What is Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) Software?
Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) Software enables manufacturers to automates processes related to the production process.
Manufacturing companies use MES software to track production data in real-time in order to efficiently maximize production output.
MES software is primarily used by shop floor managers, production supervisors, and other employees and managers involved in the production process. It helps monitor efficiency, preemptively identify potential hindrances, put production plans into actions, and implement any remedial actions.
Some employees use MES software to keep tabs on their job schedules, alert supervisors and managers when something need attention, and allocate resources to the appropriate workstations throughout the production lifecycle.
MES software necessitates data from supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA). These control all equipment involved in the production process.
MES tools are also typically integrated in with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to add in information on materials consumption, production output, inventory, record-keeping, data analysis, WIP reporting, and so on.
As the complexity of a manufacturing operation grows larger, the importance of additional solutions grows in conjunction to store, analyze, and communicate important information throughout the organization.
These tools might include:
- Enterprise asset management (EAM)
- Product lifecycle management (PLM)
- Supply chain management and planning (SCM)
Features of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) Software
For MES solutions to place into the category, the product should include the ability to:
- Allocate labor and material efficiently to each manufacturing activity and production stage
- Implement production plans, tasks, and schedules for shop floor employees
- Provide visual mappings of the shop floor
- Provide physical locations of equipment, materials, and workstations
- Enable the monitoring of materials, inventory, and personnel on the production floor in real-time
- Integrate data from SCADA systems
- Track equipment performance
- Identify potential production bottlenecks
- Track inventory and resource utilization
- Provide dashboard and data visualization to track all aspects of production performance
Related software categories