Manufacturing IT Association Sponsors Industry-Wide Performance Survey

In theory, well-running manufacturing plants should mean more successful business enterprises, but quantifying that relationship, and actually correlating operational and business performance, are not easily done. To address this question, MESA International (Chandler, AZ), together with a business-IT consulting firm, Cambashi (Cummaquid, MA) have sponsored an opt-in survey that wound up during September. Preliminary results will be unveiled at the MESA Europe Plant-to-Enterprise Conference (Utrecht, the Netherlands, Oct. 27-28), and then a final report issued in January. Respondents have an incentive to join in the survey; non-MESA members have a chance to win a free membership in the industry organization.

The survey asks questions about types of software (such as manufacturing execution systems, or MESs, and enterprise systems), and then performance measurements relative to product life cycle, quality, regulatory compliance and supply chain management.

“MESA is concerned with how performance KPIs translate to continuous improvement and how production impacts the company’s success. Most industrial companies have a huge challenge to transform KPIs into actionable intelligence that improves business performance, and with this study, we aim to deliver not only data, but insights into good practices, and how to get a return on plant investments,” according to MESA Metrics Working Group co-Chairman Steven Kaplan of Murata Power Solutions.

Sponsors of the study include MES vendors GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, Rockwell Automation, Invensys Operations Management and Siemens; a “supporting” sponsor is SAP