In today’s digital age, manufacturers can stay ahead of the competition by leveraging advanced technologies for efficient production management. Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are essential for managing production operations and making decisions more quickly, accurately, and efficiently than ever before.

MES solutions have become integral to the manufacturing industry’s digital transformation — they provide an unprecedented real-time view of how products perform throughout the whole chain of operations. With MES solutions, businesses can reduce processing times while cutting costs and improving quality control over their supply chain.

MES systems give workers an up-to-date picture of what’s happening in every aspect of their factory floor. They also offer superior flexibility that meets user needs daily and provide adaptive tools for meeting changing concepts and objectives. Read on to discover why MES solutions have become so fundamental to successful digital transformations within the manufacturing industry.

Intelligent insights

MES systems allow for the capture, organization, and visualization of production chain data in real-time, enabling manufacturers to gain a competitive advantage. Digital and automation technologies play an essential role in this process by allowing raw data generated by machines and people to be formatted into information by adding context and organization. Contextualizing the data delivers improved visibility of operations and performance levels, while providing insights into metrics and actionable KPIs. Through these capabilities, intelligent insights facilitate easier, more informed decision making that can significantly enhance performance across enterprises.

Data stewardship and governance

Security is an essential component of effective deployment of digital and automation technologies. Though production can be improved with a boom of custom apps, the uncontrolled proliferation of these can lead to a multitude of uncoordinated data silos. This hodgepodge can make it difficult to aggregate data across departments. As many manufacturers realize, the MES database serves as the de facto form of governance, enabling integration and agile response to dynamic processes. Leveraging a comprehensive MES solution reduces the likelihood of unintended consequences from disparate systems with small power-user communities.

Standardization and control

With the introduction of digital and automation technologies such as MES, organizations now have access to more control over their production chain than ever before. One of the most significant advantages associated with MES is standardization and control across all levels of production. These systems monitor work steps ranging from equipment, materials, data collection and both automated and manual processes–continuously making sure that people and equipment are operating according to rigidly enforced policies. Such in-depth visibility enables businesses to fine-tune their strategies and processes towards improved efficiency, consistency, and compliance.

Responsive action

MES technology gives organizations the ability to take responsive action when it comes to data-driven events occurring on the production chain. Exception-handling methods brought forward by MES allow users to get alerted of issues such as suspect defects or process anomalies, enabling them to quickly diagnose and solve the issue. The marriage between MES systems and Internet of Things (IoT) analytical platforms enhance this capability even further, providing unprecedented visualization and control while creating an agile working environment.MES technology gives organizations the ability to take responsive action when it comes to data-driven events occurring on the production chain. Exception-handling methods brought forward by MES allow users to get alerted of issues such as suspect defects or process anomalies, enabling them to quickly diagnose and solve the issue. The marriage between MES systems and Internet of Things (IoT) analytical platforms enhance this capability even further, providing unprecedented visualization and control while creating an agile working environment.

Connection and digital thread

MES provide an ideal resource for bridging the gap between the plant and enterprise systems such as Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. By utilizing MES applications, these systems can create a seamless digital thread between all aspects of product realization, from design to production to services and support. This broad connection also allows manufacturers to maintain a digital twin for each physical product, giving them greater visibility into their products’ performance over time. In this way, MES can be seen as the cornerstone of intelligent industry operations.

The power of digital and automation technologies to give users unprecedented control over production chain processes is undeniable – but traditional MES solutions can be unsuitable for many production environments. High implementation and operational costs, complexity, and inflexibility mean that most facility owners are unable to take advantage of the powerful MES systems out there. But cloud-based solutions such as SmartSights ABLE are disrupting this market by providing an alternative that is fast to deploy, simple to configure, easy to use, and cost-effective for all your lines and sites. Through these solutions, manufacturing facilities can now gain greater insight into their operations, improve efficiencies, and reduce downtime.

Seamless implementation

Adopting a traditional MES system can be prohibitively expensive both in terms of funding and time invested. Cloud-based manufacturing solutions provide an innovative, cost-effective alternative. Now, manufacturing teams can bypass lengthy development efforts and get an intuitive solution running in days instead of months. SmartSights ABLE also includes a wide range of user-friendly features tailored to operator needs, providing a key competitive advantage via real-time visualization and control of the production chain.

The ABLE solution enables manufacturers to quickly and easily digitize processes, build production records, and manage them in real-time from one centralized system. This innovative approach ensures powerful visualizations and full control over the production chain, providing improved product quality and process optimization with ease.

Leverage production data

This type of solution also empowers your operations with rich production data at your fingertips–data that’s no longer trapped in paper or legacy systems. ABLE facilitates integration of data and processes into business-critical systems to enable robust analytics, dashboard visuals, and operational optimization in real-time.

As IIoT technologies continue to transform the manufacturing landscape, the time for manufacturers to invest is now. Whether you’re looking to strengthen your current MES system, or you want to take a combined, “lightweight” approach to MES, SmartSights Industry 4.0 accelerator apps can scale with your business and can work alongside advanced MES from a variety of partners.