The manufacturing sector has become a crucial contributor to India’s economic growth. Its growth journey shows that the industry has exhibited resiliency, flexibility, and steady expansion, significantly contributing to the nation’s progress.
India’s manufacturing sector has proven remarkably resilient, but with growth comes its challenges. Complete process traceability and quality are a major challenge, contributing to high rejection rates, non-compliance, and inefficiencies. Therefore, technical improvements emerged as a helping hand in overcoming the difficulties. One such solution is the Manufacturing Execution System (MES), a software program that serves as a production facility’s central nervous system. For businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve, MES appeared as a crucial tool bridging the gap between planning and execution.
Manufacturing execution system: An understanding
MES is a software solution designed to enhance optimal efficiency and quality levels during manufacturing. The smooth integration of numerous plants, real-time site data, and vendor production information is part of this execution, which takes place at the plant and manufacturing levels. Furthermore, MES software is engineered to be integrated with diverse machines, controllers, and enterprise software programmes, culminating in all-encompassing visibility, amplified efficacy, and expanded authority over manufacturing processes. The primary functions of manufacturing execution systems centre on the administration of production orders, personnel, and machinery in the manufacturing setting.
According to PwC research, companies that embrace MES will have an advantage over their competitors. The report talks about:
- Increase in capacity and efficiency through increased machine uptime and usage.
- Reduced time to market for new products.
- Competitive advantage through meeting customer demand.
In addition, companies that have implemented MES have reported ROI from cost savings. In fact, given the huge traction, by 2025, 60% of new manufacturing execution systems solutions will be assembled by manufacturers or implementation providers using compassable technology, as per Gartner. Thus, MES has become pivotal in offering a plethora of benefits by leveraging extensive data analytics to provide real-time insights.
Benefits of implementing an MES
Better quality control: Organisations using MES can automate quality checks at critical production points, reducing manual errors and ensuring consistency. At the same time, it can ensure 100 percent routing adherence and sequential control for rigorous quality control.
Workflow Optimisation: By automating the resources, MES improves the overall product flow and asset utilisation through product planning, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) monitoring and labor resource management resulting in a streamlined workforce.
Real-time monitoring and traceability: MES ensures instantaneous visibility into material flow and data while adhering to set parameters for process validation. Making informed choices using component—or batch-level traceability simplifies recall management and increases accountability.
Report and data analytics: It also offers customisable reports tailored to unique business requirements that help in agile decision-making across manufacturing operations. Moreover, MES has advantages that go beyond effectiveness and quality assurance. By optimising operations and offering real-time data, MES has the potential to boost customer happiness, reduce environmental impact, and improve regulatory compliance.
Implementing MES: Strategic decision
The decision to adopt a MES should be carefully considered. However, MES provides a compelling solution for enterprises looking to streamline their production processes, improve quality control, and gain a competitive advantage. With a focus on quality, efficiency, flexibility, and agile decision-making, lead times are reduced, and output is increased significantly. As a result, MES enables real-time decision-making, process optimisation, and product quality assurance by integrating data from several sources.
Hamir Singh Thakur, Chief Solutions Officer, Bar Code India
