Like any other industry, the manufacturing industry is drastically growing in its way. Thus, manufacturers need to update themselves with the new technologies and tools to stay relevant and competitive with the current market trends.
If we observe, successful manufacturing companies are the ones who are versatile and constantly optimizing their overall operational efficiency. Thus, they can improve product quality and production rates, generating excellent profits. So, how to improvise production and other critical processes in your manufacturing business?
In the manufacturing industry, business owners often encounter hindrances in the supply chain like bottlenecks, productivity lapses, or overproduction. These issues are typically unpredictable, challenging, and often cause a delay in production. Automating the complex manufacturing systems and data flows on the factory floor can improve overall production efficiency.
How to do so? The Manufacturing Execution System (MES) plays a vital role in improving production efficiency that too cost-effectively. Let us learn about the basics of the Manufacturing Execution System (MES), its benefits, architecture, core functions, its comparison with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), whether your business will need one, and finally, the future of the MES. Read on…
What is the Manufacturing Execution System (MES)?
A manufacturing execution system (MES) is a dynamic information system that connects, monitors, and controls complex manufacturing systems and data flows on the factory floor. Thus, the MES ensures effective execution of the manufacturing operations and improves production output.
An MES helps to track and gather accurate, real-time data about the entire production process. Yes, with the MES, one can get all data right from the raw materials to finished goods on the shop floor. Thus, it encourages manufacturers to control all activities and operations in their factories.
The MES system helps with the effective execution of production operations and improves output production. The MES manufacturing has real-time features that will help you control all of your shop floor operations like:
- → Inventory
- → Workers
- → Machines
- → Support services
In addition to all of the above-said shop floor activities, the MES will further help you with:
- → Shop floor planning
- → Order management
- → Dispatching processes
- → Managing the product life-cycle definitions
- → Production analysis
- → Product traceability
Benefits of Manufacturing Execution Systems
Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) provide various long and short-term benefits like
★ Cuts Your Costs
MES manufacturing enables you to track real-time costs from the shop floor. Yes, one can trace the various expenses, including
- • Labor costs
- • Downtime costs, and
- • Maintenance costs
As the system provides all these crucial data precisely, it will help you with increased productivity cost-effectively. Yes, the MES gives the manufacturers a better understanding of where their costs go. Thus, they can make informed decisions and reduce their unwanted/excess costs.
★ Eliminates Waste
The MES recognizes inconsistencies or aberrations on your production lines effectively. Hence, you can limit the number of defective products immediately. Thus, it highly reduces the waste material on the shop floor.
The MES reduces faulty/ defective products through:
- • Complete traceability of your raw materials, production, and fulfillment.
- • Highly reliable and precise process planning.
- • Allows you make data-based operational and strategic decisions.
★ Minimizes Inventory
The MES will help you cut your costs by giving information about all the raw materials and available finished goods. It further lets you know about your inventory levels and educates you on how to reduce them. Thus your entire enterprise knows how much inventory is available and what you would need to order from:
- • Purchasing
- • Shipping and
- • Scheduling departments
★ Eliminates Paperwork
The whole world is moving digital eliminating all manual data entry and paperwork. Yes, it is no more an option but a necessity. The MES helps you do your daily operations effortlessly by automating challenging, time-consuming and repetitive tasks. Thus, MES manufacturing improves the overall production efficiency.
Manufacturing Execution System Architecture
The Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) International is an organization that constantly aims to improve operation management in manufacturing by effectively applying technology. The MESA defined the scope of MES way back in 1997 as the MESA-11 model. It is the earliest MES modal that indicates 11 crore functions of an MES.
The ANSI/ISA-95, an international standard for enterprise and control systems, merged the MESA-11 model with the Purdue Reference Model, creating a functional hierarchy. This specific model established MES at the intermediate level three between enterprise resource planning (ERP) at level four and process control at levels zero, one, and two.
Experts find the MES system is highly essential since it serves as a functional layer between the ERP and the process control systems on the factory floor. Thus, it encourages manufacturers with real-time workflow visibility, flexibility, and other valuable insights. Using that information, one can improve their enterprise-wide manufacturing operations.
Apart from these core functions, the MES allows manufacturers to successfully overcome the challenge of regulatory compliance set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Yes, manufacturers/entrepreneurs can now use the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for regulated industries like pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, medical device class, biotechnology, biologics developers, and contract research organizations.
The Manufacturing Execution System (MES) further maintains a Device History Record (DHR) for every product unit and batch. MES achieves it by collecting data, processes, and outcomes of the manufacturing process for compliance with Title 21 CFR Part 11 and Part 820 of the FDA regulations.
Apart from that, the MES can benefit discrete manufacturing industries like aerospace, defense, and automotive, process manufacturing like chemical, oil and gas, power and energy, and pulp and paper industries.
