by Gary Mintchell | Nov 11, 2013 | Operations Management, Software
MESA International
I have been doing a lot of traveling again. Last week it was meeting with new companies (to me) that are relevant to my other full-time position–Maintenance Technology. Today, I am sitting at the Starbucks at the Columbus, Ohio airport on my way to four days of Rockwell Automation deep dive. Today and tomorrow–Process Solutions User Group. Tomorrow morning is the annual editors’ meeting, this year dubbed Automation Perspectives. (For years it was called Manufacturing Perspectives–wonder if there is significance or just time for a change 😉 )
Meanwhile, the opportunity to contribute to the MESA ends this week. Check it out and help the industry by contributing your information. Thanks.
MESA has announced its latest “Metrics that Matter” research. The four previous have yielded some interesting and valuable data that help managers use and justify MOM software investments. Typically this information is available only to members, but see below for an additional offer. I have been a MESA member for many years and have heard many success stories over that time. This really does work for manufacturers. The official press release follows.
LNS Research, a technology research firm focusing on the industrial space, and MESA International, a global not-for-profit industry association of manufacturers, producers, industry leaders, and solution providers, have launched the fifth ‘Metrics That Matter’ research survey. Targeted at manufacturing executives, IT and plant managers seeking to improve and optimize business performance, the 2013-2014 research focuses on the trends and correlations between specific operational metric improvements, the use of Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) and other manufacturing software applications, role-based metrics reporting, and the effect of emerging technologies such as mobility, big data, and cloud computing on metrics programs.
“We are excited to extend the previous MESA metrics research work into new operational and technology areas that manufacturers and software suppliers are seeing as transformational to their businesses going forward,” states Mark Davidson, Principal Research Analyst for LNS Research. “We also appreciate the support we have from a great group of sponsor and advisor companies that are helping to guide the research, including: Aditya Birla, Epicor, InfinityQS, Invensys, Plex Systems, Rockwell Automation, Volvo and Whirlpool.”
“MESA’s point of view is that metrics do matter to manufacturers’ success, and that manufacturing matters to the global economy. MESA is delighted that LNS Research is leading fresh primary research on best practices in measuring and improving performance,” says Julie Fraser, Outreach Director for MESA International.
Industry professionals are invited to participate in the new ‘Metrics that Matter’ survey until November 15, 2013 through this link. Qualified participants will receive one year of access to the LNS Research Performance Management Research Library. This library contains the previous ‘Metrics That Matter’ research report, a 2013 Manufacturing Operations Management Best Practices Guide, and the new ‘Metrics That Matter’ research report upon completion in early 2014.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 11, 2013 | Operations Management, Software
People have asked me for studies like this for many years. But I have never had the testing labs and time to accomplish this task and assure that it is accurate. If it is not accurate, then all you do is raise a firestorm of hate mail from the companies. [I’m not so worried about advertising revenue. The ads you see are not making me much money, anyway.]
I know founder Matt Littlefield. We talked about business and analysis models after I left Automation World and was developing my own business. I am intellectually an analyst, but I didn’t know the business model. I like his method. We’ll see how it works.
LNS Research, a technology research firm focusing on the industrial space, decided to tackle that issue releasing Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) Solution Selection Guide. Composed of 20 top software vendors, the guide aims to educate end-users on the manufacturing software market and aid the selection process. The MOM software space encompasses applications between the enterprise / business systems and industrial automation systems, including Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence (EMI) software, Historian software and Manufacturing Process Workflow software.
The MOM Solution Selection Guide provides executives with valuable insights needed to make the complex decision around the short list of solutions they should actively consider for improving their manufacturing operations. It covers each vendor in depth, with individualized overviews and analyses on their business strategies, solution capabilities, industry expertise, geographic coverage, technology delivery models, and more.
According to Mark Davidson, Principal Analyst at LNS Research, “A MOM solution implementation has the potential to make a significant positive impact on an organization’s manufacturing operations, but at the same time, the selection process needs to include a wide number of factors in order to ensure the best strategic fit and ongoing results. This solution selection guide intends to greatly simplify the process of matching key considerations and requirements of manufacturing companies who are looking for pre-packaged software solutions.”
