Implementing manufacturing execution systems within large organisations / Muhammed Ahmed Karani
To compete in the global market, organisations have to ensure that their production issynchronised with their other business activities. To achieve this, companies deploy a variety of solutions known as Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). These systems provide thebridge between control and business systems and are used by a variety of people across many business functions. Typical users range from production and maintenance personnel to engineers, finance and management. Sectors within the manufacturing industry have their own definitions of MES and these are based on their functional requirements and by the offerings of vendors in that sector. Thus, people differ in their understanding and definition of MES. To ensure common understanding of what functionalities or modules constitute MES, the Manufacturing Execution Systems Association (MESA) has defined MES to cover the following eleven areas:Resource Allocation and StatusOperations/Detail SchedulingDispatching Production UnitsDocument ControlData Collection/AcquisitionLabour ManagementQuality ManagementProcess ManagementMaintenance ManagementProduct Tracking and GenealogyPerformance AnalysisOn examining the Manufacturing Execution Systems literature, it was realised thatfunctionalities and definitions exist but a standard approach and implementationmethodology is lacking. Thus, a framework was developed based on a literature study aswell as from experience within the MES environment. To ensure that the framework meetsthe needs of organisations, two questionnaires were developed and sent to people fromvarious functions within large South African companies (and across divisions).The results of the empirical study showed that for large organisations, i.e. organisations withover 200 employees and an annual turnover in excess of R 40 million, some form ofmanufacturing execution systems were used in all the companies surveyed. The mostcommon functionality deployed was Data Collection1Acquisition and the payback on thesesystems was greater than two years. The respondents highlighted that MES governance andan overall company wide strategy for MES implementation was non-existent or not enforcedacross the group of companies. The respondents also indicated that the implementation was time consuming and that the projects usually exceeded the allocated budget and/or were late. The respondents were not unanimous on who was accountable for MES within the organisation and a quarter felt that this was unclear within the organisation.When asked about the process that was followed in the selection of a vendor and solution,the majority felt that the process was not well defined. However, respondents noted thatchange management is used on all major projects and the outcome is generally successful.All the companies outsource either some or all of their IT services and the relationship withthe vendor seems successful, as the rating received for MES support was very good.The benefits of implementing Manufacturing Execution Systems are also being realised bythose companies that responded to the questionnaires. The overall impression is that over 75% of the respondents feel positive about the benefits and state that the benefits arerealised. The only major shortcoming is that information is not being shared across businessunits and sites as half of the respondents felt that this was not happening in their companies.The proposed MES Engagement and Implementation Framework that was tested with theempirical study was subsequently updated. The framework suggests that all MESimplementations should begin with a review of the business and ICT strategy as these wouldassist when defining the business requirements and the criteria for the selection of thetechnology, vendor, and solution The business requirements should be ascertained and arealistic business case should be developed. The project team should re-confirm the requirements once a vendor is selected, and, with the necessary change management, implement a portion of the solution as a pilot project. Once successful, then only should the entire solution be rolled out. Another parallel process should consider the outsourcing for the support phase. The entire process of implementing MES is cyclical as new requirements, additional functionality, and benefits tracking results in new projects.In conclusion adopting this framework would result in better implementation and ensure thatthe benefits are realised for all MES projects and that the solution is adequately supportedafter implementation. A model for the implementation has also been proposed and it should be developed and tested further to guide MES implementation.
Year of publication: |
2005
|
---|---|
Authors: | Karani, Muhammed Ahmed |
Subject: | MES (definition, functionality, benefits, pitfalls) | ERP | ICT | IT outsourcing |
Saved in:
freely available
Saved in favorites
Similar items by subject
-
ICT and ERP applications challenges in romanian SMEs
Ana, Grama, (2007)
-
Factors Influencing Acceptance and Use of ICT Innovations by Agribusinesses
Ibrahim, Adamkolo Mohammed, (2018)
-
Conditions of functional ICT structure in network organization
Adamczewski, Piotr, (2015)
- More ...