MES SOFTWARE SUPPLIERS
OVERALL: 84.3 | INNOVATION: 86.0 | IMPLEMENTATION: 82.5 | RANK: 1
1
OVERALL: 84.3 | INNOVATION: 86.0 | IMPLEMENTATION: 82.5 | RANK: 1
PLEX SYSTEMS INNOVATION VERSUS IMPLEMENTATION FOCUS
MES SOFTWARE SUPPLIERS
INNOVATION
IMPLEMENTATION
Emerson
Rockwell Automation
Oracle
Critical Manufacturing
Parsec
Dassault Systèmes
GE Digital
Apprentice.io
Tulip
Siemens
Plex Systems
Aegis Software
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
INTRODUCTION
Acquired in late 2021 by Rockwell Automation, Plex Systems delivers its cloud-based SaaS MES product to more than 700 customers at over 2,400 site in more than 40 counti es. The solution is a multi-tenant SaaS offering with a cloud native design that is built for the factory of the Industry 4.0 age. The Out-of-the-Box (OOTB) software is offered to all manufacturing verticals and modes of manufacturing, but has particularly been adopted in the metals, automotive, and food & beverage markets. Plex’s complementary MES Automation and Orchestration low/no-code toolset allows for additional process automation, removing many error-prone and time-consuming manual processes, and with a library of templates available to speed these enhancements.
MES SOFTWARE SUPPLIERS
3
INNOVATION
INNOVATION SCORE: 86.0
Plex Systems offers an easy to deploy MES that requires no customization, being able to be quickly configured for use without the need of programmers and outside consultants. A Plex MES can be accessed through any web browser, on any device, making it easy to access. Due to the SaaS nature of the MES, all customers share a common code base, separated by customer tenants, so new features are delivered through an opt-in and continuous innovation model, which eliminates the need to upgrade software or hardware throughout the solution’s lifecycle, making maintenance of the MES incredibly easy. Customers do not need to add licenses, servers, or any further capital costs to access the features provided through this model. The software is deployed as a single instance, multitenant platform, ensuring that all users are running the same version, ensuring continuity and compatibility enterprise wide. While being provided solely as a cloud solution, the Plex MES maintains an impressive uptime of 99.995%. For high-speed/low-latency requirements, Plex does offer edge components for collecting machine data. Plex Systems’ offering spans both discrete and process industries, so it allows for both production processes to be managed within the same software. This a useful feature for manufacturers like those in the food & beverage industry, which have mixed process production lines, different plants producing different products, or multiple business units under the same corporate umbrella. Furthermore, the company provides an unlimited user model, including access for customers and suppliers, which promotes high user adoption and engagement within a customer’s plants, thus creating broad enterprise value and eliminating the need for managing traditional licensing. This enterprise-wide adoption process is further supported by an easy-to-understand interface, allowing for rapid employee onboarding. The mobile application of the software provides tailored mobile experiences focused on plant floor user tasks, such as inventory movement. The solution offers a fast Return on Investment (ROI), with customers reporting seeing a return in as few as 90 days, a faster than average time compared to other market deployments. This ROI, however, is not guaranteed, and is subject to the complexity of a manufacturer’s operations. The MES is purpose-built for the shop floor, and due to the lack of need for customization, can immediately govern operations from day one, allowing for such a quick increase in efficiency. The software supports the visualization of plants and enterprise operations, with the VisionPlex feature allowing customers to create MES screens to display or update data. Furthermore the MES has built-in analytics functionality, designed not only to support floor operations, but also business analysts and C-suite in the form of IntelliPlex Manufacturing Analytics. Finally, the solution is priced relative to the percentage of plant revenue. This, combined with the unlimited user model, means that the pricing of the solution is directly tied to the effectiveness it provides the customer, ensuring investment outcomes.
