The Heart Of Intelligent Manufacturing

As stated earlier, MESs can come in all shapes and sizes and have one or more of the components outlined here, depending on the industry and user company. Some companies have all of these systems and more, but don't use the term "MES." In other instances, a company might call a single module — such as an SPC package — an MES system. Others will have an assortment of packages collectively referred to as an MES, but have no tie between the packages. MES doesn't have a broadly accepted meaning, especially among batch and process industries. It's also important to note that while core functions will generally be well integrated, most of the support functions won't. Newer applications pay more attention to data integration issues, but most execution systems are made up of disparate components.

Leveraging MES Information

Although in widespread use since 1985, business objectives for efficiency and efficacy in the supply chain are driving a surge of new interest in their MES applications and usefulness. A major reason is that these systems (both manual and computerized) and their components generate and maintain a large amount of data that could be useful to many more people within the enterprise as well as external value-chain partners on both the demand and the supply side. Historically, this information has been difficult to retrieve and include in more extensive user communities — that is, those beyond the plant floor. The good news is that information availability is improving as vendors recognize the need to enhance their applications with broader functionality, Web access, and newer tools that can collect and aggregate data from disparate systems.

In an upcoming article, I will focus more closely on how organizations will use MES data and information more broadly for IT systems. Briefly, here are some leading-edge ideas some organizations are using to broaden the use of this information:

Execution system providers are broadening their application footprints by offering greater functionality in their existing systems, or by providing additional, linked application packages. Rockwell Automation, GE, and Siemens are good examples of companies that have acquired an array of companies and products, enabling them to build integrated, single-source solutions for their business partners. Additionally, traditional MES technology providers, including Camstar, Datasweep, and Visiprise are extending their systems to include improved support for a wider variety of functions, including quality assurance, genealogy, product life-cycle management, and supply chain collaboration.

MESs have been in place for many years, with a primary focus of supporting first-line supervision. As the systems' use broadens to support a wider audience — a trend implied by intelligent enterprise and value chain collaboration concepts — the MES role will change. One key role is clear: The MES will have a growing impact as a critical source of real-time event information.

Michael McClellan is president of Collaboration Synergies, an advisory company focused on collaborative manufacturing systems development and implementation, plant floor information systems, and MES. He has more than 30 years of experience serving and managing manufacturing enterprises, and was a founder of Integrated Production Systems. He's the author of several books, most recently Collaborative Manufacturing: Using Real-Time Information to Support the Supply Chain (CRC Press, 2002).