Dispelling the Myths of MES

The first myth is that the ERP system will handle all the MES functions. In fact, ERP systems were not designed to handle the real-time, process-data-intensive world that characterizes an execution system. ERP can be modified to address it, albeit in a very limited fashion, but not elegantly, effectively or cheaply. The truth is, combining even a thin layer of MES with your enterprise resource or advanced planning systems creates a synergy that drives above-average systems performance and return on investment (ROI) across the board.

接下来是车间系统完成MES任务的神话。现实是您已经有了MES。它可能是手动的，偷偷摸摸的，也可以与“吐和救助线”一起拼凑，但是每个人都必须有一种管理制造过程的方法。真正的问题是您的系统是否会自动提供制造过程的可见性。它是否将产品，流程和质量信息联系在一起，并与业务计划/企业解决方案进行交互？它会执行良好的制造过程吗？确保实现准确性？自动数据收集？提供实时，可靠的数据以进行管理决策？

Change culture

认为新技术成功的关键ful MES is the third myth. It is true that new tools and standards simplify design and maintenance of MES solutions. The main reasons that manufacturing execution systems fail are cultural and operational—not technical. Plant operational staff needs to understand how these tools help them achieve the work objectives and company goals. Technical staff must recognize the dynamic nature of an MES solution.

第四个神话认为，MES是一个开箱即用的点菜解决方案。虽然行业正在以这种方式前进，但还没有。长期以来，MES产品基本上是纯工具套件，由数据库架构和带有配置工具进行设计和维护的交易应用程序组成。这通常意味着解决方案为20％至30％的香草，习惯70％至80％。最先进的方案已经走了很长的路要走，现在大多数软件中的开箱即用功能都更高。在批处理，连续或离散的行业中，共同的生产和业务流程，术语和数据模型将其进入供应商的软件产品。

从功能性和垂直行业的角度来看，MES解决方案组件的协调性分量更加协调。产品的成熟已大大倾向于产品配置而不是自定义。但是，这些是关键任务系统，需要广泛的整合才能发挥其全部潜力。

误解第五位坚持认为，MES不会影响当前的业务实践。实际上，与业务和规划系统的交互最小的交互，可以以孤立的方式部署MES层。但是现实是，这些系统因缺乏实时和准确的产品，流程和质量信息而饿死。因此，您真的希望MES影响您的业务实践。

Finally, some believe that they can save money bypassing the overhead tasks. MES applications have proven to provide some of the best returns of any information technology system investment—but only when correctly implemented. Cutting key overhead activities such as project management, detailed operational design, documentation and training is a major mistake that is sure to haunt you in the future. Skipping a formal design phase won’t necessarily mean project failure, but it almost always pays for itself many times over on overall project cost savings.

Matt Bauer,mjbauer@ra.rockwell.com, is Chairman of MESA International, and Director of Information Solutions Marketing at Rockwell Automation Inc. For more information on MESA, visitwww.mesa.org。
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