scope:

In the autumn 2003 within the VDI Field of competence Information Technology (KfIT) a technical committee was founded to offer the planners within manufacturing enterprises and potential MES users a vendor-neutral and technical profound assistance. This guideline is considered as a compendium for

• the deciders (executive directors as well as production managers, IT, material logistics, quality, maintenance, staffing, controlling),
• process owners and users (planning operation, logistics, order control department, production planning, production, quality assurance, maintenance ...),
• the involved in selection and introduction processes with their technical emphases (project managers as well as internal and external service providers) and
• providers of software, hardware and integration

and offers a problem-oriented description of MES and its application potentials. It reflects existing concepts of the MESA¹⁾, completes and updates them and displays the interests of the European manufacturer in a better way.

This guidline focusses on the description of the problems and the benefits of MES. The collateral standardisation and definition projects (e.g. NE 94, ISA S95, IEC 62264) defer to the aspects of realisation in detail.

¹⁾ Manufacturing Enterprise Solution Association