Just as there are many strategies for growing a business, there are many obstacles that can stand between a manufacturing enterprise and its increased profitability. Business growth depends on successful decision-making by those responsible for meeting the company's goals—but what makes good decisions possible?

Smaller companies may be able to get by on management intuition or hunches, but scaling upward, expanding capacity, or adding verticals requires something much more concrete and less open to bias—and that’s reliable, usable data.

Consequences of Outdated Data

Let's say you're a large injection molding outfit looking to expand into new markets. You've always relied on end-of-shift pencil-pushing to know whether and where you need to provide additional training or motivation to meet your production deadlines. Over the years, you've iterated an employee development program for your operators that you're rightfully proud of, and you've seen steady improvements in the efficiency of your production lines as a result. In fact, if your numbers are correct, you've improved your company's OEE from 68% to 83% year-over-year since 20xx. You're ready to tackle the next big thing.

As part of your long-term growth strategy, you implement a manufacturing execution system (MES) solution to help your operation prepare to scale. But in the first six months after installation and commissioning, you're routinely sitting at a plant OEE of no higher than 65%. You know that's not right—you've crunched the numbers.

Did you buy a bad system?

This was actually the experience of one of our customers. They had relied on outdated and inaccurately obtained data to calculate their overall equipment effectiveness and grossly misrepresented their readiness to tackle a new market.

However, thanks to refined training and the concrete proof of concept provided by our MES experts, they were able to utilize an effective MES to get their ops to a level of efficiency that warranted their pursuit of that new market.

Benefits of Collecting Accurate Data

Without an MES solution in place, you leave your high-level strategy subject to the risk of human error. By implementing MES software, though, your facility benefits from real-time data on all shop-floor variables, setting employees up for effective decision making based on detailed numbers. With this information, you can remain confident that you have a true picture of your production capacity.

Digital transformation is the key to future success in your manufacturing process; don't get left behind with manual data. For more information about MES solutions and the impact they can have on your business, subscribe to our blog!