FactoryTalk vs Sepasoft

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Our analysts compared FactoryTalk vs Sepasoft based on data from our 400+ point analysis of MES Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Sepasoft Software Tool

Product Basics

FactoryTalk helps manufacturers boost yield and productivity, enhance asset utilization and optimize resource management. Its automation and control capabilities enable food producers to respond to dynamic consumer demands and preferences while reducing production costs and improving product quality.

It sets performance goals and tracks progress in real time. Household and personal care manufacturers can shorten product life cycles and improve time to market. It increases throughput and reliability while minimizing material costs. It caters to various industries, including chemical, food and beverages, automotive, infrastructure, metals, marine and more.
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Sepasoft helps its customers control, track and document raw materials’ transformation into finished goods in real time. It enables users to respond to production issues, identify and focus efforts on downtime and configure dashboards for everyone within the organization.

Its statistical process control module facilitates collaboration and quality data analysis across the enterprise. It offers sample scheduling, automatic signal evaluation, data collection and robust charting capabilities. It empowers producers to manage, distribute and view SOPs, MSDSs and other documents with its document management inclusion.
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$35,000 Annually
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$2,750 One-Time
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
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Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Gain Insights Into Operations: Accumulate data about equipment status to gain insights into processes and operations. Identify operational strengths and weaknesses, establish robust performance management systems, implement better production systems and develop targeted training programs. 
  • Boost Productivity: Combine real-time information and multiple control disciplines into a single architecture to boost productivity. Leverage smart motor control devices to access useful information to drive better decisions, enhance system performance and optimize operations. 
  • Address Risks: Address risks such as worker injuries, data breaches and product recalls as they originate. Minimizes machine downtime, supports compliance and handles quality, safety and security issues. 
  • Provide Remote Assistance: Offer remote assistance to field technicians for collaboration and support to accelerate troubleshooting and minimize equipment downtime. 
  • Prevent Equipment Downtime: Anticipate equipment failures and potential issues beforehand to reduce downtime occurrence and length while keeping the maintenance budget in check. 
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  • Schedule Production: Visualize production schedules including actual versus targeted, delayed production, machine status and more. Adjust schedule entries in real time to accommodate production progress, breaks and other factors that influence production. 
  • Handle Equipment Status: Capture the local and logistical equipment status to represent the context for production data. Configure status levels with custom values for different equipment and organize them in logical groupings based on asset utilization categories and downtime reasons. 
  • Detect Downtime: Employ downtime detection algorithms to accommodate equipment layouts to determine the root cause of downtime events. Track cycle times to determine bottlenecks in the product flow where the root cause isn’t prominent. 
  • Visualize Events: Visualize downtime events in real time. Record the beginning and end times of each event automatically to eliminate the risk of inaccurately timed data. Leverage a graphical timing chart to diagnose and optimize the product flow. 
  • Conduct Impromptu Analysis: Include data points for multiple dates ranges to view results on the fly. Summarize the data to narrow down inefficiencies and use this information to create dashboards and add-on displays to make production information visible. 
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  • Asset Performance Monitoring: Track and monitor asset performance KPIs, including asset downtime, waste, production counts and overall equipment effectiveness intelligently with asset performance monitoring solutions. 
  • Predictive Analytics: Conduct equipment analysis, trend forecasting and data mining, optimize production to avoid stock outages and assess patients’ risks with predictive analytics capabilities. 
  • In-Context Maintenance and Work Instructions: Deliver up-to-date, digital, in-context information from disparate sources as a unified, role-based experience to maintenance workers. Includes seamless, bi-directional interaction with data required and logs results in master systems. Augmented work instructions help the workforce understand and execute specific production orders to facilitate proper production order execution and maintain flexibility on shop floors.  
  • Remote Expert Support: Connect remote experts to field technicians for collaboration and support in real time. Accelerate troubleshooting and maximize equipment uptime with instant expertise access through its remote expert support feature. 
  • Compliance Records: Capture data inputs around production orders to create detailed compliance records that include the supply chain. 
  • Asset Optimization: Asset optimization solutions leverage real-time data and augmented reality to identify potential issues, reduce unplanned downtime and increase productivity. 
  • Production Management: Gain real-time production visibility to track and monitor set-up, process and cycle times to identify and clear bottlenecks. Identify production issues with machine learning and predictive analytics capabilities. Capture data inputs around production orders to create detailed compliance records. 
  • Operational Intelligence: Track and compare expected versus actual outcomes across shifts, orders, materials and quality to identify and address variances and help employees generate high-quality products. Improve uptime with real-time equipment monitoring and utilize data to solve issues and adapt to changes.
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  • Document Management: Manage, distribute and view standard operating procedures, material safety data sheets, quality documents, checklists and other production-related documents critical to safety, quality and efficiency using a document management module. 
  • Statistical Process Control: Ensure accurate data collection, improve quality analysis and execute automatic alerts for out-of-control conditions through statistical process control. Enables users to create and customize SPC control charts to visualize production information along with SPC data. 
  • Business Connector: Send and retrieve data in real-time to higher-level business systems like enterprise resource planning and advanced planning systems with the Business Connector. The visual sequence builder offers drag-and-drop functionality to create complex business logic, including control flow concepts like loops, conditionals and exception handling. 
  • Barcode Scanner: Facilitates material handling, operator login and lot tracking through barcode scanning capabilities. Empowers users to scan a badge to sign off on materials, master and batch production records and other tasks. It can be customized to read proprietary or industry-specific barcode content. 
  • Web Services: Consume data from and send data to remote and local web services via REST and SOAP protocols through a web services module. Enables users to obtain weather or mapping information or gather work order data from third-party applications. 
  • Instrument Interface: Leverage its instrument interface module to gather raw textual data via text files serial, OPC devices and more to parse out meaningful values that users can save to existing databases or pass on to other solutions. Includes file monitoring, parsing, serial communications and centralized instrument management. 
  • Recipe and Changeover: Manage, select, track and analyze recipes, track variances in values and generate reports. Create, import and export recipes, manage security and select recipe machines via a built-in visual recipe editor. Monitor recipe values and detect variances in real time to identify the root cause of production issues. 
  • Downtime Analysis: Determine reasons for production loss with advanced downtime detection algorithms. Retain and analyze unlimited past production data to identify downtime trends and target areas for improvement. 
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Product Ranking

