After all, we have an ERP system, so what else does my company need an MES for?

An ERP system has been an important part of an industrial company for decades.

All of the master data is stored there

- products / articles

- Customers

- Suppliers

- Part lists

- work schedules

- Machinery

- Capacities

- Stock levels

- Prices

- etc.

This is also important data for an MES.

Production is controlled via the PPS module. But this module is a static one. This means that a requirement is determined if there is no stock. The system then proposes a production proposal, and an employee in production control checks it, and if it is plausible, it is converted into a production order.

In the case of the production proposal proposed by the PPS, both the required capacity and the material availability are of course checked. So that there is no bottleneck for both.

However, if this suggestion is transferred to a production order, it remains exactly as it is until it is changed by the production control employee or is completed.

If there are only a few orders and a new requirement for a planned article arises, then a manual change, with a prior check of material and capacity, would not be a problem and the change would be made in no time.

But the reality is a bit different now. There are a lot of production orders that use different materials and capacities. But are scheduled in other production orders at the same time.

The MES is a dynamic system. This means that each new customer order is checked for feasibility. If there is already a production order with the same article and if the required change does not result in any postponements for the confirmed delivery dates to the customer, simply increase the quantity. This can be done in a proposal for the employee in production control, or it can be managed by the MES itself.

However, if there are many production orders and a lot has to be calculated as a result, the employees in production control are overwhelmed, or there would have to be so many that it would be uneconomical. But for the MES this is a piece of cake.

Like a good chess player, the MES examines all possibilities until it achieves the best result. And so that the capacities are utilized as close to 100% as possible.

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