Usually I don’t have problems to explain even tricky things within 30 seconds. Not so in the case of MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems).

I try it with Google. How do other people and organizations define MES?

A good definition comes from MESA (Manufacturing Execution Systems Association International), a nonprofit trade association in Pittsburgh representing MES software developers and vendors:

“MES uses current data to guide, initiate, respond to and report on plant activities as they occur. The resulting rapid response to changing conditions, coupled with a focus on reducing nonvalue-added activities, drives effective plant operations and processes. MES provides mission-critical information about production activities across the enterprise and supply chain via bidirectional communications.”

This is a very profound definition.

Can you read it within 30 seconds? The answer is: No!

Does it hit the point? Once again the answer is: No!

I try my best with other sources from Businessdictionary and Bitpipe and get more of the same in terms of lengthy and overblown explanations.

The MES definition has to be straightforward and focused; maybe like:

“Empower the people, feed the brains, enable collaboration and create a culture of continuous improvement in manufacturing.”

Wow, that’s it. It only takes 15 seconds and it hits the point. Let me explain why.

In the end - everything that happens in a plant is controlled by brains or machines. To make production work well, the human brains have to know what’s going on in the plant, and the machines have to have instructions to do what’s needed.

Communication is perhaps the most important aspect of a perfect plant. The collaborative aspect is all about to get more eyeballs on the problems. Once you’re looking at the same information, continuous improvement scenarios will be put in force soon.

Everyone in a perfect plant should know how the plant is performing, what is coming down the road, and what the effects of their actions are. The second part of being a perfect plant is pretty obvious-performance. The people in a plant know that they can make better decisions if they cooperate.

The best plants systematically work against isolation by setting up rewards for achieving common goals. A common technique that helps break down barriers is visualization and transparency. So the plants report the state of their production lines, materials inventory, their work in progress inventory, their product quality, their waste figures and so forth. At their best, technology and software provide people with what they need to make the right decisions and take the right actions.

This more collaborative model for manufacturing - enabled by modern MES - is already being adopted by leading industrial companies. Find more information about this at MESA (P2E Model Statement).

Everything is going to be alright.

Best Regards

Detlef Riedel

Xavo/CEO