MES system: the line keeps running while operators learn the new screens.
MES software changes how every operator starts a work order, reports production and logs a quality check. Bringing in a new MES system (manufacturing execution system) means retraining every shift, every temp and every new hire, without shutting the line down.
iYour turnStart WO-5531. It’s scheduled at Station 12.!AlmostYou started WO-5530. That one is scheduled at Station 9.✓Well doneRight work order. Now report good parts and scrap.How do you implement MES software without slowing production?
Prepare every shift on the station screen, at three points, without pulling people off the line.
Practice offline
Start a work order, report production, log a quality check: every step rehearsed on a replica.
Guidance on the station screen
The rule pops up when an operator hesitates, on days, nights or weekends.
Track the ramp-up
Screens where people stall, reports that get corrected, shifts that fall behind.
The project connects the machines. Operators are left to work it out on the floor.
An MES project is about modeling routings, building the ERP integration and connecting equipment. Operators get classroom training, usually on first shift, then see the new screen for real on go-live night, with one shift lead covering the whole line.
- Classroom sessions built around first shift, rarely nights or weekends.
- Temps who started after training and learn on the line.
- Bad production reports that throw off inventory and traceability from week one.
- MES super users running from station to station for weeks.
- Exercises on a replica, done before go-live by each shift, on its own schedule.
- On-screen guidance after cutover: in a comparable multi-site PLM rollout, Safran Seats guides 80 processes.
- Shorter training: in that PLM program, off-the-job training went from 5–10 days to 3–6 days.
- Super users freed up: support dropped from 25% to 20% of their time in the same Safran Seats program.
A plant never stops training. Go-live is just the busiest week.
Safran Seats aligns 10 sites with 80 guided processes in its PLM rollout.
OnePLM is a PLM program, not an MES. It changes the technology, aligns practices across 10 sites in 5 countries and redesigns processes. Classroom training stays, and K-NOW takes over inside the screen with messages and checks in both working languages. A multi-site MES go-live faces the same challenge.
3–6 days
of off-the-job training for a frequent user, down from 5–10 days.
+5%
productivity, measured on navigation, search and data entry errors.
A multi-site PLM rollout, same playbook
Less time off the job, and super users back to their day jobs.
Read the success story → Safran Électronique & Défense3DEXPERIENCE3,000engineers and designersOnboarding that keeps up with turnover
In-app guidance in service since 2018, updated as the platform evolves.
Read the success story → MichelinOracle EBSWinner7th Trophée des Trophées, change managementThe same training in every country
K-STUDIO simulations, with no training instance to stand up in each country.
Read the success story →See also:our MES definition (in French)the digital twin (in French)
Three moments, three crews, three ways to lose traceability.
Before go-live, every shift has to rehearse its station steps. On cutover night, a few people validate the open work orders migrated from the legacy system. Then the first crew after cutover has to hold rate on screens they’ve never used in production.
Rehearse station steps
Start a work order, report production, log a quality check, record downtime: everyone replays their own steps on a replica, on their own schedule.
Validate migrated work orders
Open orders, WIP, open lots: a few super users check the migration before the line restarts.
Hold rate
Miss one production report or code one scrap wrong, and inventory and traceability are off for the whole day.
Four steps to get the shop floor ready for MES go-live.
Map the steps at each station
Work order start, production reporting, quality checks, downtime, changeovers: who does what, on which screen.
Rehearse before go-live
K-STUDIO exercises on a replica of the station screen. Related: go-live training.
Guide the first shifts
K-NOW shows the rule on the screen, right when production is reported.
Track the ramp-up
K-VALUE shows where people stall, station by station and shift by shift.
Your MES software is already supported.
Siemens Opcenter, a home-grown MES or a module in your ERP: we apply the same playbook. Here’s how it plays out on each platform.
Before, during and after go-live.
Rehearse without stopping the line.
A replica of the station screen to start, report and inspect, without writing to the production MES.
Explore K-STUDIO→- Cloned screens, sample data
- On PC, tablet or kiosk
- Repeatable for every temp
- Scored exercises
Guide operators at the station.
Walkthroughs and messages shown inside the MES, with no change to the application.
Explore K-NOW→- Contextual step-by-step guidance
- Quality check and scrap rules
- Targeting by line and shift
- Updates without a release
Know when the line is back up to rate.
Metrics by station and by shift to manage the weeks after go-live.
Explore K-VALUE→- Usage screen by screen
- Corrected reports
- Time on task
- Plant-to-plant comparison
MES software implementation: common questions.
What is MES software?
What is the difference between ERP and MES?
How do you train shift workers and temps on MES software?
Do you need a separate MES training environment?
How do you reduce production reporting errors after go-live?
How do you roll out a manufacturing execution system across multiple plants?
How do you measure MES software adoption after go-live?
Pick one station. We’ll show you how a new hire learns it.
A work order start, a production report, a quality check: we start from a real screen in your MES and show you its simulation and its on-screen guidance.