Monolithic MES Was a Choice

For years, Manufacturing Execution Systems have carried the same reputation: complex, expensive, slow to implement, and disruptive to operations.

Many manufacturers still associate MES with multi-year programs, large budgets, and platforms that attempted to solve everything at once. Flexibility, when it existed, often came at significant cost.

Here’s the reality that often gets missed: monolithic MES was a choice. Today, it doesn’t have to be.

Why Legacy MES Earned Its Reputation

Traditional MES platforms were designed for a different manufacturing environment.

Key characteristics of legacy MES:

• Large, centralized deployments
• Heavy customization
• Enterprise-wide standardization as the primary goal

At the time, this approach made sense. Central control reduced variability and simplified reporting across multiple sites.

Those decisions were not wrong, they were simply made under very different conditions.

How Monolithic MES Became the Default

Over time, MES initiatives shifted from solving specific shop-floor problems to implementing predefined platforms.

As scope expanded:

• More requirements were added
• Customization increased
• Timelines stretched
• Risk grew

What began as a manufacturing improvement effort often turned into a long, disruptive IT program. As a result, MES became associated with cost and disruption instead of agility and continuous improvement. That perception still influences MES decisions today.

Why That Model No Longer Fits

Manufacturing environments are now more dynamic than ever:

• Shorter product lifecycles
• Increased automation and data volume
• Workforce variability
• Continuous improvement expectations

Modern MES reflects this shift. Instead of solving everything at once, modern MES is modular, scalable and purpose-driven

The objective is not to deploy the largest system possible, the objective is to solve the right problems at the right time.

Start With Real Shop-Floor Problems

Successful MES initiatives do not start with technology, they start with operations.

Key questions to ask:

• Where is productivity being lost?
• What data do operators actually need?
• Which processes lack visibility or consistency?
• Where do quality issues originate?

When MES targets specific pain points such as yield loss, missed production targets, waste, or give-away, it delivers value quickly and builds trust with the people who use it.

Generic systems deliver generic results and focused systems deliver impact.

MES as a Business Enablement Tool

When implemented with intent, MES improves decision-making, accelerates improvement cycles and aligns operations with business goals. It grows alongside the organization rather than disrupting it.

Monolithic MES was a choice made for a different time, modern MES is a strategy built for today’s manufacturing reality, and that strategy puts control back in the hands of the manufacturer.

 

Written by: Dan Purcell