Info Hub

1. Introduction

Xynectics is a cloud‑native Manufacturing Execution & Scheduling Suite delivered as a fully managed SaaS on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Immediate browser access requires no local installation and leverages AWS reliability, elasticity and security.

The platform unifies real‑time execution, advanced planning & scheduling, and AI‑powered analytics to minimise lead‑time and operating cost across the supply chain.

2. End‑to‑End Workflow

  1. Master Data: Register machines, tools, operators and calendars.
  2. Order Intake: Use the dedicated Order Portal (drag‑and‑drop CSV) or push orders via REST/GraphQL API and ERP connector.
  3. Scenario Creation: Define objectives, constraints and scheduling parameters.
  4. Schedule Generation: Produce the most efficient production plan.
  5. Release: Publish to the Execution module; operators receive task lists in real time.
  6. Execution Feedback: Operators log activities, downtime and quality data.
  7. Continuous Monitoring: Dashboards and alerts keep stakeholders informed.

3. Core Modules & Key Features

Overview & High‑Level Features
  • Integrated MES: Real‑time tracking of production, maintenance & quality.
  • Advanced Planning & Scheduling: Generates feasible, efficient timelines.
  • AI‑Driven Analytics: Custom dashboards & drill‑down KPIs.
  • AWS Native: Auto‑scaling, multi‑AZ resilience.
  • Enterprise Security: Encryption, RBAC, audit logging.
  • Cost & Waste Reduction: Less scrap, overtime and energy.
  • Live overview with interactive Gantt chart.
  • Status counters update with filters.
  • Tooltips reveal job and batch details.
  • Create multiple scenarios with diverse objectives.
  • Supports goals like makespan, tardiness, cost or energy.
  • Considers setup times, maintenance and operator skills.
  • What‑If simulator recomputes schedules in seconds.
  • Touch‑friendly interface with barcode scanning.
  • Automatic timestamps and progress sync.
  • Downtime capture with reason codes.
  • Edge bridge for OPC/MQTT signals.
  • Preventive plans auto‑create work orders.
  • Spare parts inventory integration.
  • Planner blocks machines during maintenance.
  • Predictive maintenance insights.
  • Quotation, confirmation and delivery follow‑up.
  • Dynamic pricing based on route, lot and lead time.
  • Automated customer notifications.
  • Dashboards for OEE, Lead Time, OTIF, Energy.
  • Multi‑level drill‑down and export options.

4. Optimization & AI Toolkit

The Xynectics Solver orchestrates a layered strategy combining deterministic operations research, stochastic meta‑heuristics, surrogate‑based learning and logical inference. This hybrid engine delivers globally consistent schedules within practical run‑times.

Default vs. Extended Techniques

Standard subscription tiers employ a curated subset of algorithms that balance performance and cost for most manufacturing use‑cases. The cloud environment, however, is pre‑configured to enable any of the specialised techniques listed below upon request. Activating additional methods may require extra compute resources and will incur usage‑based fees.

4.1 Deterministic Mathematical Programming
  • Simplex / Dual Simplex for LP sub‑structures.
  • Interior‑Point and Barrier methods for convex programs.
  • Augmented Lagrangian with adaptive penalty updates for non‑linear constraints.
  • Branch‑and‑Bound enhanced by cutting planes and strong branching.
  • Interval Branch‑and‑Contract for global optimisation tasks.
4.2 Metaheuristic & Adaptive Search
  • Genetic Algorithms with domain‑specific crossover operators.
  • Simulated Annealing with reheating strategy.
  • Large Neighbourhood Search (destroy‑repair) tuned for job‑shop structures.
  • Matheuristics that embed MILP relaxations within evolutionary loops.
4.3 Learning‑Driven Optimisation
  • Bayesian Optimisation leveraging Gaussian Processes as surrogates.
  • Gradient‑free kriging/RBF models for expensive black‑box objectives.
  • Reinforcement Learning policies to prioritise neighbourhood moves.
  • Automatic hyper‑parameter tuning guided by historical performance.
4.4 Symbolic Reasoning
  • Constraint Propagation for domain reduction.
  • Conflict‑Driven Clause Learning in SAT‑backed sub‑solvers.

5. Cloud Architecture on AWS

Multi‑AZ design with dedicated load balancing, container orchestration and data tier isolation provides high availability and elastic scaling.

  • Route 53 for global DNS and health routing.
  • Application Load Balancer with TLS termination (ACM).
  • ECS Fargate for stateless micro‑services; auto‑scales via CW metrics.
  • Private EC2 node(s) running MongoDB primary and mirror replicas.
  • S3 for immutable object storage, versioned and KMS‑encrypted.
  • Redis (ElastiCache) for low latency caching and queues.

6. Initial Configuration

  1. Login with admin credentials received via onboarding email.
  2. Set plant timezone and working calendar.
  3. Register machines, operators and skills.
  4. Connect ERP or upload first CSV using Order Portal.
  5. Adjust scheduling objectives and publish initial scenario.

7. Data Model & Storage

The database tier is built on a dedicated MongoDB cluster running on AWS EC2. This setup provides:

  • Elastic Scalability: Seamless horizontal scaling via replica sets and sharding, so the system scales with production demand and data volume without interruption.
  • High Availability & Fault Tolerance: Replica sets maintain copies of data across multiple instances, ensuring that a node failure is automatically handled and the system remains online.
  • Rapid Disaster Recovery: Automated EBS snapshots and cross-region copies allow restoring entire clusters within minutes, with configurable retention policies to meet compliance requirements.
  • Point-in-Time Restores: Operation logs enable recovering the database to any point within a defined window (e.g., the last 4 hours), minimizing data loss.
  • Secure by Design: TLS-encrypted traffic, KMS-encrypted EBS volumes, and role-based access controls ensure that only authorized users can view or modify data.

8. Security & Compliance

  • ISO‑27001, SOC 2 Type II, PCI‑DSS and FedRAMP compliant AWS regions.
  • TLS 1.3 in transit, KMS‑encrypted EBS & S3 at rest.
  • Role‑based access control and comprehensive audit logs.
  • AWS WAF rules against OWASP Top‑10; Shield Advanced against DDoS.

9. Troubleshooting

Slow scheduling

Enable extended solver techniques or increase CPU quota.

API throttled

Upgrade usage plan or request WAF IP allow‑list.

10. FAQ

Can I activate additional optimisation modules?

Yes. Contact sales to enable advanced solver techniques. Additional compute charges apply.

11. Glossary

MES
Manufacturing Execution System
OTIF
On Time In Full
OEE
Overall Equipment Effectiveness