製造執行系統

Manufacturing execution systems (MES) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software are not alternatives for each other. Simplistically, an ERP manages stocks, while an MES manages the pipeline from raw materials to manufactured goods. Three main points differentiate ERP systems from MES systems:

• Functionally ERP and MES fill complementary but different roles within the manufacturing plant. While ERP focuses on overall quantitative analysis and scheduling, the MES focuses on the shop floor operations.
• Because their functional domains are different, both ERP and MES integrate into the larger plant system differently. ERPs are top level, and draw their data from other application sources, like CRMs. MES integrates directly in the machines and devices used in the industrial line, or through IIoT.
• Data captured in time is another difference. MES are real-time, collecting data directly from devices and machines. ERPs will perform periodic data analysis, drawing from multiple sources across the business to generate hourly, monthly, quarterly reports and more.

More detailed key distinctions between ERPs and MES functionality include:

• ERP systems mostly address pre-production issues as well as post-production analysis, with may entail
  • Product strategy
  • Reference product information
  • Production demand
  • Master data
  • Bills of materials (BOMs)
  • Standard operating procedures (SOPs)
  • Change orders
  • Inventories
• Contrastingly, manufacturing execution systems must have the capacity to anticipate, align and adjust production and business parameters in real-time. MES also manage the data generated during and just after production, such as:
  • Resource usage (labor, equipment, materials)
  • Order and work-in-progress (WIP) status
  • As-built genealogy yields
  • Time events
  • Machine throughput
• The complementary nature of MES and ERP functionality allows manufacturing companies to integrate these systems and reap numerous benefits:
  • Increased overall equipment efficiency (OEE)
  • Reduced cycle times
  • Reduced data entry
  • Data consistency
  • Leaner manufacturing
  • More on-time delivery

IoT (Internet of Things) platforms layer multiple technologies that provision and manage connected devices on an IoT network. IoT platforms are somewhat associated with consumer products, like those found in smart homes.

Operating in industrial settings, IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) platforms function similarly to IoT platforms, but with more advanced features. The advanced features serve the specific needs of an industry. For shipping and physical storage, this may come in the form of robots that move products around a warehouse. Industrial cases are highly complex, with thousands to millions of connected devices that require powerful and robust platforms to effectively manage them.

MES platforms can be imagined as a layer on top of IoT and IIoT platforms. This layer, while not a management layer, effectively extends the information analytics pipeline that can be connected from the device on the shop floor up through business insights and decision making applications. In advanced cases like IIoT, decisions can be automatically relayed to shop floor devices for corrective actions, changes in scheduling, anticipation of materials, etc.

Manufacturing execution systems are complex applications that help manufacturers improve visibility into their operations as well as enhance their ability to control and manage them. Several other key and incidental benefits stem from these systems.

• Improved Management And Control — MES enhances visibility into the entire production lifecycle, while adding controls and analysis, ultimately improving quality.
• Automated Regulatory Compliance — Compliance is complex to maintain. Leveraging compute and automation functions at the point of work, namely the plant floor, and integrating into the larger company systems, like enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, off loads that work from humans to machines, making data organization easier. Organized data means compliance becomes manageable and turns from a burden into a strength.
• Fast And Accurate Reporting — High level leadership, concerned with business level issues, needs to look at a different analysis than those in operations, who need details of the factory line. MES systems are able to analyze data for digestion at multiple levels, feeding the right information to the right users.
• Increased Visibility And Efficiency — MES platforms provide centralized dashboards with relevant real-time information about factory floor operations. Operational visibility reveals inefficiencies like where there are bottlenecks, and identifies incidents as they happen.
• Reduced System Costs — From operational visibility stems costs transparencies where direct intervention can have positive impacts on the bottom line.
• Improved MES Supply Chain Collaboration — Integrating MES into inline supply chain information systems enables data sharing that can contribute to greater supply chain efficiencies. Further, as value chain and supply chain entities grow in cooperation, greater value can be passed down to customers.