Scope
What you get
Live progress per work order and per stage, captured on the shop floor
Actual material consumption reconciled against the BOM, order by order
Output and defect rates broken out by shift, line and product
The question a production manager answers many times a day is a simple one: which stage is this order at, and will it ship on time? In many plants the answer waits for the end-of-day report or a phone call down to the line — which means that by the time you know you are late, you are already a shift late. Production software exists to shrink that gap to roughly zero.
We build the system around the work order: an order is broken into the stages your plant actually runs, and at each stage the operator confirms start, finish, good quantity and reject quantity on a terminal at the line or a handheld scanner. Every running order's progress then appears on one screen, with an alert when a stage falls far enough behind plan to threaten the ship date. Planners see a bottleneck as it forms rather than when the customer calls.
Material tracking comes with it, because controlling schedule without controlling consumption solves half the problem: the system records what was actually issued against each order and reconciles it with the bill of materials, so a variance surfaces per order and per shift instead of arriving as one untraceable monthly loss figure. Output and defect reporting is likewise separated by shift, line and product — detailed enough to show which step the problem is in.
We deliver in phases, starting with whatever hurts most — usually work-order progress — and extending into consumption, quality and maintenance once the earlier phase has proven itself on the floor. That keeps first-phase cost verifiable and avoids the familiar failure mode of plant IT projects: a large system commissioned in one go that operators then work around. Where you already run warehouse software or an accounting system, we integrate rather than build a parallel record. For plants with expatriate management, the interface can run bilingually so that operators and managers read the same screen, and project documentation and training are delivered in the language your team works in. If you are not sure where to begin, where factory digitalisation actually starts sets out the first three steps.
Is this an MES?
What is described above — work-order management, stage-level progress tracking, output and defect capture, material reconciliation — is the core of what an MES does, and we build that to each plant's requirements. What we do not do is sell a packaged MES product with a fixed module list. If your requirement includes direct integration with line PLCs or a SCADA system, raise it at the survey so we can give you an honest assessment of which parts we can deliver and which belong with an industrial automation specialist.
Our operators are not used to software. Will this actually get used?
This is the largest risk in this kind of project — larger than the technical risk — so it drives the design. Line terminals are kept as simple as they can be made: large targets, few choices, most actions a scan followed by a confirmation, and as little typing as possible. We pilot on one line first, sit on the floor and watch real operators use it, fix what we observe, and only then roll out across the plant.
What does it cost and how long does it take?
A first phase covering work orders and stage progress typically runs 10 to 16 weeks and is quoted as its own line item, so you can see the system working on your floor before committing further. Later phases — consumption, quality, maintenance — are quoted separately as they are scoped. Real numbers come only after we have walked your process on site, and that visit is free.