How long does an MES implementation take?

It's the question on everyone's lips at the start of an MES project. How long is this going to take?

The honest answer is: it depends. But that's not very helpful, so let me be more specific.

The typical range

For a first site, most MES/MOM implementations I've seen take somewhere between six and eighteen months from kick-off to go-live.

When I ran a poll on this a while ago, the most common experience among the people who answered was 12 to 18 months for the first factory. A focused deployment, covering production and quality on a few lines, can be done in around six months. A broad programme covering several pillars, complex integration and many lines takes longer.

Subsequent sites are usually much faster, especially if you build a template. More on that in Rolling out across sites.

Why it isn't just a software install

It's easy to think of MES/MOM as software you install. It isn't. A project is also:

• A master data clean-up
• Organisational change
• Process change
• Hours and hours of communication

That takes time. It also takes your best people, so you need to make sure they're available, backfilling their day jobs if needed.

How one project went live in four months

I've been involved in MES projects that went live in as little as four months. People often ask how.

The key factors were:

1. The customer knew what they were buying. They were well educated on MES before they started.
2. The team was superb. The right people were available. It was their top priority, and everything else fell in behind it.
3. The product was highly configurable. The implementation was almost entirely out of the box, with very little custom work.
4. The initial scope was small to medium. Not a full-blown MOM on day one. Start, learn, prove the return, then grow.

None of those are about the software being installed faster. They're about preparation, people and scope.

What makes projects run long

The usual culprits:

• Scope creep. Trying to implement every suggestion, especially when recreating an old or homegrown system.
• Master data. Discovering halfway through that routings and BOMs aren't detailed enough. See Your ERP master data isn't ready for MES.
• Under-resourcing. The people the project needs are already the busiest in the business.
• Unchallenged processes. Customising to match every existing quirk instead of simplifying first.
• Integration surprises. Legacy equipment and systems that are harder to connect than expected.

Big bang or phased?

Starting small, proving value and then expanding is one of the best ways to de-risk an MES project and win support at every level.

Sometimes a bigger bang is right, depending on the situation. But even then, think big and start pragmatically. Have the end state in mind without trying to get there in one leap.

The most important variable is you

A good vendor or partner will guide you through the challenges. But the biggest factor in how long it takes is how ready you are: how clear your requirements are, how strong your team is, and how willing you are to change your processes.

How long did your first MES project take, and what would you do differently?