Glossary

Completion signal

A completion signal is a status, event, or data point indicating that a defined manufacturing activity is complete.

Buyer Proof and Enablement Reducing Scrap, Rework, and Material Waste in Aerospace Manufacturing with MES MES, ERP, PLM and Data Integration

A completion signal is a status, event, or data point that indicates a defined manufacturing activity has been completed. In industrial systems, it commonly marks that a work step, operation, inspection, material movement, or system transaction has reached its required end state.

Completion signals may be generated manually by an operator, automatically by equipment, or electronically by software such as an MES, ERP, QMS, or warehouse system. They are often used to trigger the next workflow step, update production status, post labor or material consumption, record inspection progress, or make work visible to downstream systems.

A completion signal should not be confused with quality acceptance, final release, or regulatory approval. It indicates that an activity is recorded as complete according to defined criteria. Additional review, inspection, disposition, or approval may still be required before product can move forward or be shipped.

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Waste is more expensive in aerospace because materials, processes, and documentation are tightly controlled and highly traceable. Scrap or rework often means losing qualified parts, certified materials, and engineering effort, and can trigger revalidation, investigations, and schedule risk that far exceed the direct material cost.

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An MES can help reduce scrap in aerospace by tightening process control, enforcing digital work instructions, and improving traceability and feedback loops. Actual scrap reduction depends heavily on data quality, integration with existing systems, validation status, and how consistently operators and engineers use the MES in daily operations.

What is sustainability in aerospace?

In aerospace, sustainability means reducing environmental impact and resource use across design, manufacturing, operations, maintenance, and end‑of‑life management, while maintaining safety and certification obligations. It is constrained by long asset lifecycles, strict regulations, supply chain risk, and existing legacy systems.

What is the integration between MES and ERP?

MES–ERP integration is the controlled data exchange between manufacturing execution and enterprise planning systems: orders, BOMs, routings, material and resource data flow down from ERP, while production status, consumption, and actuals flow up from MES. In regulated, brownfield plants, scope, data ownership, and validation boundaries must be defined explicitly to avoid breaks in traceability and planning.

Related Glossary

Supplier change

Supplier change is the controlled addition, removal, or replacement of an approved source for a part, material, or outsourced process.

Cycle count accuracy

Cycle count accuracy measures how closely inventory records match physical counts during cycle counting.