With a range of vendors in the space –each with relative strengths and weaknesses—the MOM Solution Selection Guide creates a concise landscape for executive consideration. Available on the LNS Research website upon the conclusion of site visitors taking a short manufacturing operations management survey, the guide synthesizes a combination of qualitative and quantitative analyses performed by the LNS Research team, working cooperatively with each vendor over recent months.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 10, 2013 | Operations Management, Software
MESA International
I have been doing a lot of traveling again. Last week it was meeting with new companies (to me) that are relevant to my other full-time position–Maintenance Technology. Today, I am sitting at the Starbucks at the Columbus, Ohio airport on my way to four days of Rockwell Automation deep dive. Today and tomorrow–Process Solutions User Group. Tomorrow morning is the annual editors’ meeting, this year dubbed Automation Perspectives. (For years it was called Manufacturing Perspectives–wonder if there is significance or just time for a change 😉 )
Meanwhile, the opportunity to contribute to the MESA ends this week. Check it out and help the industry by contributing your information. Thanks.
MESA has announced its latest “Metrics that Matter” research. The four previous have yielded some interesting and valuable data that help managers use and justify MOM software investments. Typically this information is available only to members, but see below for an additional offer. I have been a MESA member for many years and have heard many success stories over that time. This really does work for manufacturers. The official press release follows.
LNS Research, a technology research firm focusing on the industrial space, and MESA International, a global not-for-profit industry association of manufacturers, producers, industry leaders, and solution providers, have launched the fifth ‘Metrics That Matter’ research survey. Targeted at manufacturing executives, IT and plant managers seeking to improve and optimize business performance, the 2013-2014 research focuses on the trends and correlations between specific operational metric improvements, the use of Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) and other manufacturing software applications, role-based metrics reporting, and the effect of emerging technologies such as mobility, big data, and cloud computing on metrics programs.
“We are excited to extend the previous MESA metrics research work into new operational and technology areas that manufacturers and software suppliers are seeing as transformational to their businesses going forward,” states Mark Davidson, Principal Research Analyst for LNS Research. “We also appreciate the support we have from a great group of sponsor and advisor companies that are helping to guide the research, including: Aditya Birla, Epicor, InfinityQS, Invensys, Plex Systems, Rockwell Automation, Volvo and Whirlpool.”
“MESA’s point of view is that metrics do matter to manufacturers’ success, and that manufacturing matters to the global economy. MESA is delighted that LNS Research is leading fresh primary research on best practices in measuring and improving performance,” says Julie Fraser, Outreach Director for MESA International.
Industry professionals are invited to participate in the new ‘Metrics that Matter’ survey until November 15, 2013 through this link. Qualified participants will receive one year of access to the LNS Research Performance Management Research Library. This library contains the previous ‘Metrics That Matter’ research report, a 2013 Manufacturing Operations Management Best Practices Guide, and the new ‘Metrics That Matter’ research report upon completion in early 2014.
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 14, 2013 | Operations Management, Software
Mark Davidson, Principal Analyst, LNS Research
Who or what drives your operations management software implementations? Does everything come from or through your ERP system? Maybe the company implemented an MES (or MOM) system throughout the enterprise and depends upon connectors to ERP and the automation and manufacturing process systems. Or maybe your MES evolved on a plant-by-plant basis building up from the automation system?
In the first case, any new software or process must be able to integrate into the ERP system. This system is driven primarily by corporate IT. It is often rigid. It is hard to buy new software that keeps up with state-of-the-art computer science in this case. But everything integrates.
Perhaps division management was far-sighted and wanted a cohesive and comprehensive reporting system from all the plants within their scope of responsibility. They built up an MES and then connected up and down.
Maybe an individual plant manager was frustrated by lack of standardized workflows and inconsistent results reporting. Managing the plant based on real-time information was impossible. So an individual plant MES system grew–maybe from a number of isolated spreadsheets–that helped the one plant but left a headache for division managers trying to integrate a company.
LNS Research Analysis
Mark Davidson, writing on the LNS Research blog, analyzes the pros and cons of three different approaches which he labels:
- Top-Down/ERP-Centric Manufacturing Strategy
- Center-Out/MOM Software-Centric Manufacturing Strategy
- Bottom-Up/Industrial Automation System-Centric Manufacturing Strategy
Based upon LNS “crowd-sourced” research, Davidson concludes, “These days, companies are mostly taking either the center-out or top-down approach, but different trends emerge based on company size and specific vertical industry needs, and for some organizations, bottom-up may make perfect sense.”
What is your experience? What would you prefer?
