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MES
2011

A Buyers Guide

Manufacturing execution systems

A Report Prepared by:

Managing Automation Media Research Services
2010 Thomas Publishing Company, LLC

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b u y e r s g u i d e se c t i o n s

Category Introduction

AMR
Research
first used the
term manufacturing
execution
system in
1992 as part
of its threelayer MES
model.

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MES is defined by the Manufacturing

Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) as a
dynamic information system that drives effective execution of manufacturing operations:
Using current and accurate data, MES
guides, triggers, and reports on plant activities
as events occur. The MES set of functions manages production operations from point of
order release into manufacturing to point
of product delivery into finished goods. MES
provides mission critical information about
production activities to others across the
organization and supply chain via bi-directional communication.7
Despite a proliferation of articles and commentaries on MES, for many manufacturers
it remains a confusing acronym. Although all
systems are used to manage and monitor workin-progress on the factory floor, the software
may vary significantly for each vertical industry
and product line. In general, MES systems will
allow users to specify when materials should
be ordered and to schedule tasks against an organizations total production capacity through
advanced production scheduling (APS). This
allows for visual representations of projected
workloads, and offers some form of Overall
Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) reporting to
gauge real-time efficiency. MES can also guide
workers or machines through the production
process. Specialist functionality for particular
process industries can include modules such

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he transformation of
the traditional factory from a production facility into a modern service
center has resulted in management
problems for which many manufacturers are not yet prepared. The
economic efficiency of modern value creation
is not a property of the products but rather
of the process that creates them. What this
means is that the decisive potential of companies is found less in production capability and
more in process capability.1
The requirement for process capability gives
rise to the requirement that all value-adding
processes be geared to the process result and
thus to the customer. A necessary condition
of process transparency is the ability to map
the companys value stream in real time,
without the acquisition process involving
major outlaya capability beyond enterprise
resource planning (ERP) technology, but
perfectly suited to manufacturing execution
systems (MES). 2
Manufacturing execution systems software is an increasingly critical component of
modern manufacturing environments. MES
collects and analyzes production data, tracks
quality control, and is frequently integrated

with ERP systems to monitor manufacturing

schedules and ensure delivery of orders. MES
serves as the intermediary between a business system such as ERP and a manufacturers
plant-floor control equipment; it creates an
audit control for tracking, tracing, and compliance purposes, and delivers work instructions
to plant-floor personnel.3,4
The origins of the MES concept are found in
the data collection systems of the early 1980s.
Various functional areas of corporate management (e.g., production planning, personnel,
quality assurance) were furnished with dedicated data collection systems, which became
part of the computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) pyramid model.5
CIM focused on the hierarchy of the
manufacturing enterprise. As new pressures
transformed manufacturing (e.g., increasing
globalization and customer focus), the need
for a new model emerged, resulting in MES.
AMR Research (now part of the research
and analysis firm Gartner) first used the term
manufacturing execution system in 1992 as
part of its introduction of the three-layer MES
model. This model reduced the manufacturing
model to three functional areasplanning,
execution, and controland helped manufacturers by reducing the number of layers
of software, and focusing on the need to link
the planning process to the control process
through the newly defined execution process.6

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Category Introduction
as ingredient expiration date monitoring and
emergency shutdown systems.8

For manufacturers
to thrive in
the decades
ahead, they
will have to
deploy MES
across their
enterprise.

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Reduction of errors, and therefore a

reduction of waste and rework
Better understanding of the location and
source of problems
Reduction or elimination of manual entry
time and costs
Reduction of cycle time, resulting in
increased yield and throughput
More efficient use of equipment assets
Improved planning and streamlined
schedules
Reduction of inventory
Reduction of order-to-ship times
Lower costs for regulatory compliance
An MES system can either reside on a
centralized server or be distributed across
modular hardware and software units that
provide services and communicate on a
local area network. The distributed design
allows a business to assemble modules from
different vendors without the need for the
placement of multiple copies of complex

Normally, MES would include the

following basic functional modules:

Detailed planning and control

Material management
Operating resources management
Personnel management
Data acquisition and processing
Interface management

Performance analysis
Quality management
Information management12
While the implementation of an MES
system is always challenging, the rewards
and return on investment are higher than
they have ever been.

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By providing operator support, production scheduling, tracking and tracing capabilities, and accurate, real-time visibility
into production processes, MES may deliver
the following benefits to a manufacturer:

and expensive computer systems in areas

that will not use their full capacity.9
When the first MES setups hit the market
in the 1990s, they were a good idea but
ahead of their time. They promised great
efficiency and significant quality improvements, but were too immature and expensive to make economic sense.10
Much has changed since then. Product
lifecycles are shorter, profit margins are
tighter, and regulatory environments are
more severe. As these market dynamics
continue shifting toward smaller production runs, greater emphasis on quality, and
more complex market environments, only
automated data collection and processing in
a real-time, continuously available environment will provide manufacturers with the
agility they need to survive. Therefore, it is
widely accepted that for manufacturers to
thrive in the decades ahead, they will have
to deploy MES across their enterprise.11

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Process standardization
helps manufacturers
pool plant
capacities
across the
extended
enterprise.

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left manufacturers with limited options to

choose from, which led many manufacturers
to perform custom development as a de facto
MES approach.15
According to Wildeman, this picture is
steadily changing. Large manufacturers are
increasingly recognizing the benefits of standardized production processes, and macro
drivers are propelling this idea as a more common must-do approach in many cases. Process
standardization helps manufacturers pool
plant capacities across the extended enterprise, better enabling the pursuit of a virtual
factory concept and providing more strategic
flexibility to respond to demand changes.16
Consider, for example, an international
contract manufacturer. As its processes are
standardized globally and an MES shows
excursions at any given factory (e.g., high yield
fallout or another unusual trend), the company
can track the excursion to its root cause, be
it process steps, a bad batch of material, or a
test or design issue. It can track all its material
by lot, in case there is an issue with incoming
components, and alert all the plants with parts
from that lot of the potential issue before they
use the parts. An older system of local data
location would never be able to prevent other
facilities from using the bad material, except by
non-automated processes (e.g., SQE e-mails,
phone calls). The MES solution has the poten-

