Today’s competitive manufacturing arena demands: (a) lower cost, (b) improved supplier‐network management, (c) more product variants, (d) shorter new product introductions, and (e) compliance to industry standards and regulations. For increased efficiency, visibility and compliance, many manufacturing companies are looking at commercial software solutions for their shop floors. But choosing the best manufacturing software for a facility is not an easy task.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is touted as improving efficiency in organizations by integrating and standardizing enterprise‐business processes onto a single platform. ERP‐software vendors have been adding manufacturing capabilities to their products, which can now handle manufacturing scenarios where products and routings are simple, the product mix is low, and engineering changes are seldom.

But is ERP enough? Does further investment in an ERP system provide the strategic differentiators your organization needs to be more competitive? Should ERP be extended to the shop floor or would an investment in an integrated best‐in‐class Manufacturing Execution System (MES) prove more valuable to the organization for a competitive edge?

This paper is targeted toward Operations, Operations Support and Information Technology personnel who are evaluating software solutions to improve production‐management capabilities in complex discrete industries, including aerospace, defense, shipbuilding, nuclear energy, industrial electronics, industrial equipment and complex medical devices.

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Reference Paper

The Right Tool for your Shop Floor
Contrasting ERP and MES Solutions