Manufacturing Execution System

A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is production-focused software used to manage, monitor, and record manufacturing activities in real time on the shop floor. It operates between enterprise-level planning systems, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and physical production assets, such as machines, work centers, and manual stations.

Operationally, an MES typically performs the following functions:

• Execution control: Distributes work orders, sequences operations, and tracks the status of jobs, materials, and resources as work progresses.
• Data collection: Captures production data from machines, operators, and sensors, including run times, downtime, counts, scrap, process parameters, and operator inputs.
• Traceability and genealogy: Records which materials, components, equipment, and process conditions were used for each batch, lot, or unit produced.
• Work instructions and specifications: Delivers electronic work instructions, recipes, and parameter limits to operators or equipment during production.
• Quality and compliance enforcement: Enforces defined checks, inspections, approvals, and holds during production, and records the outcomes in a structured way.
• Event management and escalation: Detects deviations or events based on predefined rules and triggers notifications, workflows, or escalations to designated roles.
• Performance tracking: Calculates and displays key production metrics such as throughput, scrap, cycle times, and availability, usually at the level of lines, cells, or work centers.

MES systems are commonly integrated with ERP systems, quality management tools, and automation or SCADA layers, acting as the system of record for execution-level production data and shop-floor activities.