Growth is great, but sometimes it comes at a cost.

With so much effort expended on securing greater and greater market share, businesses often lose sight of the impact growth is having behind the scenes. Here are some of the things I have heard while having conversations with many c-level company executives.

1. “We’re just trying to keep up”:  Your competitors are pulling ahead of you. You’re wrestling with your own growth, and the complexities that go along with that; and they’re stealing your customers.

2. ”We’re lost in the fog”:  You’ve hit the point where everything is becoming overly complicated. Different business units are using different systems, creating confusion, and a lack of direction.  There is redundant processing, redundant data entry, and incorrect data entered for the same thing in different systems that aren’t even connected.  What a waste!

3. ”Our size and mass are causing a drag”: Growth is great, but you’re quickly becoming too large for systems that were designed for a much smaller, more localized company. Because technology is slowing everyone down, you know you’re not getting the most out of your workforce.

4. ”Our Owners are craving for more”: Most businesses have big ambitions to expand their customer base but many are held back by dated technology. They say, “We’re not making the most of our assets, but integrating and implementing a new ERP software package for our business is going to be costly, and it won’t satisfy all our needs on the production and quality management side.” In other words, you know your business can do better.

Don’t be mis-led…  be MES-led!

Many companies are keeping their account system or their corporate ERP system and have chosen to implement a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) that has an integrated Quality Management System (QMS) that provides them with better production control, real-time tracking of each operational step within each defined Process, and quality management with compliance assurance that is tied to each individual operator on the production floor.

These companies are finding that the improved shop floor decision-making capabilities enabled by their new MES software offer them a noticeable competitive advantage.  Some they have mentioned include:

· Maximization of throughput and resource utilization,

· Decreased manufacturing cycle times,

· Reduction of scrap and rework,

· Increased ability to reliably achieve quality targets,

· Minimized inventory holding costs based on just-in-time inventory, and

· Improved ability to meet regulatory compliance standards.

Effective MES software that can be configured and set up to mirror your operating processes and procedures represents a key business resource for manufacturing-related operations of all sizes and types. Because of its role in coordinating the full operational scope of multiple processes within your manufacturing execution work, the benefits of MES software are equally relevant for additive manufacturing, made-to-stock, made-to-order, process manufacturers, and post-processing service-based manufacturing organizations (e.g. heat treating, surface finishing, coating, plating, machining, etc.).

The predominant benefits of MES software are derived through improvements in the following process areas: production planning, job scheduling, job review/ release, resource optimization, production workflow management, quality management and real-time tracking with real-time visibility of what is happening on the production floor.

Maybe it’s time to be MES-led….  What do you think?