Compare
MES compared: straight answers
Short, straight answers to the comparisons people ask about most, from which system does what to which approach to take. Each one links to the full article, with a side-by-side table.
Business and shopfloor systems
- MES vs ERP ERP plans and accounts for production: orders, materials, costs and dates, across the business. MES/MOM runs it on the shopfloor in real time, recording what actually happened by order, lot, machine and operator. →
- MES vs MOM MES runs production: orders, counts, scrap, downtime and OEE. MOM covers all four areas ISA-95 defines for manufacturing operations, which are production, quality, inventory and maintenance. →
- ERP vs MRP vs MES ERP runs the business on one set of data, from finance to purchasing. MRP is the planning process inside ERP that works out what to make and buy, and when, from demand, bills of materials and stock. →
- APS vs ERP scheduling ERP plans in weeks and months, usually assuming infinite capacity. APS sequences in days and hours against finite capacity, changeovers and constraints. →
- WMS vs MES inventory ERP owns inventory as a business asset and WMS owns it inside the warehouse. MES/MOM owns it on the shopfloor, including line-side stock and work in progress. →
- QMS vs LIMS vs MES A QMS runs the quality management system across the business, a LIMS runs the lab, and MES/MOM runs quality at the point of production, including event-triggered sampling, holds and batch release. →
- CMMS vs EAM vs MES A CMMS helps a maintenance team plan and record work, such as work orders, preventive schedules and spare parts, usually at one site. →
- Connected worker vs MES Connected worker tools digitise frontline work: checklists, shift handover, skills, work instructions and safety sign-offs. →
Automation and data
- PLC vs SCADA vs DCS vs MES A PLC controls a machine in milliseconds. SCADA supervises equipment, showing operators what it's doing and raising alarms. →
- SCADA vs MES SCADA controls and supervises equipment in real time; MES/MOM manages the operation. If SCADA is mainly there for visibility, MES/MOM can often cover it and leave you with fewer systems to run. →
- Historian vs MES A historian stores high-frequency machine signals, often every second, for engineers to trend and troubleshoot. →
- IIoT vs MES IIoT is about connecting machines and sensors so their data can be collected. MES/MOM puts that data to work: orders, traceability, quality checks, maintenance and guiding operators. →
- OPC UA vs MQTT OPC UA is the standard for reading machines, with structure, meaning and security built in. MQTT is a lightweight publish-subscribe protocol that moves data efficiently through a broker to many consumers. →
- IT vs OT IT manages information and puts confidentiality first; OT controls physical equipment and puts availability and safety first. →
Strategy and approach
- Code, build, stitch or configure There are four ways to run shopfloor systems: code your own, build from low-code blocks, stitch point solutions together, or configure an MES/MOM platform. →
- Cloud vs on-premises MES On-premises MES/MOM runs on servers you manage; cloud MES/MOM runs on a platform the vendor manages, usually with an edge component at each site. →
- Discrete vs process Discrete manufacturing makes countable items that could in theory be taken apart, and includes repetitive, job shop and assembly. →
- Lot vs batch vs serial Lot traceability tracks quantities that share an identifier, serial traceability tracks every individual item, and time-based traceability traces continuous processes by time window. →
- Industry 4.0 vs 5.0 Industry 4.0 describes connected, data-driven manufacturing, with machines and systems integrated and analytics used to optimise operations. →
Measures
- OEE vs OOE vs TEEP OEE, OOE and TEEP all multiply availability, performance and quality, but measure availability against different time. →
- Takt vs cycle vs lead time Takt time is the pace you need to produce at to meet demand: available time divided by customer demand. Cycle time is how long it actually takes to complete a unit or a step. →
- MTBF vs MTTR vs MTTF MTBF (mean time between failures) is how long a repairable asset runs, on average, before it fails. MTTR (mean time to repair) is how long it takes to get it running again. →
- FPY vs RTY First pass yield (FPY) is the share of units that pass a step right first time, with no rework or scrap. Rolled throughput yield (RTY) multiplies the FPY of every step to give the probability a unit gets through the whole process right first time. →
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