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n many respects, MES

deployments are similar to the ERP systems that preceded them. MES brings
to manufacturing operations the
efficiency and data analytics that ERP
brought to financial systems.
A key difference that is sometimes overlooked, though, is the difference in transaction time frames. ERP system transactions are
measured on a time scale of months, weeks,
and days. MES setups have much shorter
transaction time frames, measured in hours,
minutes, and seconds. This is why MES must
be designed for continuous availability. Even
a momentary outage can break critical record
chains that determine whether a product
can be sold or is written off as spoilage. MES
solutions also support real-time strategic
decision-making, which depends on uninterrupted data collection and processing.13
Todays plants are difficult places to run an
application. Typically, data is scattered across
hundreds of disparate systems, many of which
were developed decades ago. The cost to
develop and run applications using legacy data
is painfully high. It cripples application delivery
efforts, limits the room for application upgrades
and replacements, and encourages many users

to stick with manual processes (even though

theres a broad-scale understanding that such
processes are anathema to efficiency).
Corporate IT departments are seeking to
standardize enterprise applications globally
as a way to streamline, simplify, and overcome many of these challenges. Yet mergers
and acquisitions, outsourcing, and contract
manufacturing are trends that create barriers
to the drive for standardization. Plants often
have multiple instances of different applications across their sites and business units, and
many have resorted to standalone solutions
to avoid the complexity of extensive integration and coordinating with corporate systems.
This drives the number of disparate applications in systems even higher. 14
In the late 1990s, when MES was first deployed as a means to bridge the gap between
transaction-oriented business systems and
real-time production operation decisions,
there was a recognition that the challenge of
fitting MES software into the shop floor was
taking place in unique operating environments. Each plant per industry, per production style, has unique operating characteristics, says Roy C. Wildeman, senior analyst at
Forrester Research. As a consequence, MES
developed as a fragmented market, full of
specialist vendors. The combination of specialized requirements and fragmented support

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The Technology Landscape

tial of saving the company tens of millions of

dollars alone in preventing bad material.17

Automation code is more accessible

Code versions can be controlled across
decentralized architecture
Dashboards can aggregate disparate data
sources
Shop-floor applications can be delivered
centrally as a single instance
Hosted and SaaS deployments are
lowering upfront capital requirements18

The global
economic
collapse has
forced some
manufacturers to
postpone or
limit plans
Many of the controls vendors increasingly
to upgrade or standardize their products around OPC specireplace their fications, making integration more cost effecexisting MES. tive and allowing IT to more easily abstract

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equipment-specific parameters into the MES

layer, Wildeman says.
Three years ago, AMR Research attempted
to raise the technological bar for MES, coining
one of 2007s major buzzwords: Manufacturing 2.0. This referred to next-generation
technologies such as blogs, wikis, instant
messaging, and user-centric interfaces on the
shop floor. It called for a manufacturing service-oriented architecture (SOA) that merged

supports Wildemans observations.

Parker says that most MES setups handle
scheduling processes very well, but for
other functionality, its a mixed bag. He also
contends that MES software has not added
many truly new functions in recent years, with
recent innovations focusing on visualization
of the production process and analytics.20

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Technology advances are offering better

support for multi-site MES deployment:

product data management (PDM), process

development models, and event-based supply
chain collaboration with support for mobile
and sensor technologies. The concept was
developed in response to a growing interest
in mobility, SOA-enabled applications, cloud
computing, and new paradigms for factory
training.
Manufacturing 2.0 was also touted as the
solution to some of the problems of traditional MES systems: rigid architecture, inability
to support new lean and Six Sigma initiatives, difficult and costly deployments, and
trouble functioning in multiple manufacturing
styles.19 But the global economic collapse has
limited discussion of Manufacturing 2.0, as IT
budgets have been slashed and some manufacturers have been forced to postpone or
limit plans to upgrade or replace their existing
MES infrastructure.
Roughly half of the installed MES software
was deployed in the last six years, a sign that
manufacturers are finding that MES upgrades
are not easy. As more manufacturers look to
standardize their MES, many are opting to rip
and replace the systems, rather than upgrade existing ones. Integration is far easier
with the new MES systems that are based
on Microsoft.NET Web services technology,
says Robert Parker, an analyst at IDC Manufacturing Insights. This is making the drive to
standardize across multiple plants easier, and

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A new MES
can cost from
$150,000 to
$300,000 for
the software
license, plus
one-and-ahalf to three
times that
amount for
services.

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1. SaaS pricing is evolving toward true

usage-based models. Most early SaaS pricing
was on a fairly simplistic, per-user-per-month
basis, sometimes with add-on costs for extras
such as mobile, storage, or advanced modules;
today, many buyers are seeking pricing options that more closely map to value, such as
usage-based or transaction-based models.
2. Many SaaS vendors are providing transparency into pricing and contract terms. These
vendors have typically had transparent pricing, often listed on their Websites or shared by
user communities. One challenge for buyers
who are stuck in a traditional, on-premises

purchasing mindset is that SaaS vendors typically have limited transparency into breakdown of pricing (i.e., splitting out software,
hosting, and support).
3. Freemium remains common, but approaches vary widely. Many SaaS vendors
continue to offer various types of free trials
or free low-end editions to allow potential
customers to try the product before buying,
and to capitalize on the word-of-mouth that is
quite common among SaaS users. 24
Typical project payback for MES investments
comes in six to 24 months. Most MES projects
are justified on cost-reduction measures: lower
work in progress (WIP) and finished goods inventory (FGI); reduced waste, scrap, and materials;
reduced cost of regulatory compliance; reduced
rework; lower maintenance costs; reduced indirect labor costs; shorter cycle times; shorter lead
times; improved quality; and reduced process
and product variability.
Process improvements also accrue to the
ROI for MES investments: faster new product
introduction (NPI) cycle, shorter time to innovation, improved adherence to customer audit
requirements (traceability and genealogy),
and promotion of flow manufacturing.
Finally, overarching market improvements
are supported by MES: better collaboration,
improved supply chain visibility, and a platform for continuous improvement.25

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ompanies
should analyze the capabilities of
state-of-the-art MES to estimate what
an MES deployment should cost. what
would be a reasonable price?
Historically, MES setups were big bang implementations, where functionality needed to
be delivered immediately. These created large
projects and long time lines that frequently
failed to deliver an adequate business return
and often were not aligned to the current
business problems upon project completion.
SAPs introduction of xApp Manufacturing
Integration and Intelligence (SAP xMII), which it
bills as the worlds first manufacturing intelligence portal, is another example of technology advances offering better support for MES
deployment. Like ERP systems, MES solutions
have historically had two basic pricing models:
user-based and usage- or module-based. The
former entails one license fee per user, which
includes access to all modules of the system. The
latter means functionality is purchased on an a
la carte basis, plus an additional per-user fee.21
According to Simon Jacobson, a research director at AMR, a new MES can cost anywhere
from $150,000 to $300,000 for the software
license, plus one-and-a-half to three times

that amount for services, depending on the

complexity and number of sites installed.22
Hosted and software-as-a-service (SaaS)
deployments are also emerging as means
to minimize capital requirements. CFOs can
balk at a large capital outlay for enterprise
software if it doesnt translate into immediate
ROI, but some SaaS vendors, such as Plexus
Systems, are helping clients overcome this
challenge by offering MES functionality as a
subscription service over the Web.23
SaaS pricing models are in flux, though. At
Forrester Researchs recent IT forum, a roundtable was undertaken with several leading
software and services firms around the topic
of SaaS pricing trends. Key takeaways:

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Any supplier
not able to
integrate a
staff worktime function
and a performance-based
remuneration function
can be
ruled out.

