Glossary · MES and ISA-95
Operations capability
German: Betriebsfähigkeit
In ISA-95 / IEC 62264, operations capability is the information about the capability of personnel, equipment, material and physical asset resources to perform manufacturing operations over a defined time, including committed, available and unattainable capacity. Production capability is its production-specific form.
- MES
- Standards
In one sentence
In ISA-95, operations capability describes what personnel, equipment and material resources can do over a period, including available capacity.
Example
The MES reports next week's operations capability to the ERP: line 2 is available for 80 hours, with 16 hours committed to maintenance.
How it applies
- Planning: Business planning uses capability information to decide what can be produced, maintained or tested and when.
- Engineering: Capability data comes from resource models of personnel qualifications, equipment states and material availability, maintained at Level 3.
- Operation: Capability changes with breakdowns, maintenance and staffing, so it has to be updated regularly.
- Documentation: Interface specifications should state which capability types are exchanged, the time horizon and the update frequency. The generic operations term applies across production, maintenance, quality and inventory; documentation should say which category is meant.
Operations capability vs. production capability
Operations capability is the generic concept for all four categories of manufacturing operations management. Production capability applies it to production only. Earlier ISA-95 editions used the production-specific terms; newer editions generalized them.