How to build your dream MES project team Choosing the right vendor and MES solution is crucial, but assembling the perfect team is just as vital for the success of your MES project. Discover how to build your ideal MES team. Yves Bourgeois 2024-04-19
Factry Historian v6.4: A new step towards simplified administration Before we let the big ones fly, Factry Historian v6.4 marks a product update focused on perfecting the functionalities you’ve grown to depend on. David Dierickx 2024-04-04
Free white paper: How to kickstart your MES project in 6 steps Tired of dealing with scattered data, struggling with spreadsheet reporting, and lacking real-time insights into production operations? Our new white paper provides a 6-step guide to address your manufacturing challenges. Yves Bourgeois 2024-04-02
Why MES implementation is a game changer for manufacturers – and not just another IT rollout Implementing a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) goes beyond setting up a conventional IT project. Instead of merely a technological adoption, an MES presents a strategic opportunity to gain a competitive edge. Yves Bourgeois 2024-03-28
Visit Factry at Hannover Messe 2024 We’re Hannover-bound once again! Join us at Europe’s premier Industry 4.0 event from April 22nd to April 26th. Jolan De Cock 2024-03-27
Why our new Account Executive Emile said 'Yes' to Factry? We were looking for someone who knows what our clients feel, what they need and how they operate. He was looking for a new challenge that would boost his career. And then everything fell into place. Emile Pierloot 2024-03-01
Three hot manufacturing tech trends you’ll be talking about in 2024 CEO and founder of Factry Jeroen Coussement sheds light on three of his hot Industry 4.0 topics for this year: creating a Unified Namespace, the shift towards user-centric production software and the rise of AI-powered process insights. Jeroen Coussement 2024-02-07
Factry Historian v6.3: A leap forward in cloud connectivity and manual data entry Factry Historian’s v6.3 release brings significant enhancements, focusing on cloud connectivity, measurement autodiscovery, manual data entry, and a robust integration with Seeq. Here’s what’s new. David Dierickx 2024-01-05
New on the shelf: the Factry Historian Connector for Seeq How the Factry Historian Connector for Seeq improves data handling and analysis, optimising complex data analysis processes in Seeq. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2023-12-14
The pulse of innovation: Factry’s Data Engineering team in focus The story of Factry’s Data Engineering team is one of transformation. As the company expanded, so did the challenges and opportunities, leading to the birth of a team uniquely equipped to handle the complexities of client needs. Meet the Data Engineering team! Jolan De Cock 2023-12-13
Series: Four mind-blowing dashboards you can build in Factry Historian Discover four essential Grafana dashboards used by our clients, and how they use them to reach operational excellence and improve OEE performance. Jolan De Cock 2023-11-17
Industrial asset monitoring with Grafana in Factry Historian: 2 real-life dashboards Asset monitoring isn’t just about keeping an eye on your equipment. It’s a strategic initiative with a huge impact on the bottom line. Here are two examples of how clients leverage Factry Historian dashboards to save money on maintenance, eradicate unplanned downtime, and drive maximum process efficiency. Jeroen Lavens 2023-11-17
Client story: a new revenue model with Factry Historian How EISA leveraged Factry Historian’s data collection and dashboards to develop a new revenue stream, and increase customer satisfaction. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2023-11-10
Why our newest colleagues Idil & Conor just couldn't resist a job at Factry With six nationalities making up our team, even our office dog now barks in Shakespearean tones. Here’s a chat with our two latest international team members: Turkish national Idil Dikbas and Scotsman Conor Barr. Jolan De Cock 2023-10-23
Mastering Change Management in MES implementations: a blueprint for success For production companies aiming to thrive in today’s competitive market, MES implementation is not merely an option but a necessity. Here’s how to effectively manage transformation to agile manufacturing, and implement an MES that drives strategic value for the organisation. Yves Bourgeois 2023-10-13
Factry Historian v6.2: Enhanced functionality and usability for power users With the release of Factry Historian v6.2, we’re unveiling a world of improved usability and superior performance. Designed for power users, this update is not just about what you see on the surface. It’s about enhancing the core functionalities that drive your experience. Jeroen Coussement 2023-10-03
