Manufacturing execution systems growing in popularity
1 min read
85% of ‘best-in-class’ manufacturers are unifying production processes across their plants and factories, and driving performance improvement programmes by standardising KPIs, publishing technology infrastructure guidelines and normalising reports.
They are also taking a broader and longer-term view of manufacturing requirements at their sites and across their supply networks – a trend that is driving corporate IT departments to work more closely with production people in selecting MESs (manufacturing execution systems) to improve aspects like OEE (overall equipment effectiveness).
These are top level findings of a benchmark report from analyst Aberdeen Group, dubbed ‘Global Manufacturing: MES and Beyond,’ that shows a growing understanding of the value of MESs.
“The study reveals a notable shift in market dynamics,” says Jane Biddle, vice president of manufacturing research at Aberdeen and author of the report. “There is a renewed appreciation for the value delivered by MES, and forward-thinking companies are no longer making plant-by-plant decisions, but taking a broader view. This new thinking would suggest that soon we’ll see manufacturing systems deployed and managed like they were enterprise solutions, across multiple sites and even geographies.”
As more organisations shift to a global operations model, manufacturing intelligence and business analytics will play an increasingly important role, she says. And as that happens, investments in MESs are expected to double over the next two years, says Aberdeen Group.
MES developer Apriso says the study is 100% in line with what it’s seeing – customers standardising on a single factory platform to support global manufacturing operations and processes. In recent months, the company has seen more customers asking for a single platform to coordinate activity not only on one site, but across multiple plants and geographies, according to Jim Henderson, president and CEO of Apriso.
“We are helping manufacturers meet those challenges through FlexNet, an operations execution platform built on a unified data model, which allows customers to share information and processes in real time,” he says. “For example, they can perfect a process in one location then quickly deploy it throughout their extended enterprises.”
Henderson also says that integrating multiple systems, supporting disparate applications, and a lack of a unified architecture continue to be the biggest challenges facing manufacturers he sees – a point also validated by Aberdeen’s study.
