Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1534953
another, the factory is full of sensors. But all the process equipment will have the latest available interfaces for high automation. In the rare instances of no interfaces available, you can initi- ate your first MES phase or project with what you have at the moment. At a minimum, you need to know what you have, and that certainly includes any available IoT sensor that may make sense to integrate. Sometimes, there's a perception that you're not ready because you don't have all the interfaces and sensors in place, but that sounds like a partial misconception, at least. You need to understand what inter- faces you have in your machines and in your factory. An organization must also understand that any MES sys- tem it installs must be scalable. So, if today you can connect to five or six machines, maybe tomorrow, with sub- sequent investments and/or a connec- tivity roadmap, you will be able to con- nect the sensors planned for two years from now. The connectivity must keep pace with that of the organization. So, you have to be clear on what an organi- zation is willing to do and incorporate that into an initial introduction of MES, maybe in a more simplified way. This reflection and projection pro- cess is important because it helps the organization better understand the value of MES: What is the value of MES for me today, and what will the value be for where we want to go in the future? Do I really need to invest in all those sensors for every single movement of the machine, or is what I currently have sufficient from the standpoint of trace- ability and collection control? This also helps the organizations begin to see where they do not have adequate vis- ibility and monitoring. It allows for a roadmap and evolution of MES. Why is the need for MES more critical than ever before? Because MES allows you to see every- thing happening physically on the floor in a virtual system. This is becom- ing increasingly important because without that process, material, and machine information, you cannot make informed decisions, and you do not have the data to support you. Thirty years ago, when MES became a lit- tle more popular, it was just a tracking and traceability system. Today it has achieved a much higher level of impor- tance and relevance because MES is capturing machine data, people data, and process data. Are you just describing the foundation for the digital twin? Yes, and some MES also provide a kind of a digital twin approach because they know the machines, the capabilities, capacity, qualifications, and the peo- ple, as well as inventory. It's a holistic view of the manufacturing processes and manufacturing behavior at a given point in time.