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t is a daunting task
to identify criteria for selecting an
MES solution and, by extension, an
MES vendor. The more you understand
about the matter, the harder it becomes to keep an overview perspective.
Where should you start, and where
should you stop?
Once youve looked at multiple system
presentations, it may be difficult to see where
they differ; after a while, all user interfaces
can look the same.
MES setups are complex IT installations
that, depending on the form they take, can
affect a large number of functional areas in a
manufacturing concern. Systems may be used
for anything from straightforward feedback
regarding quality assurance and personnel
management to complex detailed schedulingcontrol systems.
Once objectives have been defined, a better assessment can be made of the scope of
services offered by different systems and suppliers. For example, if you want to start with
machine data collection but know that in a

year or two the company will be looking at incentive wages, you can immediately establish
knockout criteria. Any potential supplier not
able to integrate a staff work-time function
and a performance-based remuneration function can be ruled out immediately.
Consider the possible objectives that can be
met by the introduction of MES. This usually
means that quantifiable approaches can be
found, which then form the basis for calculating an ROI. Such a procedure is more efficient
and involves less work; further, the level to
which objectives have been achieved can be
better assessed for the purpose of controlling subsequent investments. The following
checklist should provide some assistance in
designing and selecting MES solutions: 26
General Criteria
1. Does the MES have fully integrated
production, personnel, and quality
management?
2. Does it support paperless production?
3. Does it include all necessary standard
products?
4. Does the system offer escalation
management and workflow functions?
5. What references and knowledge of the
industry does the supplier have?
6. How easy is it to adapt the MES
setups functionalities to the

customers processes?
7. Does the MES manufacturer have a clear
standard product and release strategy?
System Concept
1. Is the complete MES functionality
provided in a single system?
2. Can the individual components be
used as modules?
3. Can the functions be configured?
4. Does the MES have an enterprise
services architecture-oriented (ESA)
structure?
5. Does the system orient itself by
common industry standard products?
6. Does the system support the necessary
platforms?
7. Does it support the necessary
interfaces?
8. How easily can it adapt interfaces to
the requirements of the customer?
9. What possibilities does the system
offer for the customers own
developments?
10. Can these adaptations be made just
as easily at a later time?
11. What tools are available for preparing
ones own analyses?
12. Can the existing analyses in various
levels of data aggregation be adjusted
for all corporate levels?

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Production
1. Are there integrated functions that
offer a view of all resources involved in
production?
2. Are there overviews that allow
evaluation of the current
manufacturing situation?
3. Are the detailed planning functions
based on current data?
4. Does detailed planning manage
primary and secondary resources?
5. Is there a load planning function for
different kinds of secondary resources?
6. Can you model different possibilities of
technological relationships?
7. Is inter-order networking possible?
8. Can the types of capacity be varied?
9. Are different planning strategies
supported?
10. Can detailed planning instances be
evaluated by means of flexible and
combinable key data?
11. Can alternative planning variants be
simulated?

12. Can different optimization strategies be

implemented?
13. Does the MES support different
production structures (multiple
machine work, multiple operator
work, etc.)?
14. Is material tracking possible (e.g., in
batches and buffer storage)?

2. Can working hours and payments

models be configured simply for
personnel time management?
3. Is there a workflow for processing of
applications and approvals?
4. Is there a straightforward method to

adapt calculation of incentive wages to
collective bargaining agreements?
5. Is there a short-term manpower
planning function with direct coupling
to production loading?
6. Is there a short-term manpower
planning function that assigns
employees to work centers at which
orders have been scheduled?

Quality
1. Can quality inspections be
incorporated like work operations
in the overall order structure?
2. Is there a dynamic configuration
function to monitor testing and
inspection equipment?
3. Is non-conformance management work Data Acquisition
flow supported?
1. Does the MES permit gapless automated
4. Is gapless traceability of the production
data acquisition and processing?
process possible?
2. Are standard interfaces provided to

5. Does production planning have access
machines and automatically controlled
to quality data?
machines?
6. Can process measurement data also be
3. Can all data acquisition functions be

used as quality characteristics?
configured for better ergonomics and
7. Is there support for automatic transfer
thus greater acceptance?
of measured data via standard interfaces?
4. Are standard data acquisition interfaces
such as OPC supported?
Personnel
5. Are the data acquisition functions
1. Is staff work-time logging with
available on different platforms, such
information and intelligence functions
as RFID, bar-code readers, and label
available at the terminal?
printers? 27

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13. Is there an interface with leading ERP

and PPS systems?
14. Does the modular architecture of the
MES permit a gradual expansion to
include further functions?
15. Is the system architecture open?

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A good selection process

starts with
the creation
of a crossfunctional
team.

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These questions open the door to the

standard set of vendor evaluation criteria
that any manufacturing company would use
to conduct due diligence for a significant purchase such as an MES. The de facto questions
include number of years the vendor has been
in business; how long the MES product has
been on the market; functionality for the type
of business considering the purchase; vendor
stability and reputation; ability to service and
support the software; and, of course, making
sure the vendor has a roadmap for the future
of the product.
A good selection process starts with the creation of a cross-functional team tasked with
developing business requirements that will be
used to evaluate alternatives. These requirements will be matched with specific features
of the product under consideration. Specific
requirements are more helpful in the selection process than general ones, which may
be met to some degree by all the contenders,
making it difficult to choose among them. 28
Throughout the selection process, conclude
each step with the consensus of all members
of the selection committee, including end users, to gather enterprise-wide acceptance for
the MES package.

