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The Strategic Role of MES Systems in the Context of Industry 4.0

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 The Strategic Role of MES Systems in the Context of
Industry 4.0

José Eduardo da Costa Dias1[0000-0001-9750-5395], Fernando Gonçalves de Castro

Filho1[0000-0001-7638-5961], Alexandre Acácio de Andrade2[0000-0002-9794-8687], Julio Francisco
Blumetti Facó2[0000-0002-8155-5547]
1Universidade Federal do ABC, Avenida dos Estados, 5001, Bairro Santa Terezinha, Santo
André, São Paulo, Brasil
2 Universidade Federal do ABC, Rua São Paulo, s/n, Bairro Jardim Antares, São Bernardo do

Campo, São Paulo, Brasil

eduardo.dias@ufabc.edu.br, fernandocastro23@yahoo.com.br,
aacacio@ufabc.edu.br, julio.faco@ufabc.edu.br

Abstract. Since the early 1990s, Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) have
been playing a key role in managing production activities and integrating busi-
ness from the top floor to the shop floor, reducing manufacturing costs by in-
creasing overall equipment effectiveness and minimizing unplanned downtime.
Cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things and cloud computing are some of
the main technology pillars of the Industry 4.0, also referred as the fourth indus-
trial revolution which is the name given to the current trend of automation and
data exchange in manufacturing technologies. In the new context of the Industry
4.0, vertical and horizontal integration of all participants in the production pro-
cess is required. A smart factory must have collaborative manufacturing systems
that are able to respond in real time to meet changing demands and conditions in
production process, in the supply chain network, and its customer needs. Alt-
hough the concept and application of the main functionalities of MES systems in
the manufacturing processes are those prior to Industry 4.0 and therefore they are
not considered as one of the technological pillars that represent it, MES systems
perform activities which may be considered prerequisites so 4.0 technologies can
be implemented efficiently and effectively. This article intends to describe the
relation between the main functionalities of the MES with the technological pil-
lars which are the base of the Industry 4.0. in order to position the strategic role
of the MES within this new context and business environment.

Keywords: MES, Industry 4.0, Advanced Manufacturing, Meta-Analysis.

2

1 Introduction

The concept of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) was developed in the

United States, in the mid-1990s, when a non-profit organization of manufacturing so-
lutions, MESA (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association), began standardizing
these applications in a three-level model of application for an industrial facility: pro-
duction level, production management level, where the practical application of the MES
main functionalities become more visible, and the level of enterprise management. This
model has been updated and developed over the years, however MES main functional-
ities were always related to three main process groups: Production, Personnel/Resource
Management and Quality [1]
Technological advancements while enabling MES developers to implement mean-
ingful enhancements and better exploit the potential of their features, bring the chal-
lenge of keeping MES as an up-to-date tool compatible with new hardware and soft-
ware systems and with new trends and technologies still under development or under
maturing process. The companies which implement MES in their processes are chal-
lenged as well, since they must keep the production chain connected and integrated, not
only to the shop floor and top floor levels, but to the other levels as well, including the
outside world: management, vendors, customers and competitors. MES development
companies and their customers must be prepared to follow and to integrate the MES
with new technologies, with potential applicability in the manufacturing processes, in-
dependently on being them mature technologies already applied to other business pro-
cesses or disruptive technologies which have the potential to transform and optimize
existing manufacturing processes with great innovation potential.
The first three industrial revolutions were characterized by innovative technological
disruptions that were notable for transforming the manufacturing processes in their re-
spective epochs and for being identified and named by historians and scholars after
their actual events occurred.
The development of the concept and the effective implementation MES Systems in
large-scale can be considered as consequences of the Third Industrial Revolution, since
its functionalities were the result and could only be implemented only after the effective
use and development of the technologies pillars of this revolution.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0, has been studied and predicted [2]
not only through the study of past events and technological leaps, as occurred with its
predecessors, but through its component technologies (Big Data, Artificial Intelligence,
Internet of Things, etc.), the so-called pillars of Industry 4.0 [3], some of these technol-
ogies seem to be more mature and more applicable to manufacturing processes than
others which are still under development, but even though they are behind the others in
terms of applicability, they have great potential for innovation.
In order to be part of the new environment of Industry 4.0 and to benefit from the
competitive advantages provided by its technological pillars, companies must be pre-
pared to integrate their core processes and systems into them. Some technologies which
are mature and are fully integrated into the processes of these companies will be re-
placed or modified in their essence, others will be adapted in order not only to be inte-
 3