Why AGC Glass took Factry Historian along on a multi-site digital transformation journey Glass producer AGC Glass Europe is on a mission for enterprise-wide digital transformation. In a mere two years, they have implemented Factry Historian in 8 sites and a multitude of production lines. Benjamin Léonard explains why that’s just for starters. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2023-09-19
Two real-life examples of batch analysis in Factry Historian using Grafana dashboards Is it the Golden Batch you’re looking for? See how two of our clients use Grafana dashboards in Factry Historian to analyse their production batches, and reproduce perfect results on every run. Jolan De Cock 2023-09-07
A new face in the Historian team: meet our Software Engineer Arnaud To support the constant development of Factry Historian, we needed a Software Engineer that can keep up with the pace. With Arnaud Van der Poorten, our white knight has finally arrived. Why did he decide to apply for a job at Factry? Let’s cross swords. Arnaud Van der Poorten 2023-08-31
Production monitoring with Factry Historian & Grafana Packaging manufacturer Abriso Jiffy required an adaptable IIoT solution to monitor and analyse its processes in real-time. Find out how they leverage Factry Historian’s integrated Grafana interface to achieve this. Jolan De Cock 2023-08-11
6 innovative IIoT use cases made possible with Factry Historian at AGC From zero data to hero plant: 6 IIoT use cases that transformed AGC Automotive’s plant of Aniche into a pioneering innovation hub. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2023-08-06
Reducing Energy & Water Consumption in Industry 4.0 with Grafana Discover how to effectively utilise the Grafana dashboards in Factry Historian to optimise your plant’s energy and utilities consumption. Explore a real-life application in the food industry. Jolan De Cock 2023-07-12
Factry Historian v6.1: All you need to know We’re continuing our new year’s resolution of quarterly Historian updates with our Q3 release: Historian v6.1. This quarter we focused on improving the user/administrator’s experience by adding a few new features. Jeroen Coussement 2023-07-04
How our MES platform elevated the workflow of operators at Jacques IJs How a top Belgian ice cream producer digitised its workflow, improved OEE and increased employee engagement with our MES platform FactryOS. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2023-06-30
Unleashing the power of lean manufacturing: a practical guide In today’s fast-paced industry 4.0 landscape, maximising productivity and efficiency is crucial to stay ahead of the competition. That’s where lean manufacturing comes into play. Yves Bourgeois 2023-06-30
A team effort: the blood behind the MES platform – Factry Building and perfecting our MES platform over the past 5 years would have been impossible without the ingenuity and persistence of a remarkable team. Meet the individuals behind our cutting-edge MES software, and discover what sets them apart. Jolan De Cock 2023-05-24
Visit Factry at Hannover Messe 2023 From April 17 to 22 we’re at Europe’s biggest Industry 4.0 event: Hannover Messe in Germany. The perfect opportunity to present our latest Historian V6 release, as well as our MES platform FactryOS to an international audience. Come say hi to our team at Hall 15, booth F05. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2023-03-29
Factry Historian v6.0: All you need to know With v6.0 of our IIoT platform Factry Historian, we’ve wrapped three distinctive new features in one major product update. What is new? And what is the added value to your operations? Here’s all you need to know about our latest v6.0 release. Jeroen Coussement 2023-03-28
7 benefits of Factry Historian for multi-site data management In an era in which efficiency is paramount, industrial enterprises with multiple plants have a lot to gain by switching to a single IIoT platform. Here’s 7 benefits of Factry Historian for multi-site data management. David Dierickx 2023-03-03
From end station to open IIoT platform: the evolution and future of the data historian How the data historian has evolved from a bulky and closed production tool to a lightweight and open IIoT platform, enabling companies to beat the interoperability challenges of Industry 4.0. Jeroen Coussement 2023-02-24
Fermentation processes: how to find and replicate the Golden Batch How companies in the fermentation industry can leverage open data historians to push the boundaries of efficiency, quality and profitability. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2023-02-13
Replacing pen and paper with real-time production insights With Andy Vanderpoorten, Supply Chain Manager at Copaco, we talked about his experience in digitising the shop floor, how FactryOS helped solve their business needs, and the challenges the textile industry is facing today. Jolan De Cock 2022-12-21
How our new Technical PM will elevate your IIoT project Ever since he was little, Sacha wanted to be a Project Manager. At Factry, he is living the dream. Meet our new Technical PM, and his value to the team. Sacha Barbieaux 2022-12-21