Core Functions of the Manufacturing Execution System
Organizations can implement the MES for various manufacturing operations like resource scheduling, order execution, and production analysis. Thus they can run their entire production processes without human intervention and maintain an accountable, transparent, and controlled production flow.
A robust manufacturing execution system (MES) can help you with functions like:
- ♦ Data Collection: The MES helps you gather data automatically that you can use to evaluate and analyze your business processes. Automated data collection eliminates the risk of human error in manual data entry.
- ♦ Labor Management: Data tracking even allows you to recognize the features of your equipment and the qualities of your employees. Thus, you can utilize them in the best possible ways. It even heightens the opportunity to provide additional training to improve the efficiency of your employees.
- ♦ Product Tracking: Industries like food and beverage need to comply with rules and regulations regarding material tracking. In that case, the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is inevitable. It helps manufacturers to track the location of every product or material throughout the production process.
- ♦ Quality Control: As the MES allows real-time data collection and analysis, you will have full authority over the quality of the manufacturing processes. Also, you can identify the problems or quality issues of the product at a very early stage. Thus you can rectify the defects and come up with optimum quality products.
- ♦ Performance Analysis: The MES analyses the performance of the entire process, thus helps to identify the areas with minimal productivity. Hence, you can improve the efficiency of your processes consistently.
- ♦ Maintenance Management: The MES provides excellent maintenance of machines and tools. So, you can have a smooth production flow without any hindrance on your production. Also, periodic maintenance of your equipment will enable you to run your manufacturing facility efficiently, preventing any production breakdowns.
Businesses can implement the MES to reduce waste, increase uptime and reduce inventory through various scheduling methods like finite scheduling, queue compression, and visual scheduling. Thus, any manufacturing operations, regardless of their size, can implement the MES to enhance their production.
How Do MES and ERP Work Together?
Now comes the crucial question. When both Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems help us with manufacturing operations, can we use both of them together? Yes, though they both play separate roles, they can complement their roles in manufacturing processes.
Let us learn how both of these systems work first. An ERP system integrates all aspects of the enterprise into one dedicated information system. For instance, employees in planning will have access to the same data as the staff in financial management. All data is also available in real-time that enables production managers to make informed business decisions faster.
Moreover, MES acts as a layer between your manufacturing shop floor systems. It can be anything like machines and supervisory systems, business, planning, and logistics systems. In short, both MES and ERP can integrate and add value to your organization.
In simple words, while ERP systems show you what you need to improve your production output, MES systems show you how to do that.
Is MES Right For Your Business?
The MES comes with immense benefits like increased productivity, improved data capture, real-time operations visibility, and optimized workforce, etc. One of the prime features of an MES is providing materials traceability which is essential for manufacturers adhering to strict regulations. Thus, most manufacturers in the food and beverage industry, medical devices, aeronautics and aerospace, and defense industries implement MES for its traceability.
But, still, the Manufacturing Execution Systems are not for every business. Small scale business owners and manufacturers may often find that their production operations are not large enough for implementing software systems like the MES. Also, these manufacturers find the investment too big, and their profit margins do not allow them. Thus, investing in an MES is a personal choice. One needs to weigh the pros and cons and decide whether the MES is worth it for their manufacturing enterprise.
Future of Manufacturing Execution System(MES)
The future of the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) heavily depends on the needs and requirements of the manufacturing industry. Industry 4.0 is the current trend of automation and data exchange in the manufacturing field. With industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT), manufacturers can come up with an intelligent factory. Thus, the manufacturing industry is also catching up with automation and digitalization, similar to the rest of the IT and other industries.
IoT sensors on the shop floor will help to collect data and link machines. Thus, one can access more accurate information. That, in turn, benefits the Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) that relay the data to you. As these technologies prosper and go advanced like Augment Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Smart Machines (MES), they will play a vital role in managing production operations. Thus, the Manufacturing Execution Systems(MES) will go way ahead in the future, allowing your factory to run itself; independently.
Conclusion:
Organizations and companies in the manufacturing sector that want to optimize their production efficiency cannot do so without implementing a Manufacturing Execution System (MES). As we know that the MES acts as a bridge between the operational corporate management and the process control level, manufacturers can compare the data from the ERP with real-time data from the production.
Thus, the organization can achieve the highest level of transparency in production. Also, the MES gives valuable insights into machines and systems that allow the companies to find production lapse and defective products immediately. That, in turn, reduces the production cost resulting in higher profits.
The MES can help many industries, including pharmaceuticals, aerospace, food, etc. These industries predominantly use MES as they need its assistance to track products. Moreover, the MES implementation is ideal for distinct manufacturing industries like aerospace, defense, automotive, and process manufacturing. Nevertheless, the MES will rule several fields in the future.
