Rockwell report says manufacturers struggling to scale MES across operations

A new report from Rockwell Automation suggests manufacturers have widely adopted manufacturing execution systems (MES), but many continue to face challenges expanding the technology across their operations.

The report, based on responses from 1,560 manufacturing and industrial operations decision-makers in 17 countries, found 93 per cent of manufacturers have implemented MES in at least one facility. However, only 28 per cent have deployed the systems enterprise-wide, while 23 per cent reported full integration with enterprise resource planning, product lifecycle management, quality and operational technology systems.

The report found integration remains both the top priority and the biggest obstacle for manufacturers. Forty-four per cent of respondents identified integration as the most important requirement when purchasing an MES, while 33 per cent cited it as their largest data integration challenge.

Rockwell also found manufacturers expect artificial intelligence to support 42 per cent of their processes within the next year and 54 per cent by 2030. However, 43 per cent said they are not effectively using the operational data needed to support AI initiatives.

Cybersecurity also remains a concern, with 46 per cent of respondents reporting a cyber incident during the past year. Security and compliance ranked as the second-highest priority when selecting an MES, cited by 43 per cent of respondents.

“MES adoption is no longer the hurdle, but enterprise scale is,” said Anthony Murphy, vice-president of product management at Rockwell Automation. “Manufacturers may have checked the box by making initial investments in MES technology, but many struggle to gain full value across the enterprise. The impact of a MES has also changed–it’s shifted from production tracking to providing insights across a company’s full operations, like quality management, worker productivity and supply chain forecasting. Additionally, when connectivity is actualized, there are more opportunities to leverage AI technology. Manufacturers winning the race are not doing more than the rest, they’re just doing more together. With an elastic, edge-to-cloud MES like Plex, manufacturers can connect all aspects of production right away and then scale however they want over time.”

“Manufacturers have moved past the question of whether to adopt MES and are now confronting the harder challenge of scaling it,” said Lorenzo Veronesi, associate research director, IDC. “With integration ranking as both the top buying requirement and the leading modernization challenge, organizations risk leaving significant value on the table if disconnected systems and underutilized data go unaddressed.”