Executive Summary
This white paper discusses the MES Consultant selection process, one that often is made difficult when unnecessary limitations are imposed. When searching for qualified MES Consultants, several other critical factors that must also be taken into account to ensure project success.
Introduction
Currently, one of the most popular topics in the manufacturing sector, across virtually all industries, is Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). Executives from pharmaceutical, bio-tech, gas & oil, process and other industries have discussed and studied these systems in one form or another, evaluating whether or not the investment in an MES system is wise, beneficial and/or appropriate for their specific business needs.
Such evaluation discussions can be lengthy and time-consuming, and rightly so, given that an investment in an MES system implementation typically runs into millions of dollars, particularly when integration with new or legacy systems is considered. After the business case has been presented, analyzed and evaluated and the decision has been made by management to proceed with an MES implementation project, evaluating and selecting an MES vendor is the next, extremely important step in the process. Performing a preliminary ‘gap analysis’ between current manufacturing processes and the features and functions of various MES products can help determine the extent of changes that are required (e.g. product customizations or revised SOPs) as well as the level of integration effort that will ultimately be necessary. The significance of this ‘gap’ may be what separates one MES vendor from another and ultimately decides which system is selected.
When pursuing a project of this size and cost, having all the right pieces in place to ensure success is of vital importance. Perhaps the most important of all these pieces is experience – and more often than not, that experience comes in the form of seasoned, qualified MES consultants.
Key to Successful Selection
However, independent of which MES vendor is selected, the most vital factor in ensuring MES project success is the project implementation team. Furthermore, the extent to which this team is leaned upon for direction, development and support (both during and after go-live) could make this decision even more crucial.
Manufacturing customers that don’t have access to a large, internal resource pool for a long-term project must often look outside their company to staff such an effort. That search typically leads them in one of three directions: (1) the Services group of the selected MES vendor, (2) independent MES consultants or (3) a combination of both. For reasons of cost and objectivity, the practical choice in most cases is the combination option (3).
Consultants who are experienced in MES projects can provide invaluable insight, having gone through the entire project life cycle with many other customers and MES vendors. This widespread exposure inherently results in a treasure-trove of ‘lessons learned’ (e.g. you absolutely must do this, avoid doing that at all costs). Knowing where the typical pitfalls lie in the often-times long, winding, bumpy MES project road allows the project to be structured and guided in such a way as to minimize ‘go-live pains’ and maximize the likelihood of overall project success. Additionally, those consulting firms that have had exposure to multiple MES vendors can provide the unique perspective of objectivity, something that, of course, isn’t possible when using an MES vendor’s own Services group.
With all that being said, the question then becomes: How do I find the best MES consultants to lead/supplement my project team and what criteria should be used to decide who gets hired?
The answer to that very fundamental question presents the #1 Project Pitfall to avoid:
When hiring MES contractors, don’t tie your own hands by limiting your choices to only those contractors that have extensive experience with one MES vendor – the one that has been selected for your project.
The ability to apply past lessons-learned when navigating through most MES projects has absolutely no dependency on one MES vendor vs. another. Project-critical issues typically occur in the areas of accurately defining user requirements, getting buy-in from Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and operations personnel, controlling project scope creep, managing the project schedule and ensuring the validation effort is organized and effectively challenges all requirements. Every one of these success factors is completely independent of the MES vendor that has been selected. If your MES consultant search process has narrowed the field of qualified candidates down to two or three who all appear to be similarly qualified, perhaps then vendor-specific experience can potentially be used as a ‘tie-breaker’. But as a cardinal rule, overall MES experience should be the #1 consideration.
MES solutions typically possess the functionality to provide a ‘dock-to-dock’ solution: from purchase order receiving to raw material inventory management, from dispensing to recipe execution and in-process statistical controls, from packaging to shipping. However, for any number of reasons, customers may choose to initially implement a subset of these functions, with the intent of expanding the MES umbrella further down the road, when the schedule and funding permit.
Likewise, experienced and qualified MES consultants can provide all services required as part of an MES project, or just a subset, as required by the customer. In those cases where the scope of hired MES consultants is in a fairly limited role, the extent and value of their knowledge is often discovered as the project progresses and their role expands as the customer is able to lean more heavily on them and their expertise. For this very reason, making the correct selection up-front can reap significant dividends throughout the project life cycle. And, once again, this value being independent of any specific MES vendor provides more than ample justification for not limiting the initial MES consultant search.
Conclusion
MES consulting is still a niche market in which the pool of experienced, qualified consultants is fairly limited. When evaluating the best consulting firm for a specific project, extensive MES project exposure and experience should be considered vastly more important than a firm’s intimate knowledge of a specific MES vendor.
