Manufacturing Execution Systems

Aug. 1, 2004
The world manufacturing execution systems (MES) software market accrued revenues worth $1.2 billion in 2003 and is poised to expand to $2.51 billion by

The world manufacturing execution systems (MES) software market accrued revenues worth $1.2 billion in 2003 and is poised to expand to $2.51 billion by 2010.

Why is that important to this specific market? MES will become the main engine behind the intra- and inter-manufacturing enterprise collaboration and it is the enabling link between the enterprise-level systems and other factory automation systems. MES brings in all the functionalities required from the shop floor or plant level like the operational detailed scheduling, product tracking and traceability, process management, data collection and acquisition into a single platform.

The lean manufacturing concept is supplemented well by the MES product functionality. It helps to increase productivity and reduce costs in the lean manufacturing environment. This trend has enabled manufacturers to use this multi-vendor, multi-site software to achieve near-perfect process optimization. This trend offers new opportunities to the software providers in the market in the form of integration.

The trend of outsourcing has been increasing with increase in product offering to the end customers. In an attempt to get new products to the market on time, manufacturers are using MES software to optimize production operations. Leading MES solution providers are turning to XML Web-based systems. Application for manufacturing business intelligence is increasingly enabling business management. MES solutions are expected to improve plant efficiency.

MES -- Is it the new wave?

Most manufacturing companies are looking for solutions that can give them the visibility in their manufacturing process. It is being increasingly becoming clear that they need to obtain data from the plant floor. It would be difficult for top management to take business-level decisions that would involve the plant level data. Non-visibility of the processes clearly deters them from making the right decisions at the right time. In the present context of globalization and the marketplace getting increasingly competitive, companies need to have more visibility in their processes. It has become imperative that the entire supply chain needs to be monitored now and the cost of manufacturing is also going up steadily.

The conversion of the raw material to the finished good is getting globalized due to the current market conditions. A car manufacturer in the North America is likely to have suppliers from all over the world right now. Now, for the manufacturer to gain visibility into the manufacturing process of that supplier who could be as far as China he needs a automated system which can deliver this piece of vital information at the required time. Although the Manufacturer would be getting data on the availability of the product at the end of its life cycle, he should be able to get real time visibility into the manufacturing process as to when would the product would be reach his facility for him to roll out his products and get the products to market on time.

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