Manufacturing execution systems comparison data comes from LogicaCMG survey
1 min read
There are now more than 100 software packages describing themselves as MESs (manufacturing execution systems), but the good news is that there is now a listing of the coverage for each.
Conultancy and system integrator LogicaCMG’s seventh annual global survey of MES products and vendors provides the data – and means that manufacturers can now run fairly detailed product functionality comparisons.
“Although there are more products, the choice for manufacturers is still fairly limited,” comments Chris Harries, group director for industry and automotive at LogicaCMG.
“There are over 100 commercially available MES products as defined by the ISA 95 standard, but some support batch production better than continuous process management, for example, or have functionality for specific industries or functions like maintenance or quality management.”
That said, LogicaCMG’s report shows that the developer community has changed and largely now matches the updated ISA95 model for its descriptions. Which is progress, since it helps to close the gap in understanding between vendors and manufacturing users.
Beyond what appears to be a market maturing under the pressure from users for standards and accountability, LogicaCMG’s survey also shows further growth in the volumes of MES business and what Harries describes as “a significant shift in the way manufacturing systems are being tackled by clients.”
Says Harries: “MES is moving into mainstream IT because of the need for integration with other business systems and LIMS [laboratory information systems] and warehouse management systems. We’re benefiting form that as a large, international system integrator.
“As a result we have grown 50% in the last two years grown, and the contract sizes are changing. We’re seeing more deals done at a corporate level, rather than plant by plant. Implementations are more multiple plant roll-outs now, and we have developed a model for global standardised blueprint processes and performance benchmarking to accommodate that.
And there’s another interesting point: although Harries agrees there’s an enormous spread of value in MES contracts, it is growing. “The mid range is £220—400k, excluding hardware and license fees for a site implementation, with 60% of that cost being system implementation.
Meanwhile return on investment can be as little as six months – although more typically 18 months, he says.
