PROBLEMS WITH CURRENT GENERATION OF MES SYSTEMS BRING HIGH INVESTMENT RISK

Problems with Current Generation of MES Systems Bring High Investment Risk, says
Paul Hurst of Products4Automation

Current MES systems only represent a preliminary stage of development toward the
goal of intelligently controlled production processes, according to Paul Hurst of
P4A, the UK distributor for FELTEN Production Intelligence software. "MES systems
need to adopt a holistic and process-oriented approach," says Hurst. "This
represents an evolutionary advancement, one which releases production management
from its isolated self-image and associated performance limitations, enabling
significantly higher levels of production efficiency to be achieved."

For reasons of economic security, Hurst's recommendation for companies that are
still without MES systems, or solutions for machine and production data collection
(MDC/PDC), is to forego the use of classic systems. "Because the future clearly
belongs to PI-oriented solutions, a focus on outdated MES philosophies carries with
it a high investment risk," he says.

So what exactly are the problems with current generations of MES systems; and how
can these be overcome with a PI solutions approach? The problems fall into seven key
categories, according to Paul Hurst, they are: The role of humans is neglected; Too
isolated a perspective; A technical and system focus that is too strong; Rigid
instead of flexible process guidance; Extensively isolated planning and control
processes; Sufficient KPI control is not possible; No intrinsic administrative
optimisation methods are provided.

"Many automation strategies fail to consider that humans, as the keepers of
intelligence, know-how; or take account of the fact that experience with processes,
can never be completely replaced by technology," asserts Hurst. "Instead of
achieving a balance between technology and humans, MES systems have caused the
pendulum to swing predominantly towards automation and let the human factor, with
its potential to increase productivity, fade into the background.

In the field, production management is typically looked at in isolation, without
consideration of the environment and its specific conditions. MES systems have
actually reinforced this focus, because even with the requirement of integration
into ERP systems, these systems were not designed from a holistic perspective.

The actual potential for productivity increases lie within the processes, but
current MES strategies are dominated by a technical focus. And because a logical
process focus is missing, current optimisation possibilities can only be
insufficiently employed.

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