grated to this new reality but also having its features and benefits enhanced. Thus, sys-
tems such as MES, will have to be adapted and enhanced to work together the techno-
logical and innovative pillars of Industry 4.0, and also to leverage their resources and
benefits in order to remain as key components in the processes of these companies.
The continuous development and adaptation of manufacturing computer-based sys-
tems, such as MES, in order to work in harmony with new technologies, even if these
technologies have not been specifically created to be used in manufacturing, can be-
come key factors to avoid the obsolescence and consequent replacement of those sys-
tems.
The main objective of this article is to present succinctly the research that is being
carried out in order to study the strategic role of MES systems in the context of indus-
try 4.0. The study is being carried out based on a literature review related to the two
main themes, MES and Industry 4.0, aiming to verify the feasibility of applying a meta-
analysis study to integrate the results of independent studies in order to com-bine their
results obtained and to relate the conclusions to the proposed theme.

2 MES and the Automation Pyramid

Automation means any computer-based system that replaces human labor and aims
at quick and cost-effective solutions to meet the complex objectives of industries and
services [4]. An automated system contains three basic elements: power to carry out the
process and operate the system, an instruction program to direct the process and a con-
trol system to execute the instructions [5]. With the use of computer-based systems in
manufacturing processes, computers are used not only to diagnose malfunctions but
also to take preventive and corrective actions automatically to restore the efficiency of
the production to the its expected and planned levels. The industrial automation has
many functions which are divided in five different levels [4]. These 5 levels together
are the components of the Industrial Automation Pyramid as shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 1. Levels of Industrial Automation. Source: Authors based on [6]

Each level of automation there has a set of hardware (machines, equipment and
control and measurement devices) and software (specialized systems, databases and
 4

operating systems) which interact within and between the respective levels, requiring
human interaction to a greater or lesser degree, either during the operation of the ma-
chines and during the manipulation and interpretation of the software application data,
as well as during the analysis of the data and decision making.
An Enterprise, since adopting in an effective and integrated way the components
and applications, among them MES, in each of the five levels, could reach a very high
degree of automation and from hence, obtain productivity gains and relevant competi-
tive advantages in comparison to their main direct and indirect competitors, as long as
they also did not achieve a degree of automation and integration similar to theirs. MES,
under this point of view, could be distinguished as a component/application of high
strategic importance in this context, since through its 11 basic functions groups [7] it
would execute not only the activities related to one specific level, it is a component in
a chain which can integrate the different levels of the pyramid.

3 MES Functionalities and Process Models

MES provide the ability to control and monitor manufacturing processes and work
in order to ensure data and product integrity and minimize overall manufacturing costs
[8]. As a production-oriented solution, as previously described, MES work primarily
with Production, Personnel/Resource Management and Quality process groups. In or-
der to that, two features of MES are part of its base: Data Collection and Systems Inte-
gration. Through the data collection, for example, MES is able to capture production
data and make it available to management in real-time and, through interfaces, connect-
ors and data replication, MES is able to integrate and interact with other systems in the
company like ERP, Personnel, and QMS systems on the corporate level and to interact
with machines through industrial protocols on the production management level.
The 11 groups of basic functions of MES system, according to MESA [7] are the
following:
1. Fine planning of workflow: Optimal sequence planning regarding the relevant
basic conditions based on the resources available; 2. Resource management with status
maintenance: Management and monitoring of staff, machines, tools, etc.; 3. Production
unit control: Control of the flow of production units based on orders, batches, etc. and
plan adjustments; 4. Information control: All information relevant to the production
process is made accessible to the staff; 5. Operating data logging: Logging of all pro-
duction-related operating data linked with the production unit; 6. Staff management:
Recording and edition of staff working hours; 7. Quality management: Analyses of
production-related measurement data in real time in order to safeguard product quality
and be able to identify problems and weak points; 8. Process management: Monitoring
of the actual production process, including alarm management functions; 9. Mainte-
nance management: Recording the use of operating material and hours of use in order
to initiate and support periodic and preventive maintenance tasks; 10. Lot traceability:
Recording production-related data across the entire production chain to ensure tracea-
bility; 11. Performance analysis: Real time analysis of the manufactured sizes to down
 5

