Reworking the MES solution for Onoff Group

For over 30 years, onoff group has provided tailor-made manufacturing execution system (MES) development and support services to help global brands optimize and automate business processes.

Decades of user feedback have shown onoff group how its solutions could be improved to better suit the needs of current and potential clients. The company contracted with Softage to deliver a comprehensive upgrade of its MES, incorporating the latest technological advances.

onoff group identified the following suite of necessary improvements to the MES:

• Refactoring the code to maximize accuracy, integrity, and speed
• Automating reporting and daylight saving time (DST) change
• Fixing bugs and minimizing data loss
• Developing software for an integrated barcode scanner

The client’s in-house team needed an additional pair of suitably experienced hands to help them introduce these improvements quickly and efficiently. Our expertise in C++ and portfolio of modernization projects made us a natural choice as a development partner.

onoff group trusted us to decide on the delivery model for this complex assignment and allowed us to proceed with full autonomy. Our team broke it down into small tasks and assigned them to three full-stack developers and three QA engineers. We tracked time with Jira and used Skype to keep in touch with the client’s product owner and their in-house teams.

The C++ skills deployed by Softage’s developers allowed overcoming the language’s inflexibility. We refactored the MES solution’s code to optimize software performance, ensuring the new version’s integrity through automated testing.

We also created a DST change automation system that covered all internal systems and enabled prevention of data losses. Further, Softage built an automated reporting module to empower factory managers with a full, frequently updated picture of production and relevant metrics. The module processes diverse data from the MES database, including that from the barcode scanner program, also developed by our engineers.

We upgraded onoff group’s MES on time and on budget, considerably raising its product value for the company’s clients. 

Engineers and managers using the software could now keep track of industrial processes and inventory with greater reliability and speed than ever before. The automated reports allowed management to make better-informed decisions while preventing shortages, reducing downtime, and spotting bottlenecks before they become a problem.

With its systems improved, onoff group could add further corporate giants to their client base. Factories belonging to Mars, Danone, and other major companies have soon adopted onoff group’s powerful solution to unlock data-driven production management and reduce operating costs.

Softage, in turn, used this challenging project as an opportunity to sharpen its teamwork skills and expertise in refactoring and developing software for industrial companies.