What is a Manufacturing Execution System (MES)?

Did you know our President and CEO Scott Whitlock is a whiteboard junkie? Yep. Whether brainstorming ideas with the FlexDog team or highlighting how a process should flow for clients, he gets giddy as the dry erase marker moves against the shiny surface and makes that signature squeak. Today he is white-boarding for us what is manufacturing execution system (MES).

Let’s tune as Scott explains how MES is all about flows within manufacturing – planning flows, execution flows, and monitoring flows.

An MES Overview: How It Works and How to Implement on the Shop Floor

At its core, MES is an electronic system that helps manufacturers become paperless, as well as, collect and analyze data more efficiently to optimize production activities and eliminate error. Automation, HMI/SCADA, and custom software solutions also can be tied into MES. Although MES solutions are used to operate as a self-contained system, they are increasingly being integrated with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The result is complete visibility, control and manufacturing optimization – from order placing, production inception, and process control to product output. You may have heard MES referred to as data collection solutions, shop floor execution systems, and manufacturing operations management. Yes, those titles work too. They are all getting at one major point – the desire for real-time data.

A 25 Year Love Affair with MES | Systems Integrator – Flexware Innovation

Flexware Innovation, Inc. began in 1996 with a passion for helping manufacturers harness the power of MES and realize the strategic benefits of improved yields, lower operating costs, and overall leaner manufacturing. And it’s still a passion for our FlexDogs today, as we help manufacturers across the U.S. implement MES within their operations. It’s one of the things we love most. Well that, and IoT technology within the manufacturing arena, but that’s a blog for another day.