time, disruptions, piece counters, etc. in order to allow production efficiency assess-
ments and detection of problems.
Over the years, MES concepts and models had been shaping to the new technolo-
gies and processes methodologies employed in the enterprising environment, even
though still retaining their core functionalities. In 2004, the term c-MES (collaborative
MES) was coined in a MESA conference, in this conference MES was presented as an
important instrument for obtaining competitive advantages [1]. In this new concept,
shown in Figure 2, MES is considered as an integration platform within a company,
and is no longer seen as an intermediary between automation and corporate manage-
ment, becoming considered as an information centralizer and distributor.
The adoption of the c-MES model in companies is a strategy that aims to support
and optimize business and the decision-making processes with real-time information,
integrated design, planning, production and delivery, improving their productivity and
consequently maximizing the potential to obtain competitive advantage in comparison
to their competitors [9].

Fig. 2. The function structure of the MESA model [1]

4 Industry 4.0 Pillars

The adoption of new technologies associated to manufacturing processes, whether

for execution, control, analysis and planning of these processes is present, enabling a
greater or lesser degree of industrial automation, aiming at obtaining a competitive ad-
vantage with a focus on costs and/or differentiation. The adoption and effective imple-
mentation of new technologies always accompanied the constant evolution of the in-
dustry and its processes, and technological leaps have provided paradigm shifts and
three historical milestones that have been named as Industrial Revolutions [10].
6

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0, unlike all others is being pre-
dicted before becoming a reality. The previous three industrial revolutions were identi-
fied as occurring only after the implementation of specific technologies, and these im-
plementations were considered as large landmarks with occurrence of large technolog-
ical leaps [2]. The "forecast" of Industry 4.0 therefore allows companies to take specific
actions to implement technologies such as CPS (Cyber-Physical Systems) before it
takes place in a broader and more concrete way. In addition to it, when companies in-
tegrated CPS into their production processes, logistics and services into current indus-
trial practices would take a step towards transforming their factories today into 4.0 In-
dustry factories [11].
The Internet also plays an important role in the new manufacturing processes of
Industry 4.0, manufacturing processes will use the Internet to achieve the integration of
the factory's internal and external networks, the future will be established within an
interactive platform based on the Internet and information technology, increasingly in-
tegrating factors of production scientifically and making manufacturing processes in-
creasingly automated, connected and intellectualized [12]. Industry 4.0 is based on new
technologies which, when effective applied to industrial production/manufacturing pro-
cesses, are able to transform them. The nine technologies which currently are consid-
ered as the pillars of Industry 4.0 are [3]: simulation, augmented reality, autonomous
robots, the industrial “Internet of Things”, cloud computing, cybersecurity, additive
manufacturing, horizontal and vertical system integration, and Big Data and analytics.
MES, whose standardization of its concepts as a system, occurred in the mid-1990s,
therefore, after the Third Industrial Revolution and before the Industry 4.0, could be
characterized/classified not as a technological leap of this fourth revolution, but rather
as a relevant application to be integrated to the new Industry 4.0 pillar technologies,
being part of a transition period between the third and fourth industrial revolution. Thus,
MES systems could still be considered as relevant agents to obtain advantages, both in
relation to the optimization of production costs and for the differentiation of their prod-
ucts in the market, becoming an actor executing an important role in this new context,
not only being classified as a pre-existent system which is a "survivor" from the pre-
Industry 4.0 period, but as an agent that is integrated and required to implement and
catalyze the disruptive changes that are coming with the Industry 4.0.
In this way, both the companies that develop the MES systems and implement the
MES systems and their customers that one’s which implement the MES in their manu-
facturing processes, must be prepared to adapt the functionalities to this new reality,
allowing MES to integrate and use technologies like IoT, Big Data, Cloud Computing,
to optimize their results and increase their strategic importance in a company's manu-
facturing and business processes. The proposed research methodology and problem
analysis described in the next topic of this paper will deal with the role and strategic
importance of MES systems in the context of industry 4.0 as the theme and central
problem to be researched.
 7

