MES Market Surpasses $1 Billion

Compliance initiatives and ERP maturity helped boost global market revenue for manufacturing execution systems (MES) to some $1.06 billion in 2004, a 50% increase since 2001, reported AMR Research recently.

Citing a few industry-specific examples, the Boston-based consulting firm said MES revenue from sales to the food and beverage and consumer-products segment doubled from $30 million in 2001 to $61 million in 2004, while quality control and warranty-cost recovery initiatives boosted MES sales in the auto sector to $52 million from $21 million in 2001.

"In 2001 the vast majority of the Fortune 1000 manufacturers AMR Research surveyed were in the throes of massive ERP rollouts," says senior research analyst Alison Smith. "As these draw to a close, manufacturers are realizing that their ability to effectively measure and manage the performance of their manufacturing assets hasn't proportionately improved."

No single vendor has emerged as dominant in the MES market, AMR Research says.