengthen operational consistency across the shop floor.
Typical results:
• Up to 40% faster onboarding
• Improved workforce utilisation and skills visibility
Proven on the Shop Floor
Factorise is already helping manufacturers close the gap between planning and execution.
At Pally Biscuits, Factorise connected 41 machines across Production Execution, Production Performance, Digital Lean, and Issue Optimiser, creating a more connected and visible manufacturing operation.
Customer-reported results included:
• 28% productivity improvement
• 20% cost savings
• 75% improvement in cross-shift collaboration
As the team at Pally Biscuits explained:
“One operator platform, connected to our machines, makes that possible.”
Why Factorise?
Manufacturers don’t need another large-scale transformation project. They need solutions that deliver value quickly while working alongside the systems they already have.
Factorise provides six integrated suites and more than 40 applications, allowing organisations to start with the problem they need to solve most urgently and expand over time as requirements evolve.
Built on Mendix and backed by Siemens, Factorise extends your existing technology landscape without disrupting core business systems, helping manufacturers achieve results in weeks rather than months.
From Schedule to Shop Floor
Opcenter APS creates the plan.
Factorise connects that plan to execution.
Operational data provides visibility into what actually happened.
Continuous improvement tools help ensure the same problems don’t happen again.
Together, they create a connected planning and execution environment that links scheduling, operations, performance, maintenance, and continuous improvement in a single flow.
That’s how manufacturers move from simply creating schedules to continuously improving operational performance.
Want to learn how Opcenter APS and Factorise can work together to create a more connected manufacturing operation? Contact the Kudos Solutions team to arrange a discussion or demonstration.
