MES stands for Manufacturing Execution Systems, term was first used in 1990 to describe a component of the overall information management system of a company. The definition, initially proposed by MESA (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association) International, describes it as the information system that resides in the manufacturing plant or shopfloor and is located between planning systems at the offices and industrial control equipment at the plant.

The goal of a MES system is to provide status and progress information of all activities and resources employed in any part of a manufacturing system, including machines, materials, people and support systems.

MES systems provide vertical integration between levels of management and manufacturing. Contribute to closing the gap between the platform more technically oriented of machines and equipment, and the commercial oriented world of ERP systems and management. MES consist of an integrated and modular solution for managing production, human resources and quality and to provide the flow of information necessary for decision making. Also perform important functions for recording, evaluation and planning of these areas, by providing information to operations managers and production schedulers.

Generic requirements of MES to streamline tasks stand out among others: Interfaces with the most common systems management market corporate ERP, HR management human resources and total quality management TQM. Interfaces with machines, measuring equipment and devices plant. Easy configuration and functional customization. Collection and processing of data in real time. Based on common industry standards solutions. Conception of integrated and modular system.

For more effective implementation MES system requires an extensive range of standard features and configurable capabilities that can be applied both in the Discrete Manufacturing and Process Industries. Adaptability required by configuration, but also the ability to incorporate specific customized functionality for each industry. Since these sectors currently use multiple types of production processes, an MES solution that is industry-independent may be particularly advantageous.