Artificial Intelligence is transforming the way businesses operate, analyse information and make decisions. In industry, this evolution creates new opportunities to optimise processes, anticipate problems and improve production performance.
It is within this context that Flow MESsIA emerges, a Flowtech project that aims to integrate Artificial Intelligence into Flow Manufacturing, paving the way for a new generation of smarter MES (Manufacturing Execution System) solutions focused on supporting decision-making.
Artificial Intelligence is transforming industry
Industrial digitalisation has enabled companies to collect and monitor an increasing volume of information about their production processes.
Data on equipment, production times, consumption, downtime, quality and operational performance is becoming increasingly accessible through industrial management systems.
However, having access to more data does not necessarily lead to better decisions.
The real challenge lies in interpreting this information, identifying patterns, anticipating deviations and turning data into actionable knowledge.
This is precisely where Artificial Intelligence plays an increasingly important role. Its application to industrial systems opens up new ways of analysing data and supporting decisions, bringing technology closer to the real needs of manufacturing operations.
Flow MESsIA: the evolution of Flow Manufacturing
For more than 18 years, Flowtech has been developing Flow Manufacturing, an MES solution that enables companies to monitor, control and optimise their production processes.
With the development of Flow MESsIA — MES powered by AI, Flowtech aims to take the next step in the evolution of this platform by combining three key areas:
- Production Engineering, to understand industrial processes and operational challenges.
- Data Science, to analyse information, identify patterns and uncover relevant relationships.
- Artificial Intelligence, to support data interpretation, anticipate problems and recommend actions.
The aim is to develop a system that goes beyond collecting and presenting information, actively contributing to faster, better-informed decisions tailored to the production environment.
From production monitoring to intelligent decision support
MES solutions play a fundamental role in connecting production planning with execution. They enable companies to monitor what happens on the shop floor, control operations and access up-to-date information on industrial performance.
With Flow MESsIA, the ambition is to take these monitoring capabilities further through a more intelligent and context-aware approach.
The project aims to develop features that will make it possible to:
- Understand the operational context by connecting different production data and conditions.
- Anticipate potential problems through data analysis and pattern identification.
- Identify opportunities for improvement by supporting the optimisation of production processes.
- Recommend actions in real time to facilitate responses to situations requiring intervention.
- Support operators, supervisors and managers by providing relevant information for different levels of decision-making.
These capabilities represent the development objectives of Flow MESsIA and reflect Flowtech's vision for a new generation of industrial management systems.
A €1 million investment in industrial innovation
To drive this technological evolution, Flowtech has announced an investment of €1 million in Artificial Intelligence as part of the development of Flow MESsIA.
The project, supported by the SIID – Business R&D programme, has a two-year development timeframe and benefits from the scientific and technological support of INESC TEC.
The initiative will follow the CRISP-DM methodology (Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining), a structured approach to developing data analysis projects.
Another important aspect is the active involvement of Flowtech's customers, helping to ensure that technological development addresses real industrial needs.
This connection between research, technical expertise and operational experience is essential to creating Artificial Intelligence solutions with practical applications in production processes.
The future of industrial management relies on smarter decisions
Integrating Artificial Intelligence into MES solutions represents an evolution in how companies can use the information generated every day in their factories.
Rather than simply collecting indicators and monitoring results, the focus is shifting towards understanding what is happening, identifying areas for improvement and supporting the selection of the most appropriate actions.
With Flow MESsIA, Flowtech reinforces its commitment to research and the development of industrial technology, continuing the evolution of Flow Manufacturing.
Because the future of industrial management depends not only on the amount of data available, but on the ability to turn that data into decisions that create value for production.
Learn more about Flowtech's industrial management solutions and discover how Flow Manufacturing can support the digital transformation of your production operations.