MES

An MES (manufacturing execution system) is the software layer between the ERP and the machines. The ERP knows what was sold and what must be produced; the MES knows what is happening right now at each station: which order is running, how many parts came out, why the machine stopped and who ran it.

How it works

A full MES usually covers order sequencing, production reporting, machine data collection, quality control, lot traceability and KPIs such as OEE. In practice, many machine shops do not need the whole package: starting with automatic machine status collection and OEE already solves most of the visibility gap, at a much lower cost and with faster rollout.

Practical example

A plant with 12 CNCs reported production on paper and typed it into the ERP the next day. With automatic status collection and part counting, the manager started seeing stopped machines and their reasons live, and the ERP received produced quantities at the end of each shift.

Common mistakes

• Buying a large MES before knowing which data will actually be used.
• Relying only on manual reporting, which arrives late and incomplete.
• Not integrating with the ERP, creating yet another data island.