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How to Evaluate
Vendors

Vendor Name

Product Names

Functional Range

Industries Served

Apriso

FlexNet

Managing and executing production, warehouse, quality,

maintenance, and labor
activities

Automotive, aerospace and

defense, clean-tech, consumer
goods, industrial equipment, life
sciences, packaging, electronics

Aspen
Technologies

aspenONE

Camstar
Systems

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Includes data collection and Chemicals, polymers, oil and gas,

Small,
storage, performance analysis, pharma, CPG, food and beverage midsize,
production dispatching, producand large
tion resource management,
production definition management, production execution

Camstar Enterprise Includes early collaborative

Platform
manufacturing process development, capacity and capability
analysis, integrated engineering change process, product/
WIP traceability, genealogy,
audit trail, quality data collection and process limits, global
change enforcement and
audit trail
CDC Factory

Size of
Business
Served
Large

Real-time finite production

scheduling, real-time performance mgt., quality control,
continuous improvement,
business analytics, agile maintenance response, enterprise
asset management, safety

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Databases
Supported

Platforms Supported

Delivery Mode

Microsoft SQL
Server, Oracle

Has built-in Microsoft.

NET with SOA; BPM

On-premises, virtual
environment

Microsoft SQL
Server, Oracle

Microsoft Windows 2000,

Windows XP, Windows
Vista

On-premises

Medical devices, biotech, solar,

semiconductor, electronics

Midsize
and large

Microsoft SQL
Server, Oracle

Microsoft

On-premises, SaaS

Process mfg. and discrete mfg.

Midsize
and large

Microsoft SQL
Server, Oracle

Microsoft .NET,
Windows 64

On-premises

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CDC Software

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Comparison Tables

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Costs/ROI

How to Evaluate
Vendors

Vendor Name

Product Names

Functional Range

Industries Served

De Clercq
Solutions

Objective MES

Dispatch work orders from

ERP, production scheduling,
manufacturing process mgt.,
non-conformance and corrective action, quality documentation, statistical analysis techniques, production reporting,
supervisory control

Food and beverage, plastics,

industrial parts and equipment,
semiconductor, wholesale and
distribution

Production operations, invenEmerson

Syncade Smart
tory mgt., quality mgt., mainteProcess
Operations
nance mgt., integration
Management Management Suite,
AMS Suite (asset
performance
management)

Product
Comparison Tables
Size of
Business
Served
Midsize
and large

Databases
Supported

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Platforms Supported

Delivery Mode

HP/UX, IBM AIX, Sun

Solaris/Sun OS, Linux,
Microsoft Windows CE,
Windows NT/2000/XP,
Windows Server 2003,
Windows Vista

On-premises

Chemicals, food and beverage,

life sciences, metals and mining,
oil and gas, and others

Small,
Microsoft SQL
Microsoft Windows
midsize, Server 2005, 2008 Server 2003 and 2008,
and large
Windows XP, Windows
7, Windows Mobile,
Palm OS, Android

On-premises

IBM DB/400,
Microsoft SQL
Server, Oracle,
MySQL

eyelit MES

Asset mgt., costing, shop floor

control, reporting

Solar, semiconductor, MEMS,

aerospace and defense, automotive, electronics

Midsize
and large

Microsoft SQL
Server, Oracle

Microsoft Windows,
Unix, Linux, and others

Clients deploy using

Java WebStart

GE Intelligent
Platforms

Proficy Plant
Applications

Includes order completion

status, interactive schedule
planning, automatic set-point
loading, material delivery mgt.

Aerospace, automotive, chemicals, electronics, oil and gas,

textile, constructions, CPG, and
others

Small,
midsize,
and large

Microsoft SQL
Server

Microsoft

On-premises

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Eyelit

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Vendors

Product Names

Functional Range

Industries Served

HighJump
Software

HighJump
Manufacturing
Advantage

Work order import, prioritization

and dispatch; material picks
and delivery to work cells;
work queue; instruction and
documentation review at work
cells; material replenishments;
real-time production review and
adjustment, performance analysis; scrap reporting; machine
utilization; labor productivity

Industrial mfg.,
automotive, aerospace,
food and beverage

Honeywell
Process
Solutions

Business FLEX,
Matrikon,
OptiVision,
Uniformance

Includes planning and scheduling, supply chain mgt., operations mgt., data warehousing,
integration and communications

Refining, oil and gas, power,

chemicals, life sciences, and
more

iBASEt

Solumina

Process planning, MES/MOM,

quality management systems,
supplier quality assurance,
MRO

Intercim

Pertinence Suite
powered by
Velocity

Includes simplified process

planning, advanced predictive
analysis, process execution,
quality mgt.

Managing
Automation
Buyers
Guide

Size of
Business
Served
Midsize
and large

Databases
Supported

Vendor
Profiles

About Managing Automation

Research Services

Platforms Supported

Delivery Mode

Microsoft SQL
Server, Oracle

Microsoft Windows

On-premises, cloud

Small,
midsize,
and large

Microsoft SQL
Server, Oracle

Any system from any

vendor

On-premises

Aerospace, defense, nuclear

products, shipbuilding, industrial
equipment, industrial electronics,
medical devices

Midsize
and large

Microsoft SQL
Server, Oracle

Microsoft Windows, Unix

On-premises

Aerospace, defense, discrete

mfg., life sciences, high-tech,
energy, and more

Small,
midsize,
and large

Microsoft SQL
Server 2008 R2,
Oracle 11g

Microsoft Windows
Server 2008 (32/64bit), Windows XP
Professional, Windows
Vista Business, Windows
7 (32-bit)

On-premises

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Vendor Name

Product
Comparison Tables

Category
Introduction

Vendor Name
Invensys

Technology
Landscape

Product Names

How to Evaluate
Costs/ROI

Functional Range

Manufacturing
Includes electronic work orders,
Execution Module
BOM, product traceability,
operations standard functionality, inventory control

How to Evaluate
Vendors

Industries Served
Hybrid, process, discrete mfg.

MPDV
Mikrolab
GmbH

HYDRA

Production data collection, shop

floor scheduling, material and
production logistics, machine
data collection, tool management/DNC, quality assurance,
process data collection, time
and attendance, personnel
scheduling, incentive pay,
access control

Parsec
Automation

TrakSYS

Includes data/information inte- Pharma, medical devices, food

gration management, process and beverage, consumer health
and asset/infrastructure model- products, automotive, chemicals,
and others
ing, production planning and
dispatching, resource allocation, data acquisition, process
and operation mgt.