#5

among all
MES Software

#22

among all
MES Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

54
54
0
47
65
72
56
56
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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

FactoryTalk
Sepasoft
+ Add Product + Add Product
Mobile Product And Parts Tracking Production Definition And Monitoring Production Dispatch And Execution Quality Management Reports And Dashboards Resources Management 0 65 56 91 59 71 56 47 72 56 57 56 66 37 0 25 50 75 100
0%
0%
100%
43%
0%
57%
56%
0%
44%
67%
11%
22%
35%
20%
45%
55%
0%
45%
83%
17%
0%
57%
0%
43%
63%
0%
37%
56%
0%
44%
29%
71%
0%
57%
14%
29%
56%
0%
44%
33%
0%
67%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

17%
25%
58%
33%
17%
50%

User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 36 reviews
Great User Sentiment 23 reviews
90%
of users recommend this product

FactoryTalk has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 90% when considering 36 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

84%
of users recommend this product

Sepasoft has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 84% when considering 23 user reviews from 1 recognized software review sites.

4.53 (17)
n/a
4.5 (17)
n/a
4.5 (2)
4.2 (23)

Awards

FactoryTalk stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Centralized Platform: FactoryTalk offers a centralized platform to manage and monitor various industrial processes, leading to streamlined operations and reduced complexity.
Data Analysis and Reporting: Users appreciate the robust data analysis and reporting capabilities of FactoryTalk, enabling them to gain insights into production performance and make data-driven decisions.
Improved Efficiency: FactoryTalk helps improve efficiency by automating tasks, reducing downtime, and optimizing production processes.
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Easy to Use: Users praise Sepasoft's intuitive design and user-friendly interface, making it easy to navigate and implement without extensive training.
Flexible and Scalable: Sepasoft's solutions can adapt to various manufacturing processes and easily scale as operations grow, accommodating both small and large-scale deployments.
Excellent Customer Support: Users consistently highlight Sepasoft's responsive and knowledgeable customer support team, providing timely assistance and guidance when needed.
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Bloated and Complex: Many users find FactoryTalk View SE to be unnecessarily complex for simple HMI applications, leading to longer development times and steeper learning curves.
Limited Tag Database: The tag database in FactoryTalk can be restrictive, especially when dealing with large and complex projects, making it challenging to manage and organize tags effectively.
Expensive Licensing: FactoryTalk's licensing model is often perceived as expensive, especially for smaller businesses or those with limited budgets.
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Complex Configuration: Users have reported that configuring Sepasoft can be quite challenging, especially for those new to the platform or without extensive programming knowledge. This complexity can lead to longer implementation times and increased reliance on external consultants.
Limited Reporting Capabilities: Some users have expressed dissatisfaction with the out-of-the-box reporting functionality offered by Sepasoft. They find it difficult to create custom reports or extract specific data points without significant customization effort.
Occasional Performance Issues: While generally considered stable, some users have reported experiencing occasional performance issues with Sepasoft, particularly when dealing with large datasets or complex automation tasks. These issues can manifest as slow response times or system lag, impacting operational efficiency.
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Is FactoryTalk all it's cracked up to be? User reviews from the last year suggest that FactoryTalk is a powerful tool for large manufacturing enterprises, but it comes with a hefty price tag and a steep learning curve. Users praise its Internet of Things (IoT) support, scalability, and global reach, making it a top contender for businesses with complex operations across multiple sites. For instance, food and beverage companies use FactoryTalk to maintain strict quality control and manage intricate packaging processes, while pharmaceutical companies leverage it for regulatory compliance and traceability. However, the complexity of the user interface is a common gripe, with some users finding it difficult to navigate and customize. This complexity can lead to increased training costs and slower adoption rates, especially for employees who are not tech-savvy. While FactoryTalk offers a comprehensive suite of features, its cost and complexity make it a less viable option for smaller businesses with limited resources. Competitors like SAP ME and Siemens Opcenter offer similar functionality but may be more user-friendly and affordable for smaller operations. Ultimately, FactoryTalk is best suited for large enterprises that require sophisticated automation and process control across multiple sites and are willing to invest in the necessary training and support.

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User reviews from the past year suggest that Sepasoft is a strong contender in the manufacturing execution system (MES) market, but it's not without its caveats. Users praise Sepasoft for its robust data acquisition and contextualization capabilities, enabling real-time production monitoring and identification of improvement opportunities. For example, one manufacturer highlighted Sepasoft's ability to track machine output in real-time, allowing them to quickly identify and address production bottlenecks. This granular level of insight is often cited as a key differentiator compared to competitors like Rockwell Automation's FactoryTalk ProductionCentre, which some users find less intuitive and flexible. However, Sepasoft's strength in customization can also be a double-edged sword. Some users have reported a steeper learning curve compared to more plug-and-play solutions. Additionally, while Sepasoft offers strong integration capabilities with platforms like Ignition by Inductive Automation, some users have noted challenges with integrating Sepasoft with legacy systems. Overall, Sepasoft appears best suited for manufacturers who require a highly customizable and scalable MES solution and are willing to invest the time and resources for implementation and training. Smaller manufacturers with simpler needs might find more streamlined solutions a better fit.

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