Dive Brief:
- Despite widespread adoption, manufacturers are struggling to fully integrate production management software across their operations, according to a Rockwell Automation report released Tuesday.
- Based on Rockwell’s survey of 1,560 manufacturing and industrial professionals across 17 countries, 93% of respondents claim to have manufacturing execution systems running in at least one of their facilities. However, only 23% noted having the systems fully deployed across all their sites.
- These systems, known as MES, monitor, track, document and control the process of converting raw materials into finished goods on the factory floors. Integration of these separate, patchwork systems has become one of the biggest challenges facing manufacturers today, according to Rockwell.
Dive Insight:
As companies move beyond MES deployment, approximately 44% of survey participants cited integration as the “most important factor in their purchasing decisions.” It is also shaping manufacturers’ modernization strategies and paths to broader digital maturity, according to the report.
“With integration ranking as both the top buying requirement and the leading modernization challenge, organizations risk leaving significant value on the table if disconnected systems and underutilized data go unaddressed,” Lorenzo Veronesi, associate research director at technology advisory firm IDC, said in a statement. IDC contributed to the report.
At the same time, rapid advancements of artificial intelligence and growing cyber risks are pressuring companies to update their manufacturing systems. More than half of manufacturing processes are expected to be AI-supported by 2030, but roughly 43% of surveyed participants noted they were not effectively using their collected data.
“As AI-supported processes become the expectation rather than the exception, the ability to unify systems and activate data will determine which manufacturers are positioned to compete in the next era of production,” Veronesi said.
Some companies have successfully scaled MES and are gaining value from their integrated systems. Since initially deploying in 2008, automotive supplier Kumi North America has expanded Rockwell’s Plex smart manufacturing software in facilities across the United States and Canada.
“Before Plex, our operations struggled to synch and some locations didn’t have any software,” Paul Andrews, assistant vice president of systems at Kumi North America, said in a statement.
Moldtech, a custom rubber manufacturer, implemented MES over six months and started seeing results almost immediately. In the first quarter of 2025, Moldtech lowered its scrap costs by 50%, improved efficiency by 20% and saved $25,000 with its new system, according to the report.
“We wanted a solution that gave us real time inventory levels, live production metrics, and accurate costing,” Moldtech President Edward Halady said in a statement. “We have live scrap reporting available to us now, allowing us to know exactly what impact our scrap will have on month-end bottom line.”
Rockwell recommended seven steps to effectively scale MES: standardize the systems across sites; lead with integration from the start; align ownership across functions; turn data into operational insight; build for AI-ready operations; embed resiliency into the system and empower employees to operate differently.
MES has shifted from production tracking to offering operational insights across quality management, worker productivity and supply chain forecasting, Anthony Murphy, vice president of product management at Rockwell, said in a statement. With increased connectivity, there are also more opportunities to leverage AI, he added.
“Manufacturers winning the race are not doing more than the rest, they’re just doing more together,” Murphy said.