Managing
Automation
Buyers
Guide

Performix xRecipe, Includes electronic work orders,

Performix xMES, multi-language support, OSI PI
Performix xBatch
integration, material tracking,
resource tracking, plant supervisory functions

Size of
Business
Served
Small,
midsize,
and large

Plastics, metal, automotive,

Midsize
and large
food and beverage, plant and
mechanical engineering, furniture,
wood products, printing and packaging, precision mechanics and
optics, electrical engineering and
electronics

Chemicals, consumer products,

food and beverage, pharma

Vendor
Profiles

Databases
Supported

Platforms Supported

Delivery Mode

Microsoft SQL
Server 2005,
2008; Oracle

Microsoft SQL Server

2008, Windows Vista
(64-bit)

On-premises

HP/UX, Sun Solaris/

Microsoft Access,
Microsoft SQL Sun OS, Linux, Microsoft
NT/2000/XP, Windows
Server, Oracle,
Vista, Windows SQL
MySQL, Informix,
Server 2003, Windows
ASCII text
CE, Palm OS
file-based

Midsize OLE-DB-compliant
and large

Midsize
and large

About Managing Automation

Research Services

Microsoft SQL
Server

On-premises

Microsoft Windows,
Linux, Unix

Browser technology/Webbased

Microsoft Windows 2000,

2003, 2008, XP, Vista,
and 7; Linux

On-premises

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Performix

Product
Comparison Tables

Category
Introduction

Technology
Landscape

How to Evaluate
Costs/ROI

How to Evaluate
Vendors

Vendor Name

Product Names

Functional Range

Industries Served

Plex Systems

Plex Online

Includes production scheduling,

finite scheduling, lean tools,
shop floor control, bar-code
labeling, traceability, labor/time
tracking, SPCs

Automotive, medical devices,

industrial mfg., food and beverage, life sciences, aerospace

Oracle

Managing
Automation
Buyers
Guide

Vendor
Profiles

Size of
Databases
Business
Supported
Served
Small and SaaS/cloud-based
midsize

About Managing Automation

Research Services

Platforms Supported

Delivery Mode

SaaS/cloud-based

SaaS

Execute, record, and monitor Aerospace and defense, industrial Midsize

Oracle
shop-floor activities in real time
mfg., high-tech, CPG, life sciand large
Manufacturing
ences, oil and gas, and more
Execution System
for Process
Manufacturing,
Oracle
Manufacturing
Execution System
for Discrete
Manufacturing

Oracle Solaris
x86-64 (64-bit)

Linux x86, Linux x86-64,

HP-UX Itanium, HP-UX
PA-RISC (64-bit), IBM
AIX on Power Systems
(64-bit), Microsoft
Windows Server (32-bit),
Oracle Solaris SPARC
(64-bit)

On-premises, on-demand,
or hybrid

FactoryTalk
Scheduling, order mgt., quality Pharma, biotech, medical devicProductionCentre control and mgt., material track- es, CPG, food and beverage,
automotive
ing and mgt., WIP/Inventory,
workflow and performance mgt.

Oracle 10, 11;

Microsoft SQL
Server 2005,
2008; Windows
2003, 2008,
including 64-bit;
Linux; Solaris
Enterprise

Oracle 10, 11; Microsoft

SQL Server 2005, 2008;
Windows 2003, 2008,
including 64-bit; Linux;
Solaris Enterprise

On-premises, SaaS

Midsize
and large

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Rockwell
Automation

Product
Comparison Tables

Category
Introduction

Vendor Name
SAP AG

Technology
Landscape

How to Evaluate
Costs/ROI

How to Evaluate
Vendors

Product
Comparison Tables

Vendor
Profiles

About Managing Automation

Research Services

Size of
Databases
Business
Platforms Supported
Supported
Served
SAP Manufacturing Traceability, non-conformance High-tech, industrial machinery
Small,
Microsoft SQL
Microsoft Windows
Editorsmgt.,
Note:
This select
list of
ERP suppliers
is based
on market
reports,Server,
analyst
reports,Server,
and company
information.
Execution
production
transfer,
ERP
and components,
aerospace
andresearch
midsize,
Oracle
HP-UX, Solaris,
integration, return and repair,
defense, automotive, medical
and large
Linux, AIX
labor tracking, engineering
devices
change mgt., production metrics, globalization
Product Names

Functional Range

Industries Served

Ampla

Siemens MES

SIMATIC IT

Includes quality control, traceability, process efficiency, production mgt., collaboration

Electronics, automotive, assembly, food and beverage, and

others

Werum
Software &
Systems

PAS-X

Master batch records, finite

scheduling, weighing and
dispensing, electronic batch
recording, equipment mgt.,
material track-and-trace, warehouse mgt., process quality
control, corrective and preventive actions, operator training
records, manufacturing
intelligence

Pharma, biotech

Managing
Automation
Buyers
Guide

On-premises

Microsoft SQL
Server, Oracle,
OPC DA, OPC
HDA, InSQL,
major SCADA and
historian systems

Microsoft, Java

CD

Midsize
and large

Microsoft SQL
Server, Oracle

Microsoft Windows XP,

Windows 7

On-premises, Web-based

Midsize
and large

Oracle

Flexible

On-premises

Metrics, production, downtime, Mining, food and beverage, CPG, Midsize

quality, inventory, energy,
water/wastewater
and large
planning, cost, knowledge,
maintenance

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Schneider
Electric

Delivery Mode

Category
Introduction

Technology
Landscape

How to Evaluate
Costs/ROI

How to Evaluate
Vendors

Product
Comparison Tables

Vendor
Profiles

About Managing Automation

Research Services

Vendor Profiles
Selected Suppliers of Manufacturing Execution Systems
(In alphabetical order)

Managing
Automation
Buyers
Guide

Apriso traces its roots to 1992, when Teledyne

Industries spun off its software business to
Aprisos predecessor organization, CIM Vision
International. The company recognized the
need for an adaptive MES. As a result, in 2002,
FlexNet was launched as a modular and easily
integrated application suited to fill the critical
gaps between business and process control
applications.
The FlexNet platform is a unified suite of
manufacturing software applications that
can coordinate all manufacturing operations
within a plant, between plants, and across the
supply chain and enterprise. Functionalities
include managing and executing production,
warehouse, quality, maintenance, and labor
activities.
In addition, extended quality capabilities enable advanced SPC calculations to be
embedded directly within any process, as well
as the ability to perform quality planning or
quality containment management, should an
out-of-spec event occur. FlexNet replicates
processes across multiple locations, enabling
global KPI reporting with actionable capabilities to instantly remedy an out-of-tolerance
event. Aprisos CEO is Jim Henderson.
Aspen Technologies
Aspen Technologies, led by President and

CEO Mark Fusco, is a supplier of software that

optimizes process manufacturing in a number
of industries. Established in 1981, AspenTechs
annual revenue last year was $166 million.
More than 75,000 users at over 1,500 companies rely on AspenTech products.
AspenTechs MES product, aspenONE, provides functionality consistent with S-95 production operations management models to
help customers increase profitability, achieve
better asset utilization, and drive continuous
improvement efforts. The AspenTech MES
product aggregates process, production, and
business information into a context for understanding and improving performance.
Camstar Systems
Camstar is a privately held company led by
President and CEO Scott Toney. The company
provides manufacturing execution, process
planning, enterprise quality management, and
supply chain intelligence products. Since 1984,
Camstar has served hundreds of customers
worldwide, the majority of which are tier-one
companies.
Camstars MES product supports a broad
diversity of manufacturing industries and
processes. The highly configurable platform
adapts to a users business without custom
code, and its open SOA architecture was
designed for ease of integration to enterprise

applications and shop-floor automation.

