Despite widespread manufacturing execution system (MES) adoption, scaling it across the enterprise has become the defining challenge for manufacturers seeking to drive performance, integration and long-term value, according to Rockwell Automation’s Scaling MES Across the Enterprise.
Most manufacturers have MES running in at least one facility. However, far fewer have made it work consistently across all sites, due to disconnected systems, underutilized data and rising operational risk.
“MES adoption is no longer the hurdle, but enterprise scale is,” says Anthony Murphy, VP, product management, Rockwell Automation. “Manufacturers may have checked the box by making initial investments in MES technology, but many struggle to gain full value across the enterprise. The impact of a MES has also changed—it’s shifted from production tracking to providing insights across a company’s full operations, like quality management, worker productivity and supply chain forecasting. Additionally, when connectivity is actualized, there are more opportunities to leverage AI technology. Manufacturers winning the race are not doing more than the rest, they’re just doing more together.”
Key takeaways:
• 93% of manufacturers have MES in place, yet only 28% have deployed it enterprise-wide and just 23% report full integration across enterprise resource planning (ERP), product lifecycle management (PLM), quality and operational technology (OT) systems.
• 44% of manufacturers rank integration as their top MES buying requirement. It also ranks as the leading modernization challenge, with 33% citing MES as their biggest data integration problem.
• Manufacturers expect 42% of processes to be AI-supported within the next year and 54% by 2030. Yet 43% acknowledge they are not effectively using their collected data.
• 46% of manufacturers experienced a cyber incident in the past year. Security and compliance now rank as the second-highest MES buying requirement, cited by 43% of respondents.