5 Meta-Analysis Study

According to the subject and the objectives proposed for this research, as well as
the characteristics of the literature found on the subject matter of the present study, a
meta-analysis study will be adopted based on a review of the literature as a research
methodology to be carried out.
The meta-analysis term was coined by Gene Glass in 1976 to give the meaning of
analysis of the analyzes. According to Glass, meta-analysis is the statistical analysis of
a large collection of analysis results from individual studies with the purpose of inte-
grating conclusions. Glass applied the idea to a set of results from a series of independ-
ent studies that examined the same research questions or similar questions [13], refers
to the process of locating, selecting, evaluating, and combining information relevant to
a research question [14] and is used to improve the understanding, applicability and
generalization of a research comparable with several results, not requiring the original
data [15].
Even considering that MES systems play a key strategic role in the execution, au-
tomation and manufacturing control processes in the pre-Industry 4.0 context, the ad-
aptation and transformation of MES core functionalities and of its technologies would
be necessary to support the companies to implement, in to a greater or lesser extent, the
core technologies of Industry 4.0. In order to adapt and integrate the main functionali-
ties of MES to the core technologies of Industry 4.0, the development and implemen-
tation costs inherent to these changes will have to be justified, by MES suppliers, being
them developers and/or implementers, and as well as the companies that have already
implemented the MES on their manufacturing processes.
In order to make these justifications be considered as necessary and feasible, the
understanding of the role and strategic importance of MES systems in the new context
of Industry 4.0, where new customer needs are presented to the market, making the
competitive environment even more complex by virtue of the high potential impact of
the changes introduced by its technological pillars becomes relevant. The meta-analysis
technique will be used, using data researched from existent literature, aiming to im-
prove understanding of the problem.

5.1 Method and Procedures

The following steps will be adopted in order to execute the review of the literature
and application of the meta-analysis technique:
Definition of the question to be formulated; research in diverse sources of reliable
studies, such as theses and dissertations available in the digital and physical collections
of educational institutions, scientific articles, chapters of scientific books and confer-
ence papers, addressing the formulated issue or related to the main themes, MES and
Industry 4.0; selection of studies and quality evaluation, based on inclusion and exclu-
sion criteria; collection and presentation the data of each study; 5. Evaluation of heter-
ogeneity between studies; calculation and combination of the results of each study;
evaluation of the effect of variation of the study validity; interpretation of the results,
8

with evaluation of how much they can be generalized from the review and meta-analy-
sis, according to the characteristics of the material collected during the research.
The procedures to be applied to the meta-analysis study include the following steps
[16]:
Goal Setting with the determination of the variables to be searched and cause and
effect relationship of variables through an exploratory study; systematization of infor-
mation with the systematization of the set of data obtained from sources of scientific
literature, limitation of bibliographic research in space and development of criteria; data
encoding of the publications included to the database according to the selected sources
and by experimental objective of each publication; data filtering with the selection of
candidate publications for entry into the database according to the objectives of the
work, execution of the critical reading of the publications through analysis and systemic
interpretation of the information contained therein and insertion of publications into the
database; and data analysis including graphics, weights, choice of a statistical model,
post-analytical procedures considering the limits, deviations and degree of heterogene-
ity of the results.

