Manufacturing Execution System

ERP and MES — in the same platform

ProdSys gives SMB manufacturers the shop floor control of a Manufacturing Execution System, the planning depth of MRP, and the financial visibility of a full ERP — without integrating three separate products.

Book a demo → What is MES?
The short definition

What a Manufacturing Execution System actually does

A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) sits between your planning systems and your shop floor. It executes the production orders, captures what actually happens, and feeds reality back up to ERP and management. The classic ISA-95 model places MES as Level 3 — between business planning (Level 4) and physical equipment (Level 1–2).

In practice, an MES answers four questions
  • What should we be making right now? Work order dispatch, sequencing, priorities.
  • What's actually happening on the floor? Station progress, operator activity, machine status, deviations.
  • Did it meet spec? Quality checks, in-process inspections, certificates, traceability.
  • What did it cost? Actual hours, actual materials, actual yield — fed back into post-calculation.
Why integrated matters

Most SMBs don't need a separate MES

The traditional setup — ERP for planning, MES for execution, integration middleware between them — was designed for large enterprises with dedicated IT teams. For a 30-person machine shop or a 120-person component manufacturer, it's expensive, fragile, and slow. ProdSys collapses ERP and MES into one platform with one database and one user interface.

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The traditional ERP + MES stack
Two vendors. Two contracts. Two implementation projects. Custom integration middleware to keep BOMs, work orders, inventory, and time entries in sync. Latency between systems means production data lags hours behind reality, and reconciliation work eats engineering time every month.
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ProdSys: ERP and MES in one
A single database. A station terminal that updates the same work order the planner created and the accountant invoices. No integration layer, no sync errors, no "which system has the right number?" Real-time means real-time — work order status changes the moment an operator clocks in.
MES capabilities

What ProdSys MES delivers

The MES functions that matter for SMB manufacturers — implemented as part of the core platform, not as a separate add-on.

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Work order dispatch & sequencing
Production orders flow from MRP into the shop floor. Each order carries its BOM, routing, operations, drawings, and customer-specific instructions. Operators see what to work on next, in priority order, on a station terminal.
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Real-time station progress
Operators clock in and out of operations from a touchscreen terminal, tablet, or phone. Hours, completed quantities, scrap, and deviations register against the exact work order line — automatically. Production status updates the moment something happens.
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Full batch & serial traceability
Every component, batch, and operation is logged. Trace forward: which finished goods used this raw material lot? Trace back: what's the complete production history of serial number X? Audit-ready by design, not bolted on.
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Multi-level BOM & MRP
Multi-level Bill of Materials with revision history, where-used analysis, and substitute materials. MRP runs against actual demand, current inventory, lead times, and supplier agreements — generating purchase suggestions automatically.
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Capacity & OEE tracking
Station capacity is configurable per day. Planned vs. actual loading is visible on every Gantt view. Availability, performance, and quality data flows into Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) calculations — see which stations are bottlenecks before delivery dates slip.
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In-process quality & certificates
Inspection forms, control plans, and quality gates attached to operations. Certificates per delivered batch. ISO 9001-aligned documentation. Deviations route through a configurable approval flow — non-conformances don't disappear into spreadsheets.
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Drawings & revision control
CAD drawings (DWG, DXF, 3D), work instructions, and customer specifications are versioned and linked to operations. Operators see the current revision on their terminal — no outdated drawings on the shop floor.
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Live post-calculation
Hours, materials, sub-contractor costs, and contribution margin update on every order as work progresses. You see whether a job is profitable the day it finishes — not three weeks later when someone reconciles timesheets manually.
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Integration-ready
REST API and webhooks for connecting to PLCs, CNCs, scanners, label printers, and IoT sensors via integration partners. Same full API the product itself uses — no separate "MES integration tier" with reduced access.
From plan to shop floor to invoice

How the data flows in one system

The same production order moves through every stage. No syncing, no reconciliation — every department reads from the same record.

ERP LAYER Customer order · Quote · Calculation · BOM · Routing · Delivery date PLANNING LAYER (MRP) Work order generated · Capacity check · Material reservation · Purchase suggestions MES LAYER (SHOP FLOOR) Operator clock-in · Station progress · Material consumption · Quality checks · Deviations Real actuals feed back to ERP in real time
Why this matters

In a separate ERP + MES setup, the feedback arrow at the bottom is the source of every reconciliation problem you've ever had. Actuals lag plans, BOMs drift, post-calculation can't be trusted. When ERP and MES share one database, that arrow is instant — and post-calculation is accurate the same shift the work happens.

Honest take

When ProdSys MES is the right fit — and when it isn't

A strong fit if…
  • You make physical products with real BOMs and routings
  • You have 10–250 employees and don't want a partner-led 12-month rollout
  • Operators register time and material consumption at stations or on mobile
  • Traceability, certificates, and ISO 9001 alignment matter to your customers
  • You want one platform for finance, sales, inventory, production, projects, and HR
  • You want post-calculation that actually reflects reality
Probably not the right fit if…
  • You need deep direct PLC/CNC machine integration as a core feature (we work with integration partners for this; we don't ship it natively)
  • You're an automotive or aerospace tier-1 needing IATF 16949-specific MES workflows out of the box
  • You're a pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturer requiring 21 CFR Part 11 electronic signatures as a packaged feature
  • You're a process manufacturer (chemicals, food & beverage) where batch recipe management is the central problem
  • You already have a working ISA-95 stack you don't want to replace
Built on offshore principles

Why our MES looks the way it does

Before ProdSys was founded in 2005, our founder built ERP and execution systems for subcontractors to the Norwegian oil and gas industry — companies manufacturing modules and components for offshore platforms. That environment is unforgiving: thousands of components per module, certificates per weld, multi-tier subcontractors, and audits that can shut down a delivery.

Those principles shaped how we built MES:

  • Traceability is not optional. Every component, batch, and operation leaves a trail — automatically, not as a feature you have to remember to enable.
  • If it isn't recorded, it didn't happen. Every action — clock-in, deviation, approval — is logged with user, timestamp, and reason. Tamper-resistant by design.
  • The system has to work when nobody is watching. Offshore taught us that uptime matters more than features. The MES has to keep running when conditions are bad.
  • Audits are normal, not special. Tax authorities, certification bodies, customers asking about a shipment from three years ago — the system answers all of them from the same audit trail.

See ProdSys MES on your shop floor

30 minutes, tailored to your business. We show you the flow with your operations, your BOM structure, your terminals.

Book a demo → Manufacturing overview