A peek behind the scenes of the Factry Historian team Meet the people behind Factry Historian, find out what’s in the development pipeline of our IIoT platform, and why being part of this team is a unique experience. Jolan De Cock 2022-12-06
Free Webinar: A Data-Driven Approach to Saving Energy in Industry 4.0 Still in the dark about your company’s energy usage? In a free webinar, Gianni Vanneste (Boortmalt) and Jeroen Coussement (Factry) illustrate how data can transform your energy savings strategy. Jolan De Cock 2022-11-16
Beating physics: Why our new Customer Data Engineer decided to join us There’s a new kid in town. Why did our colleague Sibe make the switch from physics to IIoT? Or are both worlds not as different as it seems? Sibe Bleuzé 2022-11-14
New Sparkplug B MQTT collector for Factry Historian: all you need to know Why we built a Sparkplug B MQTT collector for Factry Historian, and what’s in it for your business. David Dierickx 2022-11-04
Why you’ll love Factry Historian's new collector failover feature Prevent even the slightest loss of data in case of control system outages or hardware failures. Meet Factry Historian’s new collector failover feature. Jeroen Coussement 2022-10-27
How to make smarter financial decisions by allocating energy costs for any process or product Find out how to allocate the energy cost for individual products, machines or processes, enabling smarter financial decisions and a more effective utilities system. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2022-10-19
Q&A: 7 questions for our new Head of Marketing Meet Jolan, our new Head of Marketing, and find out why he decided to join the Factry team. Jolan De Cock 2022-10-10
View the highlights of our teambuilding week in France Relive our company’s first-ever workation at the French countryside. Watch the photo gallery. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2022-09-29
A client review of our data historian's event detection & analysis module With our historian’s event module, it has never been easier for Lesaffre Group to detect process events such as batches, and aggregate relevant process parameters and KPIs on them. Read the post-PoC client interview. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2022-08-10
How contextual data will shed a new light onto your production process How to add context to raw process data – without having to rely on external systems such as MES or ERP. Jeroen Coussement 2022-06-03
How open data historians drive digital transformation Digital transformation remains a boiling hot topic around any production facility. Read why next-generation data historians are the most powerful engines for driving a digital culture change within your organisation. Jeroen Coussement 2022-04-06
Four myths about smart factories debunked ‘They’re expensive’. ‘It takes years to implement them’. These and other myths about smart factories. Yves Bourgeois 2022-02-22
6 client quotes about our industrial IoT data platform Choose right. Sleep tight. Here are 6 client testimonials after implementation of Factry Historian. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2022-02-09
Why you should choose a dedicated BI tool over a built-in MES reporting tool Using your MES platform’s built-in reporting tool can be frustrating. Why not bring your own BI tool to the party? Yves Bourgeois 2022-02-03
Our next team building activity: plant 3.000 trees For years now, Flanders has been one of the least forested regions in Europe. That is why for our next team building activity, we are taking things in our own bare hands. Read the story. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2022-02-03
Why I Joined Factry - Nick Maes At the end of 2021, we welcomed Nick Maes as our new international Business Development Representative. Why did he join us in the first place? And how is he doing today? Read his thoughts on his first 8 weeks at Factry. Nick Maes 2022-01-19
7 signs it’s time to replace your legacy MES platform Is an outdated MES platform killing the profitability of your business? Here are 7 signs it’s time to say goodbye to your current MES solution and look for a modern alternative. Yves Bourgeois 2022-01-12
Customer story: “A spot-on collaboration, thanks to a great blend of knowledge on IT and OT” How we helped the EU’s leading producer of corn oil to control their processes better, maximise production output, and save time on reporting. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2021-12-11
Factry Historian V4 - An interview with our CEO In this interview, our CEO Jeroen Coussement talks about the latest Factry Historian release, highlighting the most important features and benefits for our customers. Jeroen Coussement & Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2021-12-08
Read this before you move on with industrial data science Why instrumentation is key to building smarter industry systems, and how technology choices today will impact your future data science initiatives. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2021-12-08