The manufacturing model provides revisioncontrolled, auditable, structured definition of
the product definition and associated manufacturing processes. It includes workflows with
approved alternate paths, step-by-step operator procedures, parametric data collection
with limits and out-of-spec actions, electronic
signature requirements, and detailed bills of
materials. By enforcing adherence to processing rules, this model is the basis for the manufacturing audit trail.
CDC Software
Founded in 2002, CDC Softwares MES product
is CDC Factory, a packaged manufacturing operations management system that transforms
manufacturing performance by letting people
make real-time, actionable decisions. CDC
Factory integrates the functionality of shopfloor data capture, packaged metrics such as
Overall Equipment Effectiveness, analytics
and scorecards, continuous improvement capabilities, and paperless quality management.
The technology is combined with a change
method that focuses on developing a structure of daily performance reviews to drive better performance. The process develops operator skills so operators are able to drive their
own improvements; the product is typically
deployed in less than six weeks per factory.

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Apriso

Category
Introduction

Technology
Landscape

How to Evaluate
Costs/ROI

How to Evaluate
Vendors

Product
Comparison Tables

Vendor
Profiles

About Managing Automation

Research Services

Vendor Profiles
Selected Suppliers of Manufacturing Execution Systems

Managing
Automation
Buyers
Guide

De Clercq Solutions
De Clercq Solutions has more than 10 years of
experience with the implementation and integration of MES setups. The companys MES
offering, Objective MES, starts with detailed
planning; it optimally controls operators and
machines, and analyzes performance and
quality.
The product dispatches work orders efficiently, taking into account the real capacity
and capacity utilization. Objective MES also
helps optimize resources. It monitors production and reacts to problems. The system also
supports maintenance activities and quality
management. Koen De Clercq is the CEO of
the company.
Emerson Process Management
Emerson Electric is a global leader in bringing
together technology and engineering to provide solutions to industrial, commercial, and
consumer markets through its network power,
process management, industrial automation,
climate technologies, and appliance and tools
businesses. The companys sales in fiscal 2009

were $20.9 billion. Emersons CEO is David

Farr.
Emerson Process Management, an Emerson
business, is a leader in helping businesses
automate their production, processing, and
distribution in the chemical, oil and gas, refining, pulp and paper, power, water and wastewater treatment, mining and metals, food and
beverage, life sciences, and other industries.
Emerson Process Management offers two
MES products, Syncade and AMS Suite, to the
industries it serves.
Eyelit
Eyelit, founded in 1997, delivers a broad set
of manufacturing solutions, including eyelit
MES. The software provides insight into
production process efficiency, performance/
equipment efficiency, inventory control, and
resource management, along with the ability
to automatically react to conditions in any
factory system.
Led by CEO Salil Jain, Eyelit has designed
its MES product for use in the aerospace/
defense, electronics, semiconductor, and solar
industries.
GE Intelligent Platforms
GE Intelligent Platforms, headed by CEO Maryrose Sylvester, is a global provider of software,
hardware, services, and expertise in automation and embedded computing. The company
serves industry segments such as energy,
water, consumer packaged goods, government

and defense, and telecommunications.

GE Intelligent Platforms offers a number
of products with MES functionality, including
Proficy Plant Applications and a number
of other products that fulfill the Proficy
Platform.
HighJump Software
HighJump Software is a global provider of supply chain management software that streamlines the flow of inventory and information
from supplier to store shelf. Founded in 1983,
HighJump has more than 3,500 customers
worldwide. The companys CEO is Russell
Fleischer.
For discrete manufacturers, HighJump
provides an MES product called HighJump
Manufacturing Advantage. It bridges the disconnect between MES and warehouse management systems (WMS), enabling optimal
inventory flow throughout the shop floor. The
HighJump manufacturing execution system
also provides a flexible and adaptable system
architecture.
Honeywell Process Solutions
Honeywell Process Solutions is a unit of Honeywell Internationals Automation and Control
Solutions business. The CEO of the unit is
Norm Gilsdorf. With offices in more than 100
countries, HPS serves a range of industries,
including refining, oil and gas, pulp, paper and
printing, power generation, chemicals and
petrochemicals, life sciences, metals, minerals,

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CDC had 2009 revenues of $204 million,

and is headed by CEO Peter Yip. The company
delivers industry-specific solutions to 10,000
customers worldwide in the manufacturing,
food and beverage, business services, distribution, transportation, retail, government, real
estate, financial services, healthcare, and notfor-profit industries.

Category
Introduction

Technology
Landscape

How to Evaluate
Costs/ROI

How to Evaluate
Vendors

Product
Comparison Tables

Vendor
Profiles

About Managing Automation

Research Services

Vendor Profiles
Selected Suppliers of Manufacturing Execution Systems

Managing
Automation
Buyers
Guide

iBASEt
iBASEt has been a leading provider of hightech software products and services since
1986. iBASEts MES product is called Solumina. The software is an Operations Process
Management suite that manages work and
quality processes for the manufacturing and
maintenance, repair, and overhaul of highly
engineered products. Solumina functional
modules include process planning, MES and
operations management, quality management, and supplier quality assurance in one
integrated system. The companys CEO is
Ladeira Poonian.
Intercim
Founded in 1983, Intercim, headed by CEO
John Todd, supports more than 100,000 users worldwide in a number of fields, mainly
advanced and highly regulated industries.
In 2009, Dassault Systmes took a minority
position in Intercim. Both companies believe

in real-time information exchange and collaboration between engineering, manufacturing, and the supply network. As a result
of the combination, Intercims MES software
product, Pertinence Suite powered by Velocity,
bridges the gap between product design and
the supply chain.
Pertinence Suite supports Lean, Six Sigma,
and other process initiatives. From simplified
process planning and advanced predictive
analysis to best-in-industry process execution
and quality management, Pertinence Suite is
designed to help manufacturers reach their
operational goals.

