The digital Revolution of Poclain Factories
Poclain has developed its own operational excellence system: P-MOMS. Its goal: optimize and rationalize operations within the group's factories as part of the digitalization of production management. The application includes multiple features such as quality control plan management, level 1 maintenance, automatic data collection from machines, and real-time indicators. P-MOMS transforms the daily lives of operators and revolutionizes data analysis within Poclain factories.
One year to deploy internationnaly
After standardizing the operational data collection platform and unifying the group's production data visualization, Poclain is moving on to the next level by developing a new tool tailored to its specific needs.
As the existing solutions on the market were limited and costly, Poclain decided to develop its own solution, leveraging an expert dedicated team. The objective was to create a versatile and efficient operational excellence system with features meeting the needs of field operators.
P-MOMS was developped using the agile approach, enabling quick adaptation to user needs and continuous improvement of the application. The project was launched in November 2023. At the beginning of 2024, the first tests were conducted in the Verberie plant. A few months later, the first deployment on the plant floor took place in India: a new step for Poclain in the era of Industry 4.0.
The development was quickly followed by a testing and deployment phase in all Poclain factories. The application is now operational in France, India, China, and Italy. The next steps include deployment in the United States, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic by the end of 2025.
Poclain operational excellence
P-MOMS is at the heart of the digitalization of operations at Poclain, serving as a fundamental tool for operational excellence in our factories. It has several advantages:
- Improving operational efficiency by simplifying the operators' daily tasks,
- Enhancing quality control with a faster and more efficient process,
- Ensuring traceability of operations,
- Improving data reliability by directly connecting measuring devices and equipment to P-MOMS,
- Increasing operational flexibility by accelerating decision-making through real-time indicator monitoring across all group factories.
Thanks to P-MOMS, the operator connects directly to the workstation and instantly visualizes the tasks and supports, specific applications, and other Excel files. Once the equipment is selected, P-MOMS provides the operator with the manufacturing order, the related work instructions, and the tasks to be performed according to the operator’s profile. They directly input relevant data and validate their checks with a single click. The application is also directly connected to other applications in Poclain's production ecosystem via a datahub.
An application designed for the field
After standardizing the operational data, one of the main challenges encountered during the development was the amount and diversity of data to be processed upstream. Each factory had its own systems, with different formats and languages. To face this challenge, the team set up its own recognition tools adapted to the Poclain environment to retrieve the data and establish a common knowledge base. Thanks to this preliminary work on standardizing collected data and developing in close collaboration with the field, user adoption was almost immediate. Industry 4.0 became a concrete reality for operators in Poclain factories thanks to P-MOMS.
We were very lucky to be surrounded by highly engaged and motivated key users.
Throughout the development process, the team integrated user feedback. "Every issue was converted into a ticket. We wanted to remain open to any evolution to be as close as possible to the operators' needs," recalls Houssam, Industry 4.0 Engineer. “We were very lucky to be surrounded by highly engaged and motivated key users. They tested the tool right away and gave us detailed feedback immediately. We took all their remarks into account,” says Rija Rakotoarisoa, Group IT Operations & Industry 4.0 Manager.
Quick user adoption
From the beginning of the deployment, users were trained to use the interface. A wide array of training materials, available in all the group's languages, is available: videos, quizzes, demonstration environments... Everything is designed to simplify tool adoption. In India, after only 30 minutes of training, the operators were confident enough to use the application on their own. "The operators were already doing everything we integrated into the application. They already knew the procedures. P-MOMS only intervenes to simplify their daily lives, so they adopted it rapidtly!" says Rija.
After the success of the first deployment phase, the team is planning a massive deployment by the end of 2025 and is already working on the next release. Other projects are also underway to go even further in the IT/OT convergence of the group's information system. Among them are simplifying user connection, strengthening operational cybersecurity, and implementing the UNS (Unified NameSpace) architecture. As a datadriven company, Poclain aims to optimize and intensify its data usage.