Four unexpected benefits of open data historians Discover the 4 biggest additional benefits of open historians, in addition to their core business of collecting and visualising process data. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2021-09-26
How Factry Historian ensures security of production data (and why cloud storage may be a safer option than on-premise) How our data historian keeps production data safe and sound, and why storing it in the cloud might be the better option instead of keeping it on premise. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2021-09-22
Explained: what is the difference between ERP and MES software? When ERP and MES work together, magic happens on the factory floor. But what makes each system unique? Never again confuse the one acronym with the other: the differences between MES and ERP explained. Yves Bourgeois 2021-09-01
Five benefits of ERP-MES integration for companies in manufacturing MES and ERP are both standalone software solutions. But what happens if you make them work together in an Industry 4.0 environment? A lean manufacturing love story. Yves Bourgeois 2021-09-01
How ERP and MES connectivity actually looks like on the factory floor ERP-MES integration is critical to a successful lean manufacturing implementation. But what does it actually look like on the production floor? Yves Bourgeois 2021-09-01
How to scale faster to a new production line or site using a Historian In this blog post, we will illustrate the value of the historian when building a new production line, modifying an existing one, or launching an additional production site. All aboard? Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2021-06-06
Why process historians are the perfect aid for Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) In our blog series ‘Unexpected Benefits’, we explore the shadowing advantages of the process historian. In this post, we will shed light on how it can be used for advanced Materials Requirement Planning (MRP). Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2021-05-03
Fresh blood on the Factry floor: four new employees joined our team In three months time, no less than four fresh team members have joined us on our mission. What are their greatest talents? Their future ambitions? And why did they decide to join us? Meet Bart, Jeroen, Wannes and David. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2021-04-20
Mastering scrum: taking on an advanced approach to product management In a series of internal workshops, our designated scrum master is sharing his knowledge and experience with our team. Find out how we are taking our scrum methodology to the next level. Jeroen Coussement 2021-04-19
Product update: new features and an API for Factry Historian With industrial businesses all over the world ramping up their digital transformation journey, 2021 has already been an exciting year for Factry Historian. What’s next in the development of our core product? Jeroen Coussement 2021-04-16
How our data historian will drastically increase employee engagement in Industry 4.0 In this new post in our blog series ‘Unexpected Benefits’, we will discuss another unexpected yet extremely profitable benefit of the open-source data historian: increasing employee engagement. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2021-03-25
How data historians help reduce energy use in Industry 4.0 In our new blog series ‘Unexpected benefits’, we explore the cascading advantages of the data historian on top of its core business. First in line: using the historian as a tool for monitoring and lowering energy use. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2021-03-17
Five steps you must take before implementing the DevOps lifecycle Over the past decade, the DevOps approach has gained grounds in the development world, especially amongst start-ups and SaaS companies. Before you get started, read this. Pieterjan Lambrecht 2021-02-06
How DevOps culture made happy campers of both our employees and clients What is DevOps culture? And why has our team adopted it? Find out how we leverage the DevOps approach for delivering better industrial software at a speedy pace. Pieterjan Lambrecht 2021-02-06
UX/UI and why it matters for Industry 4.0 software In this post, I share my view UX/UI in today’s industrial environment and how these principles are applied to our software development process. Lumi De Smedt 2021-01-06
Process data integration: open source or proprietary software? Why yeast supplier Algist Bruggeman replaced its proprietary software with our open source data integration platform. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2020-12-23
How historian data evolves from problem solving tool to business model fuel My experience in guiding companies in their digital transformation with process data collection and valorization. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2020-11-16
