Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) International is a worldwide not-for-profit community of manufacturing companies, information technology hardware and software suppliers, system integrators, consulting service providers, analysts, editors, academics and students. The combined purpose is to improve business results and production operations through optimized application and implementation of information technology and best management practices.
New advances in technology are helping manufacturers tackle all kinds of new problems, but the organizations that learn how to leverage the emerging innovation-driven ecosystem...
Smart manufacturing technologies are rapidly cropping up in organizations, and IT and OT are left having to deal with new issues every day. These six areas are where smart manufacturing...
In the evolving world of digital transformation and concepts like smart manufacturing, Industry 4.0 and cognitive manufacturing, it is important to remember the fundamentals.
Asking important questions—and in turn letting those answers lead you to the next questions—will put you on the path to smart manufacturing. Here are some examples to consider...
Since taking its manufacturing execution system to the cloud, a large EMS provider has been able to achieve new levels of visibility, efficiency and quality.
Manufacturing operations management will not go away with the arrival of the Internet of Things. It will continue to provide the orchestration layer required for quite some time...
Manufacturers focused on optimizing ecosystems offering new value and service levels to customers might very well end up being the true winners of the smart manufacturing race...
To properly manage a manufacturing business, manufacturers must realize that all companies are data companies—and that requires standards-based technologies.
Often overlooked and under considered, the right enclosure is critical to ensuring the healthy lifecycle of automation and industrial control applications.
Four real-world application stories show why OEE remains a bedrock manufacturing metric for real-time data collection to enhance companies’ ability to take corrective actions ...
The new MESA International Smart Manufacturing Model provides the answers the industry is seeking on production agility, resource effectiveness, and quality control.
Many consider their manufacturing systems or industrial control systems “disconnected” and safe. However, there are a number of factors working against that assumption to threaten...
Rockwell Automation's Global Technical Lead for MES recently got his MOM certification from MESA. Find out why he says this program is worthwhile for system integrators, MES vendors...
The Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association aims to address some of the problem areas of smart manufacturing—such as implementation, fitting different technologies together...
Discover how industry organizations need to converge on concrete guiding principles and a definition for smart manufacturing, in order to achieve the next phase of Industry 4....
Small and medium manufacturers have largely been hesitant to make the transition to a smart manufacturing system due to concerns over the cost and time investment. However, those...
In a world where everyone wants to uniquely define their work with different three- (or more) letter acronyms, it can be somewhat confusing to navigate the industrial space. The...
As the automation landscape moves into digital transformation, it's important to realize the role of MES and MOM software in creating the smart factory of the future.
Although industry is just starting to progress toward smart manufacturing, leaders endeavor to elevate the connectivity and orchestration of manufacturing processes across the...
If the promise of IIoT, machine learning and cloud-based mobile applications is to make it easier than ever to see data from the plant floor, adjust production and manage operations...
With targeted attacks on industrial automation and control systems, which are increasingly connected to other business systems, cyber vulnerabilities represent a significant potential...
Though the promise of smart manufacturing technologies might not be realized fully yet, the cost of implementing traditional MES and realizing the benefits of connecting your ...
Fit-for-purpose software applications can enable manufacturers to connect operations, IT and enterprise more easily. An integration will help make sure the pieces eventually connect...
No matter what type of manufacturing you are in, smart manufacturing is coming and will change how we think of manufacturing. In some ways, it’s the same journey that industry...
Smart manufacturing can give manufacturers tools and approaches to unlock innovation in their plants and across their businesses like never before. Are you ready to lead your ...
Food safety and traceability has become a pressing need for food manufacturers and producers. Does your company have a strategy in place for the new regulatory requirements that...
Although everybody makes a wrong turn now and then on a project, these tips will go a long way to helping you avoid them. And if you do make a wrong turn, they’ll make it a lot...
When considering what kind of manufacturing execution system (MES) your operations should have, you need to consider several factors related to technical and business needs, and...
Consider not only your automation network that carries information between devices and control systems, but also your personal network that shares best practices and lessons learned...
Layers of manufacturing operations metrics and measurement processes, aligned with top-level business goals, are the best way to ensure that what you measure actually does drive...
The Lorax might speak for the trees, but who speaks for the plants? The time has come for someone to speak for the manufacturing sites, production facilities or processing plants...
ISA-88 is not new, but this standard for batch control is enabling new and better ways to make industrial systems more flexible, scalable and quickly repeatable—regardless of ...
ERM improves communications about batch processing by taking ISA-88 recipe standards and extending them to the enterprise via ISA-95 material, equipment and personnel standards...
Having been around for a number of years and addressing one of the biggest headaches to confront manufacturers, there is no shortage of information available about ISA-95. Following...
Do you have opportunities to engage in open discussions with your peers in other industries, other disciplines, or in completely different types of companies? If not, you don’...
Imagine a world without electrical standards, such as 110V at 60hz, or 220 at 50Hz, or a world where every phone had a different type of connection and required a different type...
Harmonizing manufacturing operations management systems is not the first priority after a merger or acquisition, but the desire to standardize operations and enterprise reporting...
More of the manufacturers and producers who improved their profits significantly also use metrics consistently and align corporate objectives with operational metrics compared...
The Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA International) has been a part of my career for nearly a decade. Readers know that a MESA publication deserves more mindshare...