Foxboro, IMServ, InFusion, SimSci-Esscor,

Skelta, Triconex, and Wonderware. Manufacturing Execution Module is the latest MES
release. The software is offered in two levels of
functionality. Operations -- Standard provides
basic MES functionality such as electronic
work orders, specifications, bills of material
(BOM), product traceability, and genealogy.
Operations-- Premium provides all of the Operations Standard functionality plus inventory
control, certifications, steps/procedures, and
labor tracking. A new addition to Operations
and Performance Software 4.0 is the MES Client, an ArchestrA Toolkit-based front end.

Invensys
Invensys PLC formed Invensys Operations
Management in 2009, when it merged six
long-standing branded product groups into
a single unit focused on meeting the manufacturing industrys need for comprehensive,
real-time operations management solutions.
Today, Invensys Operations Management, led
by President and CEO Sudipta Bhattacharya,
is a provider of automation and information technology, systems, software solutions,
services, and consulting to the global manufacturing and infrastructure industries. The
companys products are used by more than
40,000 clients around the world in more than
200,000 plants and facilities.
Invensys Operations Managements offerings are delivered under several prominent industry brands, including Avantis, Eurotherm,

MPDV Mikrolab GmbH

MPDV is a leading software provider specializing in recording and processing company data
in the areas of production, human resources,
and quality management. MPDVs core MES
product is HYDRA. Through HYDRA, MPDV
provides a method for increasing economic
efficiency in manufacturing plants.
MPDV also produces the xMES product
family, which provides SAP users or those
using its tools with a wide range of MES
functionality based directly on SAP AGs
Composite Application MII. The xMES line offers machine interfaces, collection functions,
and modules for shop-floor data collection,
machine data collection, and process data
collection, as well as information systems and
information portals. The companys CEO is
Jrgen Kletti.

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and mining. The company employs more than

10,000 people and has installed over 28,000
systems at more than 7,500 sites since 1974.
Honeywells portfolio of collaborative MES
products offers critical real-time performance,
business processes, and operations management for process manufacturing industries.
The products support virtualization environments to improve total cost of ownership and
offer improved business process modeling
capabilities.

Category
Introduction

Technology
Landscape

How to Evaluate
Costs/ROI

How to Evaluate
Vendors

Product
Comparison Tables

Vendor
Profiles

About Managing Automation

Research Services

Vendor Profiles
Parsec Automation
Parsec Automation, led by President and CEO
Eddy Azad, is focused on helping companies
rapidly improve the productivity of their factories. Parsec does this by providing TrakSYS,
an advanced and scalable manufacturingproductivity management software application suite.
TrakSYS is an extensible MES application
that is designed to aid lean, Six Sigma, TPM,
and operational excellence efforts for companies in many industries, including automotive,
chemicals, consumer products, construction
materials, electronics, food and beverage,
metals, mining, packaging, pharmaceuticals,
paper products, textiles, utilities/energy, and
wood products.
Performix
Performix, founded in 2005, develops products
for the batch process manufacturing industry.
Sham Afzalpurkar is Performixs CEO.
The companys suite of composite software
applications, Performix xMES, is designed to
leverage SAP technology and manufacturing
system infrastructure. Performix serves the
chemical, consumer products, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical industries. Performix xMES Suite is used by Dow Corning and
several leading pharmaceutical companies.

Managing
Automation
Buyers
Guide

Plex Systems
Since 1995, Plex has been a provider of online
software for the manufacturing enterprise and

is the developer of Plex Online, an SaaS-based

product. Its integrated, on-demand software
has resulted in a near 100% customer retention and solution implementation success
rate. Plex Systems serves a global cross-section of manufacturing industries (OEMs and
suppliers), particularly automotive, medicaldevice, food and beverage, and aerospace and
defense companies.
Plex Online offers features for virtually
every department within a manufacturing
company, including manufacturing operations management and quality management
systems for the shop floor, customer relationship management for sales and marketing,
supply chain management for procurement,
and enterprise resource planning for finance
and management. Plex Onlines integrated
model delivers a shop floor to top floor view
of a manufacturers operations.
Plex Systems, headed by CEO Mark Symonds, is a privately held company. In 2009,
recurring revenue grew 31% over 2008, and
total revenue grew 14%.
Oracle
Oracles MES offerings are modular, open, and
integrated solutions that provide a structured
and standards-based shop-floor execution
toolset. They include the capabilities needed
to execute, record, and monitor shop-floor
activities in a highly efficient and effective
real-time basis.
Oracle serves 370,000 customers globally

across a wide range of industries, including

aerospace and defense, communications, engineering and construction, financial services,
health sciences, insurance, oil and gas, retail,
tax, and utilities. Founded in 1977, Oracles
annual revenue for fiscal year 2010 was $26.8
billion. Oracles CEO is Lawrence J. Ellison.
Rockwell Automation
Rockwell Automation, headed by CEO Keith
Nosbusch, is a $4.3 billion company with
19,000 employees and an extensive partner
network.
FactoryTalk ProductionCentre is Rockwell
Automations MES offering. FactoryTalk
integrates quality management and business
analytics with paperless shop floor and repair
execution. This integrated product improves
operational efficiencies while ensuring regulatory compliance and the highest levels of
quality.
SAP AG
Headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, SAP is
the worlds largest business software company. Founded in 1972, SAPs 2009 revenues
were more than 10.6 billion. The company
has more than 95,000 customers in over 120
countries. Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann
Snabe are co-CEOs.
SAP Manufacturing Execution (SAP ME) is
an enterprise-level, scalable manufacturing
business product that enables global manufacturers to manage and control manufactur-

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Selected Suppliers of Manufacturing Execution Systems

