Despite the many “MES is dead” headlines, Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are not disappearing—they’re transforming into indispensable components of the modern Intelligent Supply Network.
The term MES was first introduced in the early 1990s, around the time ERP replaced Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II). It was one of the first steps in establishing a manufacturing platform that was a partner to the ERP business platform.
We are now seeing increasing clarity in the role of MES and the functionality it provides. Well-implemented MES systems are critical software applications that are aligned with the overall business and operations strategies, while responsible for executing day-to-day decisions.
The Intelligent Supply Network is an evolution of the operational architecture. It embraces MES and is the next step on the journey. MES and MOM have evolved from large monolithic applications through modular and composable systems to today's applications and agents in a services-oriented architecture.
Manufacturing has long been challenged with the same set of requirements:
Having a plan of what to make, with what resources, and at what time.
Understanding how to make it, test it, and verify that we made it correctly.
Getting the job done.
Dealing with things we did not expect.
Documenting what we made, how we made it, and that it meets the quality requirements.
Analyzing and improving equipment, materials, and processes.
While these six steps sound easy, their complexity varies widely across industries, processes, and equipment types.
LNS Research has recommended industry-vertical and process-specific MES for almost a decade. We have seen several MES companies succeed with this approach.
The core is understanding that manufacturing success is not the same for everyone. That said, there are four key elements:
Clearly understanding how your company will win and how manufacturing will help.
Creating and implementing a company-specific production system.
Understanding the software requirements to run manufacturing operations efficiently.
Choosing and implementing MES systems that fit your needs today and in the future.
Before we dive into the details, be aware that not everyone needs a full MES. There are situations where a lighter-weight MES, based on a Connected Frontline Workforce application, can help align the crew to perform the right tasks. Additionally, there are situations where manufacturing is so simple that you only need to provide an ERP screen to the operators. Still, for everyone else, there is MES.
The MES term has been around for a long time, and its definition has varied from very technical to a middleware layer and finally to a set of functions.
The MES community has done good work defining MES. Some of the best sources come from MESA, with the definitions of MESA-11 in 1996 and C-MES in 2004 setting the foundation for MES. Our intent is not to redefine MES but to explore its functional areas as we experience them today.
At LNS Research, we define MES as:
A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) manages and optimizes manufacturing operations by coordinating, controlling, monitoring, and tracking production processes in real-time to achieve specific business objectives
MES can be perceived as complex, and oftentimes that perception is accurate. To simplify things, LNS Research has chosen to break down the functionality into six groups and an underlying foundation to make it easier to understand:
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Let’s explore what is in each of these areas.
We have enjoyed many debates about the need for custom MES. Some people argue that it is the only way to get what you need, while others argue that any customization is a death sentence to the system. However, LNS Research shows that there are strong alternatives to customization. Anyone who has seen a few manufacturing plants knows that few plants are the same. It is, therefore, close to impossible to buy an MES that fits your needs out of the box (or a service in the cloud). There are four primary approaches to matching software applications with the needs of your manufacturing operations; each has varying degrees of flexibility and total cost of ownership (TCO):
Custom Development
Customization
Extensibility and Integration
Configuration
While the market still debates this, LNS Research recommends that manufacturers choose “Configuration” and “Extensibility and Integration” over “Custom Development” and “Customization” as they provide lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) while still providing flexibility through “Extensibility and Integration."
The core word of MES is execution, and “Production Work Order Management” (PWOM) is what manages plant floor operations. This is where jobs are scheduled and executed, with instructions on how to do them.
PWOM uses Configuration Management data to make real-time decisions about the actions that must be taken on the plant floor. It guides jobs and Work in Progress (WIP) from raw materials to finished goods. PWOM provides WIP tracking, enabling traceability and genealogy. Most discrete manufacturing systems require WIP tracking to manage the materials between machines.
Production Work Order Management involves more than just executing production orders; it also tracks the work history to document and analyze material, people, and machine events.
