Recently I have been seeing quite a bit of discussion regarding ROI for MES/MOM. MESA International released a strategic guidebook on the topic in May. ISA debated the topic “MES Does Not Deliver A Return on Investment” (Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_O9Wlw69gU) at its MES Conference in Cork, Ireland in March. There have been some recent blogs on the topic posted to some MES/MOM-related groups on LinkedIn as well. I don’t want to diminish the importance of ROI for MES/MOM, but focusing solely on ROI is a mistake. The problem is that measuring the impact of MES/MOM is quite difficult, because the value comes from improved processes and increased velocity of resolving issues rather than from the technology itself. Yes, we need to answer the ROI questions, but we also need to move the discussion into a higher plane as well. We need to start talking about MES/MOM in strategic terms.
There are tons of books and articles on strategy, but it isn’t really that difficult a concept to wrap your arms around. Strategy is simply the context in which decisions are made. Why does an army go around an obstacle instead of taking the most direct route? Why does a billiard player choose one shot over another? Why does a chess player choose to sacrifice a rook to move a pawn? Why does a business choose cost leadership instead of differentiation? In each case, the situational dynamics allow a number of choices to be made, but the best choice is always made in context of the desired goal. In the absence of strategy, the default choice will nearly always be the path of least resistance.
How does this relate to MES/MOM? What you will find in a majority of manufacturers is a plethora of point solutions. These manifest themselves as spreadsheets, stand-alone applications (Microsoft Access, for example), and “siloed” systems (SPC, CMMS, Maintenance Dispatch, etc.) – often developed internally or purchased without consideration of a bigger picture. Frequently (I want to write “always”, but there are exceptions) these point solutions are incompatible with each other, making aggregating information difficult or impossible. But solving plant-floor problems almost always requires combining information from multiple sources, forcing someone – typically at the engineering level – to become a data integrator and to make connections between these systems. Point solutions represent the path of least resistance (and if you can avoid getting IT involved, there is even less resistance), and are indicative of decision-making which occurs outside a strategic framework. The hidden cost of an ineffective plant-floor IT strategy is the reduced speed of problem-solving.
An example will help illustrate this. Improving equipment effectiveness (OEE) requires an in-depth knowledge of downtime causes, quality defects, and equipment speed. It also requires an understanding of responsiveness to downtime causes, reliability improvement efforts, machine maintenance history, and replacement part availability. All this information is distributed between the ERP, the CMMS, the QMS, maintenance log books, kaizen newspapers, and engineering notes. Gathering the information from each of these systems and creating a coherent understanding is time consuming, which means solutions are delayed and someone is getting paid to put the picture together instead of implementing the solution. These costs may not be quantifiable but never the less impact the bottom line.
In addition to ROI discussions with management, there needs to be a very strong emphasis on strategy regarding MES/MOM implementations. This is where maturity growth models (not to be confused with capability maturity models) are helpful. There are two models that I am aware of: one from MESA International (as taught in their Global Education Program), and one from MIT/Sloan Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) as presented in the book “Enterprise Architecture as Strategy” (Harvard Press, 2006). This is also where standards such as ISA-95 start to become important. MES/MOM implementation needs to be the core of a manufacturing IT strategy, a strategy which needs to be embraced by the organization’s leadership. Solution providers (bless them – they’re doing God’s own work!) cannot drive strategy – that must be done internally. Ultimately, it is strategy which will define the success or failure of an MES/MOM implementation.
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