Blog Archive: September 2026
33 articles published in September 2026.
Everything Voltrus published in September 2026: "MES for Small Manufacturers: An Honest Buyer Guide (50-500 Employees)", "The Mock Recall: How to Test Traceability in 4 Hours (With Template)", "OEE Benchmarks by Industry: What 60% Actually Means". Practical guides and comparisons for engineers working with industrial automation tools, from protocol explorers to SCADA and HMI.
MES for Small Manufacturers: An Honest Buyer Guide (50-500 Employees)
What a MES actually costs a small factory, which features matter at 50-500 employees, a buying-process checklist, and the red flags in vendor conversations that should end the demo.
Read articleThe Mock Recall: How to Test Traceability in 4 Hours (With Template)
A step-by-step 4-hour mock recall drill: pick a random lot, trace it backward and forward, reconcile every unit, and score the result. Includes a free drill template (.xlsx) and the pass/fail bar.
Read articleOEE Benchmarks by Industry: What 60% Actually Means
Why published OEE benchmarks mislead, directional ranges by industry with the reason each one skews, and how to benchmark your line against itself instead of a textbook number.
Read articleExcel vs Enterprise MES vs Voltrus: Which Layer Fits Your Factory
Spreadsheets, enterprise MES programs, and the small cloud layer in between: a fit decision across time to first value, cost shape, what breaks at 2x volume, audit response, traceability depth, maintenance, and exit cost, written for 50-500 person plants.
Read articleRoll Genealogy: Traceability for Packaging Converters
What roll genealogy capture requires on a converting line, the backward and forward queries it buys, and why ERP lot fields or machine data alone cannot tell you which input roll touched which output lot.
Read articleApa Itu MES? Manufacturing Execution System Dijelaskan Tanpa Jargon
Apa yang sebenarnya dikerjakan MES sehari-hari: work order di lini, traceability, pemeriksaan kualitas, dan OEE per pesanan. Posisinya di sistem pabrik, dan kapan pabrik benar-benar butuh.
Read articleCara Menghitung OEE: Rumus, Contoh Perhitungan Lengkap, dan Kesalahan Umum
Rumus OEE dipecah menjadi availability, performance, dan quality, satu contoh shift lengkap dengan hitungan yang benar, dan empat kesalahan yang membuat angka OEE menyesatkan.
Read articleTraceability Adalah Apa? Pelacakan Lot untuk Pabrik Pangan dan Farmasi
Traceability adalah kemampuan menjawab pertanyaan recall dalam hitungan menit: dari mana bahan baku lot X masuk dan ke mana hasil produksinya pergi. Begini isi catatan pelacakan yang lolos audit.
Read articleChecklist Persiapan Audit BPOM: CPOB, CPKB, CPPOB
Apa yang benar-benar diminta inspektur BPOM per standar — PerBPOM 7/2024 (CPOB, kini mencakup sistem terkomputerisasi dan audit trail), PerBPOM 31/2020 (CPKB), PerBPOM 22/2021 (CPPOB) — plus checklist 12 item siap cetak.
Read articleTemplate Jadwal Produksi Excel (Gratis) + Kapan Excel Berhenti Bekerja
Template jadwal produksi .xlsx gratis dengan tiga sheet (Jadwal per SPK, master data, rekap harian berformula), empat cara Excel gagal secara struktural, dan tiga pemicu waktunya pindah ke sistem.
Read articleMES vs ERP vs Software Manufaktur Lokal: Mana yang Dulu?
ERP menghitung uang dan stok; MES menjalankan lini. Tabel perbandingan lapisan, dan panduan keputusan: pain di lini = MES dulu, pain akunting/stok = ERP dulu, integrasi via CSV/API standar.
Read articleMES for Food & Beverage: Traceability and Audit Prep Without the Enterprise Project
What a food and beverage plant of 50-500 people actually needs from a MES: mock-recall speed, audit-ready batch records, FIFO discipline, and changeover data, starting on one line.
Read articleMES for Cosmetics Manufacturing: CPKB Batch Records Without Binders
What CPKB (PerBPOM 31/2020 as amended by PerBPOM 27/2025) expects from batch documentation, what an electronic batch record must cover per batch, and how the Head of Production stops assembling evidence by hand.
Read articleA Customer Asked for Genealogy: How to Answer Without Losing a Week
An OEM customer wants full lot genealogy for one PO in five days. What the request actually means, the manual assembly path and where it breaks, and what a complete genealogy pack contains.
