93% of Manufacturers Have MES, But Only 23% Fully Integrate It

The deployment-integration gap

Manufacturing execution systems are nearly universal in industrial operations, but enterprise-wide integration remains rare. According to a Rockwell Automation report released July 14, 2026, 93% of manufacturers have MES running in at least one facility. Yet only 28% have deployed it enterprise-wide, and just 23% report full integration across ERP, product lifecycle management, quality systems, and operational technology.

The survey drew responses from 1,560 manufacturing and industrial operations decision-makers across 17 countries. The findings, first reported by PR Newswire, reveal a persistent challenge: manufacturers can justify and install MES at the site level, but struggle to connect those systems across the business in ways that unlock their full value.

Why it matters

This integration gap directly undermines two urgent priorities for manufacturers: AI deployment and cybersecurity. Rockwell Automation's broader State of Smart Manufacturing research shows manufacturers expect 42% of processes to be AI-supported within the next year and 54% by 2030. Yet 43% of respondents acknowledge they are not effectively using the data they already collect. Without integrated MES feeding clean, real-time data across production, quality, and supply chain systems, AI investments cannot deliver operational results. At the same time, 46% of manufacturers experienced a cyber incident in the past year, making siloed systems not just an efficiency problem but a security liability.

Integration drives buying decisions—and causes the biggest headaches

The report identifies a telling contradiction. According to the data, 44% of manufacturers rank integration as their top MES buying requirement when evaluating new or replacement systems. Yet 33% name MES as their single biggest data integration problem after purchase. The same factor driving vendor selection becomes the hardest challenge to solve in production.

Security and compliance now rank as the second-highest MES buying requirement, cited by 43% of respondents. For procurement and IT leadership, this creates a direct business case: siloed systems expand the attack surface and create compliance risks that auditors and insurers will increasingly scrutinize.

IDC associate research director Lorenzo Veronesi, quoted in the report, described the stakes plainly: organizations that leave disconnected systems and underutilized data unaddressed risk leaving significant value on the table.

A concrete example of incremental scaling

Kumi North America, a Tier 1 automotive supplier specializing in injection-molded interior plastics, offers a case study in enterprise MES expansion. The company first implemented Rockwell Automation's Plex platform in 2008 and has since expanded across facilities in the United States and Canada, most recently adding Plex MES Automation and Orchestration capabilities.

Paul Andrews, assistant vice president of systems at Kumi North America, described the starting point as operations that struggled to synchronize, with some locations running no software at all. The Plex infrastructure has since scaled alongside the business, with new capabilities layered in as needs evolved.

Anthony Murphy, vice president of product management at Rockwell Automation, noted that manufacturers succeeding with MES are not necessarily doing more than their peers—they are doing more things in a connected, unified way.

The full "Scaling MES Across the Enterprise" report, including recommended steps for closing the deployment-to-integration gap, is available directly from Rockwell Automation. The findings were first reported by PR Newswire and covered by Manufacturing Dive.