Cloud, on-premises or hybrid: where should your MES run?

Where does your MES/MOM actually run? Servers in your factory, the cloud, or a mix of the two?

It comes up in every evaluation. And the answer isn't as simple as some people make it sound, in either direction.

Why this decision is different for MES/MOM

For most business software, a short outage is an inconvenience. For MES/MOM, it can stop production.

Operators start and stop orders in it. Material can't be consumed without it. Labels can't be printed. Quality checks can't be recorded. So whatever model you choose, the question isn't just cost. It's what happens to the shopfloor if the connection, the server or the service goes down.

On-premises

The application runs on servers in your factory or your own data centre. Your IT team manages the infrastructure: servers, network, backups, security patches and upgrades.

For: full control, and no dependency on an external connection for the shopfloor to keep running.

Against: you own all the infrastructure work, upgrades tend to be big projects that slip, and scaling across many sites means many sets of servers to look after.

Cloud

The application runs in the vendor's or a hyperscaler's cloud, usually delivered as SaaS. The vendor manages infrastructure, updates and much of the security.

For: less infrastructure for you to manage, faster deployment of new sites, regular updates without big upgrade projects, and easier access to analytics and AI services.

Against: dependency on network connectivity, questions about latency for real-time machine integration, and data residency or regulatory requirements in some industries.

Hybrid

Some components run locally at the edge, close to the machines, while others run in the cloud.

A common pattern: machine connectivity, data buffering and critical shopfloor functions run on site so production keeps going if the connection drops, while the wider application, reporting and analytics run in the cloud.

For many manufacturers, hybrid is the practical answer. It gets the benefits of cloud without betting the shopfloor on the internet connection.

Questions to ask

• What happens on the shopfloor if the connection to the cloud is lost for an hour? For a day?
• Where is data buffered, and how does it catch up?
• How is real-time machine integration handled: locally or remotely?
• How often are updates applied, and can we test them first?
• Where is our data held, and does that meet our regulatory needs?
• What does a new site cost to stand up, in time and effort?

A word on licensing

This one might be unpopular, but here goes.

If you want a future-proofed, innovative product, be careful about insisting on perpetual licences.

Enterprise software has largely moved to subscription and SaaS licensing, and broadly, that's good for manufacturers. Predictable recurring revenue lets vendors keep investing in product development. That investment is what keeps the product ahead of your requirements as they grow.

Flip it round. A vendor that relies on one-off licence sales may struggle to fund ongoing innovation, and that's a risk for a system you'll depend on for a decade or more.

Look at the total cost over the life of the system, not just the first year. And weigh how much the product will improve during that time.

Which matters more to your operations team: control over the infrastructure, or never having to run another upgrade project?