Deloitte's Manufacturing Execution System (MES)

Digital product development—perception vs. reality

The majority of manufacturers surveyed last year believe that smart factories will transform the way products are made and become the main driver of competition by 2025. Yet only some of them reported full conversion of at least one factory to “smart” status, and only about one third report having smart factory initiatives currently underway at all.

The gap between perceived importance and real action can be caused due to distractions emerging from the shop floor, including:

• Ineffective, antiquated planning approaches
• Unmet product or process quality standards
• Insufficient material and labor traceability
• Missed throughput goals due to time-consuming manual activities
• Inability to troubleshoot issues
• Lack of visibility into key performance indicators
• Unplanned maintenance leading to unnecessary downtime

The biggest challenge—where to start?

Many companies have invested in manufacturing execution systems (MES) over the past 20 years. But each plant’s MES solution is often unique—some are homegrown and others have been purchased from software providers. As a result:

• The capability maturity of individual plants often varies, sometimes widely
• Plants may not be able to define a transformation path on their own
• Replication across the plant network may be impeded by lack of standardization and willingness to compromise
• Executive buy-in may be withheld due to a poorly defined business case for transforming all plants
• The path to integration may be impeded by siloed and decentralized system development

The good news? In the past five years, significant consolidation and growth have occurred in the MES software market. Several major players have become leaders in the space. Technologies are being integrating more easily. Digital innovations are emerging, including:

• Automation
• Workflow, traceability & review tools
• Assured data integrity
• Integration
• Advanced analytics
• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Internet of Things (IoT) solutions
• Immersive technologies

But now manufacturers need to decide which capabilities to pursue and how to transition from their current operations to more modern digital product development capabilities before competitors.

Accelerating time to value

Deloitte’s manufacturing execution system service is a process-led, turnkey approach to MES implementation. It’s founded on strong manufacturing operations capabilities, industry knowledge, deep MES system experience and open partnerships with MES solution providers and ecosystem players. Based on years of experience in manufacturing shop floor (re)design, we have developed preconfigured tools and templates to help speed your path to value with MES, including:

• A proprietary capability maturity model for assessing existing people, process, and technology capabilities and determining business needs
• Business case and quantifiable return on investment (ROI) development
• Scenario development for vendor demonstrations
• Methodology for comparing software capabilities
• System landscape integration
• Testing and qualification
• Strategy for prioritizing and sequencing solution roll-out using preconfigured templates
• Common, repeatable business processes tailored to the specifics of each factory
• Out-of-the-box lean manufacturing and continuous improvement tools to deliver sustainable production system improvements
• Transformation program governance models based on our experience with leading companies in many industries
• Outsource support for MES maintenance and support to reduce IT/OT expenses and focus on core competencies

Deloitte MES can include IoT integration, low-code application development, and AR/VR capabilities. We can also share industry-specific MES leading practices and many lessons learned in other industries to add value to your implementation.

Our approach can help manufacturers enhance several areas of their business using:

• Overall project cost reduction
• Shortest time-to-value due to accelerated implementation
• Simplified and globally harmonized processes
• Improved digital integration with product lifecycle management and operational systems and processes
• Strengthened regulatory compliance through improved digital traceability
• Lower annual maintenance cost using out-of-the-box functions

Deloitte MES is available through a wide range of engagement options to help you tailor the implementation to your organization’s needs, culture, time frame, and budget as you progress in your digital maturity. With an approach that’s flexible and scalable to match your transformation objectives, organizations can achieve goals faster and create a sustainable path forward.

Let’s talk

By choosing Deloitte’s MES services, you can jump-start intelligent and timely transformation toward smart factory capabilities that align with your organization’s broader goals.

Contact us to learn more about Deloitte MES or to discuss a specific challenge your organization is facing in its digital transformation journey.