"Our Software Creates Transparency in Production"
Interview with Lars Knitter, Authorized Officer of FASTEC GmbH
With the modular Manufacturing Execution System (MES) from FASTec GmbH, manufacturing companies can collect and evaluate machine data. The flexible solutions of the owner-managed company make the products just as interesting for smaller businesses as for large corporations. Regardless of the size, the partnership-based support of the customers has been the focus for the team of Paderborn software developers and system integrators for over 25 years.
What suits a large company can be too much for a small one. And this is exactly where the flexible solutions of FASTEC GmbH come into play. "We have years of experience in MES projects," emphasizes authorized officer Lars Knitter. "For us, it is important to deal with our customers in a solution-oriented and partnership manner. This also includes our own customer network FASTEC 4 YOU."
Modular Structure
"Our main product is the modularly structured MES FASTEC 4 PRO, which has been established in the market for more than 15 years," explains the authorized officer. "Additionally, we offer our new SmartOEE. OEE stands for Overall Equipment Effectiveness, a metric for assessing the productivity of a production facility. SmartOEE is a cost-effective plug-and-play entry solution for capturing machine data in production. This product is especially suitable for companies that first want to familiarize themselves with machine data collection."
SmartOEE is a hybrid cloud solution that facilitates entry into the MES world. "As far as sustainability is concerned, our software helps customers use their resources wisely and identify vulnerabilities," Lars Knitter explains.
Owner-managed Company
Founded in 1995, the company initially focused on decentralized material flow organization. Over the years, it has transitioned from classic project business to a standard software manufacturer. Today, the operational management of FASTEC is in the hands of two partners. While Dipl.-Wirt. Ing. MBA Christian Reusch is responsible for product development, sales, and marketing of the company, which currently has 95 employees, Dipl.-Inform. Stefan Rupprecht is responsible for the project department.
Collaborative Partnership
About 30 to 40 developers work on FASTEC's software, which not only captures machine and operational data but also reliably informs about quality assurance, production planning, traceability, and maintenance, and provides various data integration options. "Through years of experience, we have gained a lot of know-how in the area of machine interfaces," Lars Knitter says. "Our project department takes a partnership approach to assisting our clients. Additionally, we also act as system integrators."
Customers in over 30 Countries
Currently, about 450 customers in more than 30 countries use FASTEC's software. The dictionary integrated within the software allows for easy adaptation to any common language. "With our software, we serve almost all industries with discrete, timed manufacturing," the authorized representative explains. "This ranges from small stamping shops to large corporations." This is also evidenced by the reference list, which includes names such as Ritter Sport, apetito, Ravensburger, BMW, and Faller. The company will host the FASTEC-Forum again in November 2024 with more than 150 customers and other interested parties.