According to a recent survey of 106 plants in a variety of industries, companies that deploy manufacturing execution systems (MES) have an edge over those that don't. Adopters surveyed realized a number of benefits, the study says, including a four-fold increase in profitability over a three-year period. The research was sponsored by Rockwell Automation (Milwaukee) and conducted by Industry Directions (Newburyport, Mass.), a market research and consulting firm.
Focusing on data submitted by companies that Industry Week magazine had previously judged to be the best-performing facilities in North America, the study found that individual plant productivity gains ranged from 70% to 600%. Plants with MES could reduce costs more dramatically than plants not using MES, and were able to cut energy costs by 57%. MES technology also improved yield and cycle times, the study found. For more information on the study, visit http://www.interwavetech.com/.