Within Quality Management, QE is often referred to as “little Q quality," whereas Enterprise Quality Management (EQMS) is referred to as "big Q quality." LNS' quality management research defines the differences between these two systems.
QE differs from Production Work Order Management in that it does not transform materials but verifies the state of materials and processes to take corrective actions. It also plays the crucial role of collecting quality information and correlating it to materials, processes, and equipment.
Resource Management (RM) manages the plant's workforce, materials, and equipment.
RM tracks the current state of these assets and how they are scheduled as part of the manufacturing processes.
For some resource-intensive manufacturing processes, RM is one of the most critical functions, as resource availability, allocation, and utilization will significantly drive productivity.
User Interface, Data Collection, and Integration include all the external interfaces to the MES application. These interfaces allow the application to interact with people, plant floor assets, and other software systems.
Connected Frontline Workforce (CFW) provides a common user experience for all plant floor applications, including MES. It serves a critical function of enabling frontline workers to access all the information they need to do their jobs without having to use swivel chairs to switch between computer systems.
MES never operates in isolation. It has to interact with frontline workers, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, manufacturing equipment, other software applications, and, most recently, AI agents. The integration between business systems and the plant floor is often referred to as Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture (PERA) or ISA-95 level 3.
The integration capabilities are what enable “Configuration Management” extensibility described earlier.
Analytics and Optimization (A&O) uses context to organize, slice, dice, and aggregate data to find opportunities for improvement. Most MES systems have both internal and external A&O capabilities. Internal capabilities are often used for real-time improvements, whereas external capabilities combine business data and context to analyze longer-term trends.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly enabling A&O. LNS Research’s extensive work about “Advanced Industrial Analytics” shows the power these tools have to improve operations.
The Service-Oriented Foundation (SOF) enables MES systems to be modular and flexible. The SOF is essential for providing a seamless user experience, bidirectional APIs for data exchange, common and reusable data contextualization, and automated workflows.
A key element of the Service-Oriented Foundation is MES’s role in enabling MES to collaborate with other applications through data platforms and infrastructure.
Many advanced MES applications can deliver significant portions of the Intelligent Supply Network architecture. We have seen MES vendors that offer “Platforms and Infrastructure” and “Connected Frontline Workforce” capabilities. However, it is critical to implement open and standard interfaces to extend the overall Intelligent Supply Network beyond a single MES vendor’s reach.
The Service-Oriented Foundation is the key element that will make your Manufacturing Execution System long-lived; this capability will allow you to extend and integrate your system without having to rip and replace the core functionality prematurely.
Given the constraints of time and resources, focusing on priorities is essential:
Understand your Industrial Operations Strategy: Whether you already have one or need to create one, the Operations Strategy is the key building block to align operations with the business. You may be efficient without it, but you won’t be effective, as you will likely spend time on the wrong thing.
Map out the key manufacturing functionality, personas, and use cases: You must understand your manufacturing operations and translate this knowledge into functional software requirements.
Define information flows: While manufacturing software can be complex by itself, integrating multiple systems can make the implementation even more complicated. Create a clear definition of where information lives and how it flows.
Collaborate and communicate within operations to build consensus and momentum: An MES will most often become deeply integrated into the organization with interfaces to most manufacturing people, processes, and technologies. While this technology can be an enabler, it can also be a point of contention. Everyone must get value from the system.
Collaborate with your manufacturing IT/OT team: While manufacturing operations are in the driver's seat when it comes to defining the business needs of an MES, IT/OT will be in the driver's seat when selecting, implementing, and maintaining the system. Make sure that they understand all the business needs, and work with them so that you are educated on the technical capabilities and constraints.
Hopefully, this blog post has provided insight into MES and how it can add value to your organization. We are looking forward to seeing how you progress on your journey.
Further reading:
LNS Research defines the difference between Manufacturing Operation Management (MOM) and Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and how LNS Research...
LNS Research Principal Analyst, Andrew Hughes, explores manufacturing transformation and how to achieve Smart Manufacturing.
This blog post examines the differences and similarities between Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)