The solution you use is just as important as the partner you choose

There are many opinions, and they can’t all be correct about what is the best solution for your problem. But how do you know what is the perfect match for you? MES (Manufacturing Execution Solutions) has fast become the foundational building block for implementing smart manufacturing strategies. Even so, according to The International Society of Automation, less than half of all manufacturers are committed to continuous improvement or strategic transformation that MES supports. For those considering the move into an MES solution, it can be a daunting and confusing process having to face questions like:

• Which system should you adopt?
• Who should implement the final solution?
• What should your MES strategy look like?

In addition, the MES market is highly fragmented by industry verticals, different technologies, application functionality, and manufacturing styles and approaches – all of which make choosing a vendor difficult. However, on the upside, there are considerable benefits to be gained from MES solutions. MESA International says that of all manufacturers who adopted MES:

• 66% reported a reduction in manufacturing time of 45% or greater
• 63% experienced a reduction in paperwork between shifts of 50% or greater
• 57% had a reduction in Work In Progress (WIP) of 25% or better

MES has been broadly understood to be the ‘middle layer’ in the technology stack between process controls and business systems. Process controls include Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) as business systems include Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), front office software and accounting packages. . As vague as the term ‘middle layer’ might sound, that’s where it often stays for many people. We have had people approach us wanting to improve downtime and maybe quality, leading them to think they want an MES solution. While their thinking is not wrong, it is a limited understanding and ignores the full capability of MES solutions. They often do not need a Vendor MES solution. This limited understanding, in turn, adds to the complexity of decision-making as outlined above. To clarify further, an MES can be described as a specialist class of production-oriented software that manages, monitors, and synchronises the execution of real-time physical processes involved in transforming raw materials into intermediate and/or finished goods. Gartner has released their annual 2022 Magic Quadrant for Manufacturing Execution Systems, to help you better identify which solution you should adopt. As shown below, this matrix evaluates vendors based on their Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute. Using a capability criterion like that of the MESA-11 model, Gartner has only included vendors whose enterprise solution fundamentally supports the following core MES capabilities:

• Dispatching
• Production management, execution, and in-process quality monitoring
• Manufacturing data management
• Operational data store
• Manufacturing-related quality management processes
• Procedural enforcement
• Tracking and genealogy
• Integrated analytics and reporting
• Sophisticated integration capability

It is important to note that as the MES market has matured, some vendors have extended the capability and functionality of their MES offerings. As a result, they would now refer to their solution as Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM), defined as Level 3 of the ANSI/ISA-95 Enterprise-Control System Integration standard. Functionality that you can expect to find in a MOM includes:

• Resource Management Inventory & warehouse management, labour management including training/certification, computerised equipment monitoring and maintenance management
• Manufacturing Processes Recipe and BOM management, work instructions and process planning, and model-based manufacturing
• Quality Management Quality policies and SOPs, ISO requirements, robust design, auditing procedures and protocols, nonconformance/risk management, and industry regulations such as Therapeutic Drugs Administration (TGA)
• Analytics Software tools to monitor alerts while supporting real-time interactive decision-making via data and analytics about current conditions.
• Planning & Scheduling Detailed production scheduling and supply chain scheduling

There are some trends in the MES market to be aware of that may also influence your decision-making.

• Perhaps the most popular trend has been the adoption of IIoT and edge technology, allowing connectivity and scaling beyond traditional automation. The distinction between an IIoT application and MES has and will continue to blur.
• Increased adoption of Platform as a Service (PaaS) along with low/no-code development.
• Cloud implementations offering an available-anywhere solution
• Packaged Business Capabilities (PBCs) architecture that improves agility towards the marketplace and helps speed up the frequency of releases and updates. Benefits of PBC architecture include no/low code solutions, an apps marketplace to offer prebuilt extensions, dashboards and additional capability, and HTML 5- based, user-centric and role-specific UX.

It can be a lot to get your head around, but vendors are keen for you to know where they sit in the Magic Quadrant as an endorsement of their solutions. A full report and a more detailed explanation can be found at this link. It will explain the ideology of the different quadrants and highlight each solution in detail. At Mescon, we want to demystify MES/MOM and make your journey into and along the road of MES/MOM as smooth and productive as possible. We will not sell you a product, but we will provide the best solution for your needs. That said, it is important that you know which products we support from the Magic Quadrant above, so we have highlighted them in red. If you have been considering an MES/MOM solution and want more information or need to ask questions, why not give us a call, or explore our website. We would be happy to help and see you start your smart factory journey today.