Read articleMES Pricing 2026: The Cost Models Explained (Before You Ask for a Quote)
The four MES pricing models with public reference points, how each scales with factory shape, the hidden cost stack behind every quote, and the questions to ask before signing.
Read articleAndon Adalah Apa? Papan Andon dan Cara Pakainya di Lini Produksi
Andon adalah status visual di stasiun: normal, butuh perhatian, atau berhenti. Cara kerja eskalasi, papan fisik vs digital, andon vs grup WhatsApp, dan langkah memulainya.
Read articleCara Menghitung Kapasitas Produksi: Rumus, Contoh, dan Batasannya
Matematika kapasitas dari cycle time sampai kapasitas mingguan dengan contoh hitung lengkap, hubungan dengan OEE, dan kesalahan yang membuat angka kapasitas menyesatkan.
Read articleDokumen Batch Record Elektronik: Ganti Binder dengan Catatan yang Menulis Diri Sendiri
Apa itu electronic batch record (EBR/eBMR), isi yang wajib ada per batch, posisi CPOB 2024 (PerBPOM 7/2024) terhadap catatan elektronik dan audit trail, serta jalur migrasi dari binder kertas tanpa menghentikan produksi.
Read articleHarga Software MES: Model Biaya yang Dipakai Vendor dan yang Harus Ditanya
Empat model harga MES — per mesin, per interface, per user, dan site license — model mana yang memberatkan bentuk pabrik Anda, biaya tersembunyi, dan enam pertanyaan sebelum tanda tangan.
Read articleElectronic Batch Records: Ready for the BPOM Audit Any Day
What an electronic batch record must contain and how a digital production log turns BPOM audit prep from days of paper hunting into one export.
Read articleMeasure OEE First: Why MES Can Wait
If you have never computed OEE, buying a MES is premature. The availability, performance, and quality math explained, plus how to start on one line.
Read articleLot Traceability: Answer a Recall in Minutes
A customer asks which finished units used material lot X. Traceability with lot genealogy answers forward and backward in minutes. Here is what a good record contains.
Read articlePaper Travelers vs a Digital Production Logbook
Paper travelers fail exactly when you need them: torn, late, unreadable, unqueryable. A digital production logbook writes itself at the station. Here is what the switch takes.
Read articleHow to Calculate OEE: Formula, Worked Example, Common Mistakes
The OEE formula broken into availability, performance, and quality, one fully worked shift example with correct arithmetic, and the four mistakes that make OEE numbers lie.
Read articleDowntime Tracking That Actually Gets Used: Reasons, Pareto, Follow-up
Why most downtime logs die within a month, a starter reason taxonomy, who records what and when, and how a Pareto review plus auto-capture keep the data alive.
Read articleAndon Boards: From Lamps to Data the Floor Can Act On
How andon evolved from a lamp over the line to a live station wall: what a modern andon shows, why supervisor override must leave a reason, and where the screen belongs.
Read articleSCADA vs MES: Two Different Questions About the Same Machines
SCADA tells you what the machine is doing right now. A MES tells you what that means for the order. Where the line between them sits and how the two connect.
Read articleNCR: A Practical Non-Conformance Workflow for Small Factories
What a non-conformance report is, when to raise one, a minimum workflow, and the four dispositions that must move inventory or the NCR is a diary entry.
Read articleWIP Tracking: Know What Is on the Floor Without Walking It
Work in process is money parked on the floor. What WIP tracking must capture, why terminal-side beats end-of-day entry, and how queues expose bottlenecks.
Read articleWhat Is a MES? Manufacturing Execution Systems in Plain Language
What a manufacturing execution system actually does day to day: work orders at the line, traceability, quality checks, OEE per order. Where it sits in the stack, and when a factory needs one.
Read articleMES vs ERP: Which System Runs the Factory Floor
ERP counts the money, MES runs the line. What each system actually does, where the handoff between them sits, and which one a mid-market factory should buy first.
Read articleStill Scheduling Production in Spreadsheets? The Real Cost, and When to Move
Why spreadsheet scheduling wins at first, the five places it starts costing a factory money, and what moving to a manufacturing execution system actually takes.
Read articleSCADA Software Without Subscription Fees: What to Check Before You Buy
SCADA software without subscription fees: where per-tag and per-client meters come from, when a one-time license wins, and the five-point checklist to run before you buy.
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