Deloitte's Manufacturing Execution System (MES) Solution

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, while 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.

So many choices, so little time (and budget)

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 integrating more easily. Digital innovations are emerging, including:

• Automation
• Workflow tools
• Advanced analytics
• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Internet of Things (IoT) solutions

But now, manufacturers need to decide which capabilities to pursue and how to transition from their current operations to more modern capabilities before competitors. Deloitte can help.

DMES: Deloitte’s Preconfigured MES Solution

DMES is a process-led, turnkey approach to MES implementation that focuses on seven key MES capabilities:

• Manufacturing process definition
• Production scheduling
• Production execution
• Tracking and traceability
• Production quality management
• Closing production unit
• Data collection and reporting

DMES is an important enabler of the product life cycle digital thread, with prebuilt process and data integration connections to other end-to-end digital product development and real-time IoT production monitoring capabilities (figure 1).

Accelerating time to value

Deloitte combines strong manufacturing operations capabilities, industry knowledge, extensive experience, and relationships with the major MES vendors, as well as many tools and accelerators to jumpstart and enable your MES transformation journey. Based on years of experience in manufacturing shop floor redesign, 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
• Strategy for prioritizing and sequencing solution roll-out using preconfigured templates
• Common, repeatable business processes embedded with industry standards and lean manufacturing principles
• Out-of-the-box system configurations aligned to standard business processes and data models
• 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

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

Potential benefits

A DMES implementation can provide the following potential benefits:

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