Why I joined Factry - Claas Steigüber In this post, Claas reflects on his career switch from biology to IT and the journey that resulted in him joining Factry. Claas Steigüber 2020-08-27
Why I joined Factry - Mirella Vaxevanidi It has been more than a month, an ideal moment to share why I joined the company and what I have learned so far! Mirella Vaxevanidi 2020-06-17
Tutorial: using the Grafana flowchart plugin to create a process diagram We show how to create a visual representation of any process and replay historical data on top of it. Jeroen Coussement 2020-06-16
How our software improved OEE performance at Puratos Canada - Factry Factry Historian provides us with the information we need to improve our overall OEE performance. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2020-06-08
Factry and Helioscreen in the news Various news agencies picked up the story of Helioscreen, a producer of solar shading fabrics, working from home with Factry software. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2020-06-04
How open source software is revolutionising Industrial IT Open source tech is rapidly changing the way industrial companies think and strategise. What does this shift toward open source mean for them? Jeroen Coussement 2020-04-20
Customer story: data acquisition solution for Puratos - Factry The biggest power of Factry Historian lies in its ability to unlock existing data towards a broader user community. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2020-04-15
Moving beyond theory: 3 practical cases for OEE When it comes to OEE, the devil is in the detail. Not just in the calculation of the OEE, but in the explanatory value as well. In this post, I share 3 real-life cases and take-aways. Yves Bourgeois 2020-03-25
Introducing the Untimely Grafana Panel In this blog post we describe the Untimely Grafana panel for displaying time series data in function of length instead of time. This is useful for producers of products by the roll. Pieterjan Lambrecht & Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2020-03-17
Tutorial: How to build an InfluxDB query using Flux? Read an advanced use case for Flux: a new language for query building in InfluxDB, the time series database behind Factry’s open source Historian. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2019-12-17
Visit Factry at ABISS 2019 on 3 Oct. 2019 On October 3rd 2019, Factry welcomes you to ABISS, Belgium’s leading trade show on Industrie 4.0 and digital industry. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2019-09-24
Podcast: OPC-UA and InfluxDB in industrial settings On this episode of The New Stack Makers, TNS Founder & EiC Alex Williams sits down with Jeroen Coussement, Co-founder & CEO, Factry to focus on the use of OPC-UA and InfluxDB in industrial settings. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2019-09-16
Flux in the industry: 3 real world IIoT examples In this post we describe 3 real-world cases where Flux brings new and meaningful insights into time series data collected from industrial equipment, ultimately supporting improved decision making. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2019-09-10
We hosted Time Series Belgium On the second Time Series Belgium event, about 25 time series enthusiasts gathered at our office in Ghent to listen to talks about open source business models and how time series enables Vleemo to optimize their wind turbine operations. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2019-03-25
Tutorial: bringing back InfluxDB data to SCADA over OPC-UA Recently, one of our clients asked us: “We’ve got some algorithms that send their results to InfluxDB. Can you get this data back to our SCADA system?” Challenge accepted. Jeroen Coussement 2019-02-28
Five Recurring Benefits of the Data Historian What will your industrial business gain when you start using a data historian? And what makes it so much better than your current SCADA and DCS systems? Discover the five biggest recurring benefits of the data historian, starting from day one. Yves Bourgeois 2018-11-04
InfluxDays London 2018: an introduction to the Flux query langauge for InfluxDB On InfluxDays 2018, we were introduced to Flux. As it sparked our enthusiasm immediately, we wanted to share our excitement with you in the form of a short introduction. Yves Bourgeois 2018-06-22
How SMEs can leverage an industrial historian — without spending a fortune Only a few years ago, industrial historians were the exclusive privilege of multinational corporations. Thanks to open technology and the Automation Revolution amongst SMEs, this all changed. Yves Bourgeois 2018-06-12
Why operator involvement is key to Industry 4.0 Ever since the term Industry 4.0 was coined in 2011, it has taken the world of manufacturing by storm. In this article, we focus on the challenge of employee involvement. Frederik Van Leeckwyck 2017-09-27