Design and Development of a Toolbox Machine Integrated with a Manufacturing Execution System

Modern manufacturing environments increasingly rely on the integration of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), and industrial automation to improve production visibility, operational efficiency, and decision-making. However, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face challenges in adopting commercial MES solutions due to their high cost and implementation complexity. This project presents a low-cost Manufacturing Execution System for workshop management that integrates Odoo ERP, Ignition SCADA, a PLC-based industrial toolbox, and a MySQL database to enable real-time production monitoring and manufacturing order management.
The proposed system uses a physical Wecon LX5S-N Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), Human-Machine Interface (HMI), industrial control components, and a simulated production toolbox representing a manufacturing workstation. Communication between the PLC and Ignition SCADA is established using Modbus TCP, while Odoo ERP exchanges production information with the SCADA layer through a web-based interface. Manufacturing Orders generated in Odoo are transferred to the control system, acknowledged by the operator, executed through simulated production scenarios, and continuously monitored throughout the production cycle. The system automatically records production progress, machine states, downtime, energy consumption, waste, scheduling information, and maintenance events within the MES environment.
System validation consisted of more than five manufacturing-order scenarios, including normal production and simulated machine fault conditions. All Manufacturing Orders were successfully transferred, executed, and synchronized between the ERP, SCADA, and PLC layers without communication failures. Fault scenarios successfully generated maintenance notifications, recorded downtime, and allowed production to resume after corrective action. The automated integration significantly reduced manual production reporting by synchronizing machine status and production data directly from the PLC.
The developed system demonstrates the feasibility of implementing an affordable ERP–SCADA–PLC integrated Manufacturing Execution System capable of providing reliable production monitoring and workshop management while supporting the digital transformation objectives of Industry 4.0 for small and medium-sized manufacturing environments.