Joe Gerstl, Director – MES Software, GE Digital
Manufacturers have long used Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) to manage and optimize operations, but traditional on-premises solutions require time and resources to implement and maintain. As a result, manufacturers often have a “set and forget” approach when dealing with these OT systems.
Today “set and forget” is no longer acceptable. Cyber security, new software features, and agile operations require using the latest version. Additionally, cloud-based analytics require OT data availability and a single source of truth. Continuous improvement and optimization also requires greater visibility into business performance.
The result: With significantly easier deployment and reduced maintenance, cloud-based MES offers next-generation innovation and is the answer to supporting modern manufacturing.
MES in the cloud
For many years, industrial companies have been committed to implementing cloud technologies for enterprise data, but have been skeptical about moving their data and OT applications there. However, as more and more business data across the organization is moved securely and cost-effectively to cloud solutions, many manufacturers are wondering the right way to balance the needs of the plant floor with the benefits of cloud technologies.
By reducing capital expenditures (CAPEX) and operating expenditures (OPEX) compared to on-premise deployments, cloud-based MES can help companies reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) by up to 30%, reduce maintenance and to improve safety.
Fully hosted as a managed service, cloud MES provides businesses with robust, composable no-code technology to improve their operations in real time, along with the flexibility to deploy the system in a way that best suits their needs.
Manufacturers can reduce overhead on maintenance resources and increase performance with the latest features and software releases delivered quickly through cloud infrastructure. With a managed, cloud-based MES solution, manufacturers no longer need to worry about patching the operating system and supporting software. Additionally, manufacturers can increase security with managed software at scale, including vendor-managed security updates.
A valid fast track for modern production
Large enterprises have traditionally leveraged MES more than medium- and small-sized manufacturers because they typically have more resources available to support deployment and maintenance. With MES as a Service, companies of any size can get a fast track to modern manufacturing operations and front-line guidance, allowing workers to be connected across the enterprise.
By reducing the costs and personnel required to deploy and maintain an MES, any manufacturer can implement an adaptable cloud-based manufacturing system and achieve real-time operations optimization to support digital transformation, continuous improvement and lean initiatives.
Additionally, some cloud-based MES can save manufacturers time with dozens of ready-to-use screens specific to process, discrete, and mixed manufacturing. The software can improve operator response with rich visualization, and manufacturers can easily customize MES screens without writing code, further reducing the resources needed.
By consolidating legacy systems into a single cloud-based MES, companies can further reduce costs and increase agility and consistency by managing operations both locally and globally.
Benefits of OT data in the cloud
By switching to an application Cloud-based MES, manufacturing companies also discover four key benefits to having their OT data in the cloud.
1. Reveal hidden opportunities to increase operational efficiency
With OT data in the cloud, analytics can transform and contextualize a company's time series and transactional data into actionable insights and uncover the potential for improvement. For example, data-driven predictive maintenance can save up to 12% of scheduled repairs, reducing overall maintenance costs by up to 30% and failures by up to 70%.
Manufacturers are looking to predictive analytics to improve operational efficiency and gain a competitive advantage. Thanks to the availability of cloud-based OT data, forward-thinking manufacturers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in putting analytics into practice.
2. Speed and agility
On a daily basis, factories run faster by storing operational data in the cloud for analysis, instead of storing it on-site. Operators are not hindered by MES systems that struggle to handle large volumes of data to analyze on site. At one site, operators reported an 85% increase in MES productivity by no longer having to manage large amounts of locally stored data. The entire plant ran faster.
3. Intelligence and intuitions
Different business roles require different information. Many manufacturers suffer from excessive costs related to materials, labor, packaging and shipping.
By implementing cloud MES, manufacturing companies also open up new ways to combine and visualize data remotely, compare dashboards across multiple factories, and monitor data from the enterprise level to the shop floor. This helps every team make better decisions based on the best data, faster.
For example, the supervisor needs information to optimize product flow, machine and operator efficiency, and manage safety incidents. The supply chain manager must optimize revenue goals and annual growth while reducing costs. And the operations manager focuses on increasing monthly and quarterly production efficiency and reducing non-value-added production steps.
Today's MES technology leverages invisible data and makes it easier for every person to have visibility into the information they need to do their job.
4. Reduce costs with OT data in the cloud
And if these other reasons aren't compelling enough, the simplest business case: Storing years of operational data is often a compliance requirement, but on-premise server costs add up quickly. It is now more convenient for manufacturers to store OT information in the cloud, reducing the need to store data on on-premise servers. Manufacturers can quickly achieve ROI by reducing costs associated with OT data.
Greater agility with cloud MES
With the agility offered by cloud MES, manufacturing companies can finally move away from the “set-and-forget” approach and instead equip themselves with a future-proof foundation for modern manufacturing and digital transformation.
Cloud-based manufacturing applications are becoming increasingly popular, and deployments offer significant benefits for manufacturers of all sizes, including a reduction in total cost of ownership by up to 30%, reduced maintenance and increased security. Furthermore, OT data in the cloud, along with the MONTH, provide the data and visibility needed to optimize your entire business in the modern manufacturing environment.