Manufacturing execution system (MES)
A manufacturing execution system (MES) runs and records production on the shop floor: work orders, work instructions, data collection, sign-offs and traceability for each unit built.
MES is where the plan meets the floor. It needs the right revision of the design and instructions from PLM, and the work order from ERP, and it sends back what was actually built.
Plenty of plants still run on spreadsheets instead. It works until there are eleven copies and nobody knows which is current.
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Last reviewed November 2026 by Element Consulting
