What went wrong? 10 mistakes that can spoil the implementation of an MES system

Before I get into the implementation of MES systems, let’s talk about something more down-to-earth. Try to play the role of a man who is fed up with the urban jungle and decides to build a house on a plot of land that… he hasn’t looked at before. At first glance, everything goes off without a hitch! You’ve received stunning visualizations, you’ve ordered the materials, you have a time buffer. What could go wrong! And yet, after time, it turns out that the entrance to your property is from a different direction, and the east side is missing two meters for your dream terrace with a brick barbecue. What does this have to do with the implementation of an MES system? More than you think! Even the best features, promises of automation, faster decisions and full control over production can come crashing down on the realities of a manufacturing plant or lack of data.

MES software is not just software. It is the logic of the factory transferred to the digital world, and if this logic is not well understood, named and structured, the system has no point of attachment. And that’s when the problems start. Learn about ten common challenges so you’ll know why some projects go like clockwork and others drag on for months, generating more frustration than data.

In many companies, the implementation of a new system begins with a summit meeting. People sit around the table, make feature requests, sketch dream dashboards, and spin a vision of unlimited reporting. A long and ambitious wish list is created and sent to software vendors.

And this is where the project often gets derailed, although no one sees it yet. Why? Because the system is not supposed to implement wishes. The system is supposed to solve problems.

A list of desirable features is like a list of drugs without a diagnosis. It always leads to a waste of money and has no effect. That’s why digital transformation should start by asking where we are wasting time, data, money and quality, not with a list of dreams to be fulfilled.

This is probably the most common mistake and also the most costly. If you don’t know the process, understand the product and define the data flow, the implementation will be a guessing game.

Pre-implementation documentation is sometimes treated as something that slows down a project. Meanwhile, it acts as a wilderness map to ensure that you don’t fall into the raspberries and save yourself a lot of stress.

I keep getting requests for proposals that describe a several million zloty project for… half a page. It’s a bit like someone sending an email to a travel agency: “I want to go somewhere on vacation. Please give me a quote. I don’t know where, I don’t know when, I don’t know with whom.”

It may work, but it’s like fortune telling. I recommend another way: workshops, diagnosis of problems and conclusions. Such a course of action will help you avoid misunderstandings and raise the chances of a successful IT implementation. You can also use the support of independent experts.

Can you treat the purchase of software like investing in a new production line? I don’t recommend it. IT solutions cannot be approached with the belief that everything can be predicted.

An MES system is not a machine that stands on the shop floor. It lives in the organization. It evolves with the team, the processes and the data.

And too rigid a specification kills the project.

Many companies look only at the cost of modules and licenses, overlooking everything else. And the real price is hidden elsewhere:

When you buy a car, do you go only by the price, forgetting that it still needs to be refueled, serviced and insured? Well, no! Then don’t forget about additional costs when implementing an MES system, too.

The classic: the software looks cheap, until someone notices that the price includes… five users, and each additional user costs as much as 20% of the entire deployment.

This is a landmine that explodes six months after the implementation of the software. That’s why with licenses you have to read everything, especially what is written in a very small font.

Some buy closed systems that cannot be modified. Others go only for customization and after six months it turns out that the supplier is just learning a particular industry. Both approaches are risky. The middle path works best: a solid platform + reasonable customization. One that allows you to match the MES system to real processes, but does not turn the project into a perpetual construction.

Good piloting is warming up before a marathon. Bad piloting is watching running on TV (from the perspective of a comfortable sofa, any sport seems trivial).

The pilot should include:

Testing, testing and more testing. Remember, a production interface has to survive many more inconveniences than a desktop laptop. Dust, temperature, gloves, fast movements, hurry, noise.

Testing in IT is important, but – note – testing on the shop floor, not behind a desk. Why put energy into implementing an MES system that looks great in an office setting, but fails in production.

This is absolutely the most important point. You can buy the best system, with the best interface and the best thought-out architecture.

However, if:

then MES will become an elegant, expensive application displaying data that no one uses.

Transformation starts with organizational culture, not technology. And this is a truth I see in every factory I enter, so it’s worth devoting some energy to good change management.

Because MES is not an “IT project.” He changes the way a company operates. It touches people, their routines, their habits, their responsibilities. And that’s why implementations are difficult, not because the system is complicated, but because it changes how people work, what data they see and what decisions they can make.

If there is one thing you should remember from this article, let it be this:
MES does not solve problems by itself. He only reveals the truth about processes.