Smart factories have become a must in the aerospace and defense industries. In a recent Deloitte study, 86 percent of manufacturers think smart factory initiatives will be the main driver of competitiveness within five years.
A key part of this movement will be manufacturing execution systems (MES), defined as an all-inclusive, dynamic software system for managing and tracking data and documents throughout the manufacturing process, from raw materials to final product. MES is a functional layer between enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and a process control system, so the data gathered will be critical for helping manufacturers become more efficient and bolster production.