Seabrook Academy

A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is an information system that connects, monitors and controls complex manufacturing systems and data flows on the factory floor. The main goal of an MES is to ensure effective execution of the manufacturing operations and improve production output.  Manufacturing Operation Management (MOM) is an approach of overseeing all aspects of the manufacturing process with a particular focus to increase efficiency.

The MES collects data about product genealogy, performance, traceability, material management and work in progress (WIP), and other plant activities as they occur. This data, in turn, allows decision-makers to better understand the current settings of the factory floor and to optimize the production process.

Maturity is the process of meeting current and future responsibilities—for manufacturers, the maturity of your production process and every aspect that impacts it is what gives you an advantage or puts you far behind competitors. Manufacturing excellence is the goal. As you pursue operational excellence, the maturity model will help you to determine your current system positioning within the maturity life-cycle. After knowing the “what” of the maturity model, focus then turns to the “how” – how a company can overcome the obstacles to advance throughout the maturity model.

Utilize the best practices (below) to accurately and effectively select your MES Solution:

1. Define Business and Project Goals.  What do you wish to achieve when implementing an MES solution?
2. Assemble the Team.  The team you place on the project (from selection to implementation) will make the difference between success and failure.  Your team of management sponsors, project manager, and subject matter experts are the heartbeat of your successful implementation.
3. Realize Industry Requirements. Multiple levels of manufacturing processes exist.  Within each level are a variety of standards and specifications, making it critical to keep the requirements of your specific industry in mind. Many MES solutions have been designed for continuous (or batch manufacturing) environments, so you want to find and MES provider who will offer solutions focused on complex, discrete manufacturing.

The incremental nature of the modeling approach facilitates continuous improvement of the plant process. The elements of the resulting model are used directly in the configuration of object-oriented MES systems.

Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software helps manufacturers to smoothly manage daily processes. MES integration with additional systems – including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) – further aids in the management of these daily processes. The integration of MES with ERP systems enables manufacturers to orchestrate work orders and additional resource needs. Integrating real-time data about the availability of materials throughout the supply chain allows manufacturers to minimize unnecessary interruptions and delays.

Static reporting gathers real time data from your equipment to provide a solid overview of production. Systems generate standard production reports that can be separated and analyzed by time, material, customer, and other parameters.  These reports can be utilized for internal and external reporting needs.

As manufacturing moves toward Industry 4.0, software and big data are the main drivers of this transformation. Big data refers to data sets with a size beyond the ability of typical database software tools to effectively capture, store, manage, and analyze. By introducing software-based big data analytics and more flexible production techniques, manufacturers can boost productivity as much as 30%.