What are the main challenges or barriers to implementing MES in your organization?

I have had opportunities to see multiple approaches for implementing an MES system. The best results I have seen are when organizations built the business case for MES to suit business goals. For example, if an organization is trying to standardize the business process across facilities and institute the practice of reporting uniform KPIs by standardizing the data collection. Then, stakeholders should select the MES product, build architecture, and implement MES to support these goals. Businesses must not choose an MES because the product has a short implementation cycle and out-of-box functionality if this doesn't help the organization's long-term plan.

Identifying the stakeholders itself needs a careful consideration. The front line workers are the most key stakeholders in addition to 3rd party system vendors as integration of controls and individual shop floor systems is a key to quick ROI of MES

According to my experience as PM in the implementation of MES, the main obstacle come from team involvement and skills. When the company creates a dedicated Team with both functional and transversal skills then it goes fine. It's difficult to imagine it's not always the case but yes! It might happen. Another challenge is to understand that a step by step implementation is essential. Some companies want to implement every features at the launch of the project. This drives to further difficulties as to change management at operators level.

In my experience, at the time strategy development and alignment, segmentation of supply chain based on products and customers, is generally a missed step. We tend to think that strategy is global, high level and long term, but fail to appreciate that MES cannot be enabled with a broad brush stroke. Rather it needs a segmented strategy and execution.

In addition, a data governance council comprising of business people (on shop floor), technology architecture people, data stewards, must establish standards for data definition, ingestion, quality management and performance management and then ensure that data projects abide by standards. There is a lot of tribal and unstructured knowledge in shop floors that need to be digitized in structured way for MES success.

Integration is the challenge, yet you must tackle it for successful implementation. In my experience, the following approaches have worked: Identify subject matter experts from all sides, e.g., ERP, MES, and OT, well in time. Integration causes most delays, so this must begin before the kick-off. Identify the technical challenges upfront and establish mechanisms to deal with them. Institute regular cadence to deliver agilely (design, develop, test, deploy, document, repeat) and practice collaboration by resolving conflicting goals.

OT integration is more critical than IT integration. Mainly in brownfield implementations due to the disparate systems in use

For sure, data integration is key. But MES editors are quite used to it. Here is an overview of data collection for MES purpose: Data come usually from ERP, DNC, WMS, and other IT environment. Here, IT integrators define a common standard for data exchange, as well as data exchange frequency and set this up. Data also come from the field with operators entries. There, the challenge is the change management and the efficiency of the device they use to enter data. Another data acquisition is machines (and control devices) protocols servers such as OPC. Finally, IoTs gather data from old tooling machines and other devices and are usually perfectly integrated to the MES database.

Besides just the MES software selection, major challenge lies in deciding of the hosting strategy which often results in a dilemma as IT is for Cloud while OT practicalities do not afford to accept everything to be in cloud. The hybrid approach (Cloud + Edge) is what should be a best strategy for complex and volumetric production scenarios at least

This is by far the biggest factor in determining success. I’ve seen customers that have very similar processes. Use the same software where one was a raging success, while the other was abysmal failure. In the case of the failure, the project was run by a project champion that came in from corporate, and had no local buy in. No one at the factory understood why we were doing what we were doing. While we got the software, configured and working properly, as soon as the project team left, the local plant shut everything down.

Challenges for successful implementation of MES: 1️⃣ Neglect Change Management: Overlooking the human side of transformation can lead to resistance. Nurture a culture that embraces change. 2️⃣ Underestimate Adoptability Challenges: Not everyone adapts at the same pace. Plan for varying levels of tech-savviness within your organization. 3️⃣ Underestimate Budget: Financial planning is critical. Ensure your budget aligns with your transformation goals to avoid unexpected roadblocks. 4️⃣ Pursue Technology for Technology's Sake: Tech should solve problems, not create new ones. Choose solutions that align with your objectives. 5️⃣ Underestimate Info Security Concerns: Address cybersecurity early and continuously to safeguard your digital assets

Cost of Implementation MES implementation is a significant cost. There is a cost for hardware, software, configuration and user training. It can take few years to see a return on investment.

Other than all the above and may be a few more, the OI / UI design is key towards adoption of MES. A consistent clutter-free performance oriented UI is must towards the success of MES else operators find ways of bypassing the system. That's where operators are key stakeholders as they are the real users of MES using it per job / per operation and ease of use matters to them.

I do not agree with Rahul Kaushik comment as to ROI. The ROI is usually comprised between 6 months to 1 year as per my experience in MES implementation