Today, there are typically 3 flavors of MES systems out there in the world.
- Manual - the manufacturer uses paper to plan, manage, and monitor their manufacturing operations.
- Custom - the manufacturer has developed many custom solutions in Excel, Visual Basic, Access, Web Reports, legacy systems, etc.
- Commercial Product - the manufacturer has leveraged a Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) product to run their manufacturing operations.
The last flavor, where MES is installed much like ERP in a “big bang” project approach, is slowly going away. I believe there is a new way of being successful with MES projects:
- Start with a Pilot - define a target business problem with defined ROI or benefits, and start there.
- Work with Users - Users have great ideas. If they are included in the project, they will be more likely to make the project succeed.
- Celebrate Wins - when the MES solution helps you do something better, celebrate that so you can start building momentum.
We have seen so many projects fail because the scope of the project was just too large for the first phase. Business value was never created, momentum was never built, and the “Big Bang” approach failed.