5.2 Literature Review

In order to initiate the literature review with the selection of dissertations, theses
and scientific articles related to the subjects to be studied/analyzed (MES and Indus-try
4.0), a base compound of fifteen to twenty academic research specialized websites 1
were preliminarily evaluated and selected, among them Google Scholar, Scielo, and
Microsoft Academic. Other public databases of thesis and dissertations, etc., will also
be used, serving as a complementary basis for conducting the research and execution
of the review.
The different criteria of each research method and the type and form of results found
in each of them, should also be taken into account, since even when the references
found in each site initially would present different results in terms of number and di-
versity of content , there will be restrictions to be considered, such as the occurrence of
repetition and crossing results. However, the testing phase, with the verification of gen-
eral results with broader search criteria and data exploration is a prerequisite for the
refinement of the data and the creation of inclusion and exclusion criteria, which is
basis to execute the meta-analysis study, extracting additional information from the un-
ion of the results of the several works found, grouping and standardizing them in order
to define the application of the statistical techniques to synthesize the conclusions re-
garding the subject studied.

1 Scielo (http://www.scielo.br), World-WideScience (https://worldwidescience.org); Dialnet

(https://dialnet.unirioja.es);iSEEK Education (http://education.iseek.com); Microsoft Aca-
demic (https://academic.microsoft.com); Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com); Sci-
enceRe-search.com (http://scienceresearch.com/scienceresearch).
 9

6 Preliminary Results and Conclusions

A preliminary research of articles was conducted using Google Scholar search en-
gine, excluding patents. 1,390 results were obtained based on the following search cri-
teria: ("Manufacturing Execution System") AND (“Industry 4.0” OR “Fourth Industrial
Revolution” OR “4th Industrial Revolution”). Those results represent all references (ar-
ticles, books, etc.) where the research terms “Manufacturing Execution System” and
“Industry 4.0” were found anywhere in the reference text.
As the main objective of the work is to study the strategic role of MES in the context
of Industry 4.0, via meta-analysis based on a review of the literature, it was adopted as
an additional search criterion the main functionalities of MES. 11 MES main function-
alities were adopted as additional search terms to find references that contained the term
Industry 4.0. In order to define clear boundaries to delimitate the research, the search
for related publications will be mainly conducted as a structured keyword search [17].
The idea behind this search criteria was to identify in a quantitative manner, if those
functionalities were identified in the Industry 4.0 related references and for each one of
the functionalities, the number of references found. Some functionality names have
been adapted / modified to allow a wider search (e.g. "Operating data logging" was also
searched for "Data logging", etc.) in the first moment. Table 1 summarizes the results
obtained using the search criteria adopted:

# MES Functionality Number of References % of the Total

1 Resource management with status maintenance 4240 28,96%
2 Quality management 2990 20,42%
3 Process management 2600 17,76%
4 Production unit control 1430 9,77%
5 Performance analysis 1430 9,77%
6 Maintenance management 930 6,35%
7 Operating data logging 420 2,87%
8 Information control 321 2,19%
9 Lot traceability 207 1,41%
10 Staff management 57 0,39%
11 Fine planning of workflow 15 0,10%
- Total 14640 100,00%

Table 1. Google Scholar results using MES main functionalities and “Industry 4.0” as search
terms.

The results from Table 1 are not conclusive yet, however they can be used as pri-
mary and potential indicators of which functionalities of MES may be more present in
the new context of Industry 4.0 and may indicate, even indirectly, how the MES is
inserted in this context.
Starting from the preliminary results and indicators shown on Table 1, and after a
search criterion refining, the Literature Review will proceed with the execution of new
searches using Google Scholar and other search engines. The plan is to execute a quan-
titative review using the references selected, categorizing each reference according to
the number of references identified for each MES functionality and adopting different
 10

weights for each reference based on where the functionality term is found in each ref-
erence (e.g. title, abstract, keywords, etc.).
After the selection of the references and the tabulation and classification of the data,
the meta-analysis study will be performed in order to identify the level of influence of
each one of the MES functionalities in the context of Industry 4.0.

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