When manufacturing execution system (MES) applications became popular in CPG plants and factories around the globe, manufacturing executives thought they were getting systems that would help them monitor the equipment and production on the factory floor.
For most, that's exactly what an MES delivered. However, because few executives failed to challenge the assumption that an MES would also translate to improved profitability, these applications failed to deliver what consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies actually needed.
A recent AMR Research survey of 100 CPG and food/beverage manufacturers revealed that although the use of an MES often leads to tactical operational gains through improved data measurement and collection, it has failed to make a significant impact on operational efficiency, overall profitability and executives' confidence in the accuracy of their plant KPIs -- a lack of confidence that continues to hamper decision making and performance improvement.
As global capital markets remain constrained and consumers continue to trade down to the value end of the product mix, CPG executives are increasingly looking at the plant network as a primary source of margin protection across their product mix. Through this process, many are finding that MES applications simply cannot provide answers to critical questions like "What actions on the production lines will generate savings" "What SKUs can we relocate?" or "How do we reduce changeover times?"
As a result, a growing number of manufacturers have been making a shift from MES applications to manufacturing operations management (MOM). MOM is a new alternative to managing and improving factory operations and execution in real time -- one that is entirely focused around the specific actions that deliver improved profitability.
Let's take a look at the top five reasons companies continue to head in this new direction.
#1: MOM Goes Far Beyond Mere Data Collection and Business Processes Automation
A byproduct of the "if you can't measure it, you can't fix it" era, MES applications have been deployed under the assumption that when you have more data, you can uncover and capitalize on more improvement opportunities.
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