MES

Manufacturing Execution System (MES)

An MES controls and monitors production in real time on the shop floor, between high-level planning in the ERP and the actual machine controls.

MES: Not to be confused with

An MES is NOT the same as an ERP. The ERP plans orders, material and capacity at company level, an MES turns that plan into real-time shop-floor execution and reports back progress, quality and downtime, often tightly linked with BDE/MDE.

Industry association MESA International describes MES as systems that capture manufacturing data in real time and control the production process at shop-floor level, from order release to quality documentation (Source 1). An MES thus covers the layer between high-level, company-wide planning in the ERP and physical machine control, feeding back through BDE/MDE into the ERP.

For highly automated manufacturers, for example in the Watches & Precision Industry, a dedicated MES alongside the ERP is often indispensable.

Related terms

• ERP
• Shop Floor Data Collection (BDE/MDE)

Sources for MES

1. MESA International, "What is MES?" ↗