MES SOFTWARE SUPPLIERS
4
2
IMPLEMENTATION
IMPLEMENTATION SCORE: 82.5
Plex Systems is able to deploy its solution globally across all manufacturing verticals, and its recent acquisition by Rockwell Automation helped Plex further expand its deployment reach. The built-in IntelliPlex Analytic Applications provides more than 1,000 pre-configured Key Performance Indicator (KPI) templates to use, alongside standard plant OOTB templates for plants that are easily tailored for customers. Furthermore, manufacturers can design their own configuration and reporting templates, and then easily deploy the corporate templates to subsequent plant rollouts, increasing efficiency and ROI, while also increasing compliance, and reducing overhead. This all serves to allow Plex Systems to offer rapid deployment and, depending on the complexity of the plant and production line, the company can have customers up and running in less than 3 months.
Plex Systems’ MES offering is part of a modular portfolio, where customers can start with quality management and then scale to MES, or with a base set of MES with modular additions that add functionality. Customers can also scale all the way to full ERP, all in the same code line, without requiring reimplementation. Customers using both Plex MES and ERP are provided with a strong native integration between the two systems. However, the MES can also fully integrate with ERP systems from other providers, such as SAP and Oracle, to accommodate customers that already have an ERP in place. Machine connectivity is also supported and enabled through open APIs that allow customers to extend to plant floor equipment and incumbent solutions or through an in-house Plex edge capability that enables this connection.
The software supports customers’ needs to meet extensive regulatory and compliance requirements across a range of manufacturing verticals. This includes support for the ISO 9001 quality standard, International Automotive Task Force (IATF)-16949 requirements for the automotive sector, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HAACP) to manage risks of contamination in food & beverage manufacturing, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) requirements.
MES SOFTWARE SUPPLIERS
2
5
CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGY
VENDOR MATRIX
Methodology: After individual scores are established for innovation and implementation, an overall company score is established using the Root Mean Square (RMS) method:
The resulting overall scores are then ranked and used for percentile comparisons.
The RMS method, in comparison with a straight summation or average of individual innovation and implementation values, rewards companies for standout performances.
For example, using this method, a company with an innovation score of nine and an implementation score of one would score considerably higher than a company with a score of five in both areas, despite the mean score being the same. ABI Research believes that this is appropriate as the goal of these matrices is to highlight those companies that stand out from the others.
RANKING CRITERIA
Leader : A company that receives a score of 75 or above for their overall ranking
Mainstream : A company that receives scores between 60 and 75 for their overall ranking
Follower : A company that receives a score of 60 or below for their overall ranking
Innovation Leader : A company that receives a score of 75 or above for their innovation ranking.
Implementation Leader : A company that receives a score of 75 or above for their implementation ranking.
INNOVATION CRITERIA
ProductCapabilities: What unique features does the MES offer? How does the software provide manufacturers with increases in Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and cost savings?
Accessibility: Is the MES available over the cloud or is it cloud native? Can the software be offered as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)? Is there collaboration across plants and a centralized data source? Can an MES be remotely leveraged across sites?
UserExperience: Does the MES have low/no-code functionality? Does it provide visualization processes?
ContributestoProvidingtheClientwithaComprehensiveDigitalThread: Does the solution provide the capabilities to share product information across the organization, i.e., best practices? Is there extensive ecosystem support? Are Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), etc. provided in-house or partnered with another company?
Guarantees: Does the company offer a value delivery pricing structure to guarantee value derived from investment?
IMPLEMENTATION CRITERIA
Bookings and Customer Base: Number of worldwide installations, number of discrete customers, and demonstration of a growing customer base.
Geographical Coverage: Is the software able to be deployed globally? Does the company’s software see strong market permeation in large manufacturing regions?
Time to Implement: How much functionality and value can customers get out of the box? How long does the solution take to implement? How does the software support growing customer operations?
IT Integration: Does the MES have good interoperability with other enterprise software? Are Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) available so that IT teams can introduce the software at scale?
Regulation and Compliance: Does the solution effectively support customer regulation and compliance needs?
Vertical Market Expertise: What verticals does the MES serve? Is the MES designed to serve a particular vertical? How is the MES product adapted to serve a given manufacturing market?
Partnerships: Does the company work extensively with system integrators and market partners?
Published September 2022
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