Belgium & The Netherlands

Upcoming Meeting:

Event:	September: MESA Dutch Belgium Working Group Meeting
Location:	TBD
Details:	The next meeting for the Belgium / Netherlands Working Group is scheduled for September. Details will be published soon.

Past Meetings:

The MESA Dutch/Belgium Working Group met June 24 in Budel (the Netherlands) at the production site of Nedzink. Nedzink is an important player on the market for rolled Titanium Zinc (NTZ). In 2009 a MES system was implemented to support and improve manufacturing. The implementation covers the total production process (casting, laminating,
cutting) using the following modules: production management, quality and downtime / OEE.

The implementation has been finished now and last year was used to optimise the reporting system. There was interesting discussion about the business case (mainly driven by efficiency and quality), acceptance by operators and the staff, and vision of the future.

Thank you to Nedzink for their hospitality and Roel Frissen for the organisation of this meeting. 

To view pictures from the June 2010 meeting click here.

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On March 2, 2010 the MESA Dutch / Belgium Working Group meeting was hosted by Tata Steel / Corus in The Netherlands.  As usual the meeting was held at a manufacturer's site and a very good place for both a formal and informal exchange of experiences in the MES field.  Reinoud Visser (Atos Origin), chair of the Dutch/Belgian Working Group committee and member of the MESA EMEA Board, opened the meeting and welcomed everybody on behalf of Tata Steel / Corus. First points on the agenda were some MESA highlights such as the upcoming EMEA conference in Germany, MESA's strategic initiatives and the Educational Program which is driven by Peter van Vliet (SAP) and Mike James (ATS).  Fred Vreeburg from Tata Steel / Corus continued and gave an overview of MES at their site in the Netherlands.  After that, Paul Koper and Leon van Rooijen from Corus Packaging Plus (CPP) gave an overview of 20 years of MES History at the Dutch site and an outlook of the next five years to come.  Then a plant tour was planned and coordinated by Jack Suurland, manager ICT of the CPP plant.  We had a very interesting look at the production facilities of one of the largest Packaging Steel producers of the world.   

To see pictures from the meeting, click here.

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During 2005 and 2006, eight meetings of the MESA International Working Group in Belgium and the Netherlands were organized. Over 30 attendees representing 25 companies were involved in lively discussions about best practices and practical solutions for implementing and applying MES. At the last meeting in December 2006, there was an interactive workshop about "The Value of MESA in Europe."

At the next meeting on Tuesday, May 8, in Gent (Belgium) Wim de Bruyn and his team of the University College Gent presented the results of their research on MES. An ex-student of this University College, Vincent Locquet (SAP), talked about and demonstrated SAP's xMII application. Also, the results of MESA's research about "Metrics that Matter" were discussed. Naturally, a visit to the University's test brewery was part of the meeting!

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Contact:

For more information on the MESA Netherlands and Belgium Working Group, please contact:

Reinoud Visser, Atos Origin
Reinoud.visser@atosorigin.com

Wim de Bruyn, Hogeschool Gent
wim.debruyn@hogent.be

Frans Jan Wijma, SC Johnson
fwijma@scj.com