Category
Introduction

Technology
Landscape

How to Evaluate
Costs/ROI

How to Evaluate
Vendors

Product
Comparison Tables

Vendor
Profiles

About Managing Automation

Research Services

Vendor Profiles

Managing
Automation
Buyers
Guide

ing and shop floor operations. It provides a

multi-faceted set of functions that integrate
business systems to the shop floor, allowing
for complete component and material-level
visibility for single and global installations.
SAP ME collects data from multiple sources,
integrating data systems with shop-floor activities to create one comprehensive production record. The result is an aggregate record
of the entire product history, stored and
available for effective key decision-making
and for meeting compliance requirements.
SAP ME was added to the SAP Product Portfolio for Manufacturing with the acquisition of
Visiprise in 2008. Since the acquisition, SAP
continues to invest in technology and functional enhancements adhering to SAP Product
Standards, including the introduction of SAP
xMII, which it bills as the worlds first Manufacturing Intelligence Portal.
Schneider Electric
As a global specialist in energy management
with operations in more than 100 countries,
Schneider Electric offers a variety of power
management and automation products in sectors such as energy and infrastructure, industrial processes, building automation, and data
centers/networks, as well as a broad presence
in residential applications. Focused on making
energy safe, reliable, and efficient, the companys 100,000-plus employees achieved sales
of more than $22 billion in 2009.
Schneider Electrics MES software, Ampla,

empowers businesses to reduce costs and improve production efficiency, performance, and
profitability. Amplas energy module supports
the identification and tracking of energy overconsumption based upon production context.
Ampla is used to identify bottlenecks, analyze
production downtime causes, calculate key
performance indicators, manage WIP inventory, track the real costs of production, and
manage other important operational performance issues. Ampla supports continuous
improvement projects to achieve operational
excellence.
Siemens MES
Siemens, founded in 1847, is a global leader
in electronics and electrical engineering, and
operates in the industry, energy, and healthcare sectors. With 405,000 employees in 190
countries, Siemens reported worldwide revenue of $104.3 billion in fiscal 2009. Siemens
in the USA reported sales of $21.3 billion in
the U.S. and employs more than 60,000 people
throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
SIMATIC IT, Siemens MES product, allows
companies to implement a cross-plant technological solution for enforcing value-driven
strategies on the one hand and performance
measures on the other. SIMATIC IT, with its
open architecture, offers the collaboration
and integration technologies that allow
manufacturers to couple disparate systems,
support distributed manufacturing operations, and connect manufacturing operations

with the rest of the enterprise.

Werum Software & Systems
Werum is a leading supplier of MES for the
pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. Founded in 1969, the company employs
more than 400 people at its headquarters
in Lneburg, Germany, and at eight other
locations in Germany, France, the U.S., Japan,
and Singapore. Hartmut Krome is President of
Werum America Inc., and Chairman of the Executive Board of Werum Software & Systems.
Werums MES software product is called
PAS-X. It is installed at 16 of the worlds top 30
pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and
runs in more than 500 installations around
the globe. Werum provides integrated and
ready-to-be-validated MES packages.

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Category
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How to Evaluate
Vendors

Product
Comparison Tables

Vendor
Profiles

About Managing Automation

Research Services

Footnotes
Manufacturing Execution Systems Buyers Guide
1. Lhn, Johann. Government Commissioner for Technology Transfer, Baden-Wurtemberg, Germany, in the Foreword to Manufacturing Execution SystemMES. Jrgen
Kletti, Springer Publishing, Inc., June 27, 2007.

15. Ibid, slide 3.

2. ibid, VI.

16. ibid, slide 4.

3. Cole, Brenda. Interest in Manufacturing 2.0 MES Software Persists Despite Recession, SearchManufacturingERP.com, May 27, 2010.

17. Stratus Technologies. ibid, p. 4.

4. Managing Automation. http://www.managingautomation.com/enterprise-software/manufacturing-executionsystems.

19. Cole, Brenda. ibid.

6. Unger, Keith. Manufacturers Needs Not Changing but

Acronyms Are, InTech, Oct. 3, 2001.

18. Wildeman, Roy C. ibid, slide 5.

20. Bassert, Edward, Evaluating Your Need for an MES

Upgrade, SearchManufacturingERP.com, April 8, 2010.
21. ERP software blog. http://www.erpsoftwareblog.
com/2010/06/4-questions-to-ask-to-lower-the-cost-ofaccounting-software-user-licenses.
22. Bassert, Edward. ibid.

7. Flakol, Rita. MES vs. ERP: Is It All in the Jargon? Manufacturing & Logistics IT, Nov. 28, 2008.
8. ibid.
9. Khosrow-Puor, Mehdi. Emerging Trends and Challenges
in Information Technology Management. Idea Group, Inc.,
2006, p. 865.
10. Stratus Technologies. Manufacturing IT Infrastructure: Ready or Not for MES? White Paper, October 2006,
p. 3.

23. Wildeman, Roy C. ibid, slide 7.

24. Herbert, Liz. Liz Herberts Blog for Sourcing and
Vendor Management Professionals, Forrester.com, June
7, 2010.
25. Global CyberSoft. Effective Manufacturing With Integrated ERP and MES Solutions, May 14, 2008.
26. Kletti, Jrgen. ibid, p. 259.
27. ibid, p. 260-262.

11. ibid.
12. The Association of German Engineers (VDI), VDI
Guideline 5600.

Managing
Automation
Buyers
Guide

13. Stratus Technologies, ibid, p. 4.

14. Wildeman, Roy C. Manufacturing Execution Systems

28. Knight, Jason and Lamb, Susan. Selecting and Using a

Manufacturing Execution System, MDDI, October 2006.

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5. Kletti, Jrgen. Manufacturing Execution SystemMES.

Springer Publishing, Inc., June 27, 2007, p. 13.

(MES) Strategy Update: Must-Know Trends, SearchManufacturingERP.com Webcast, April 26, 2010, slide 2.

Category
Introduction

Technology
Landscape

How to Evaluate
Costs/ROI

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Vendors

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About Managing
Automation Research Services

BACK

Managing Automation Media Research Services (MAM Research

Services) is the market and buyer research arm of Managing Automation
Media, which publishes Managing Automation, Manufacturing Executive,
and the TechMatch technology product database, and produces the
Manufacturing Leadership Summit conference. Managing Automation Media
is a unit of Thomas Publishing Company, LLC of New York. MAM Research
Services specializes in a variety of custom research and publishing products,
including custom publishing supplements, manufacturing market surveys,
and buyers guides.

Important Note Concerning This Buyers Guide

This Buyers Guide is solely intended to provide information to help buyers in their
understanding and navigation of the purchase process associated with particular
technologies. Publisher makes no claim and does not warrant that the Buyers Guide is
fully inclusive or comprehensive in its discussion of market trends, purchase process
factors, or in the selected representation of vendors and their products, nor does the
Publisher claim or warrant that use of the Buyers Guide will result in a successful purchase process outcome. Publisher advises users of this Buyers Guide to conduct their
own due diligence process in the selection of any technology, and to use or engage
other sources of information or counsel in that process where appropriate.

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