Most Manufacturers Deploy MES But Struggle to Scale Enterprise-Wide

Manufacturing execution systems have become nearly universal in industrial operations, but a new survey reveals that adoption doesn't equal success. While 93% of manufacturers now run MES in at least one facility, only 23% have achieved full integration across their enterprise systems, according to research released by Rockwell Automation.

The findings, drawn from 1,560 manufacturing and operations decision-makers across 17 countries, highlight a maturity gap that's limiting the return on MES investments already made. The challenge isn't getting started—it's scaling effectively across multiple sites and connecting disparate systems.

The integration bottleneck

Integration emerged as both the highest priority and the biggest obstacle in the research. Forty-four percent of manufacturers rank integration as their top MES buying requirement, while 33% cite it as their leading data integration problem during modernization efforts.

Only 28% of manufacturers have deployed MES enterprise-wide, and the struggle to connect systems is leaving significant capability on the table. Manufacturing execution systems need to communicate with ERP, product lifecycle management platforms, quality systems, and operational technology infrastructure to deliver their full value.

AI readiness lags ambition

Manufacturers are betting heavily on artificial intelligence, expecting 42% of processes to be AI-supported within the next year and 54% by 2030. But the foundation for those ambitions remains shaky: 43% of respondents acknowledge they're not effectively using the data they collect—the essential fuel AI systems require.

This disconnect between AI expectations and data readiness represents a critical vulnerability as manufacturers race to adopt intelligent automation.

Security becomes a buying requirement

Cyber incidents affected 46% of manufacturers in the past year, pushing security and compliance to the second-highest MES buying requirement at 43% of respondents. The operational technology environment, once isolated from digital threats, now demands the same security rigor as enterprise IT systems.

Why it matters

The research reveals that manufacturers have moved past the adoption phase into a more difficult scaling challenge that will determine competitive advantage. Companies that can't integrate MES across facilities and connect it to enterprise systems will struggle to leverage AI, maintain security, and extract value from existing investments. The gap between leaders and laggards is widening based on integration capability, not technology ownership.

"MES adoption is no longer the hurdle, but enterprise scale is," said Anthony Murphy, vice president of product management at Rockwell Automation. "Manufacturers may have checked the box by making initial investments in MES technology, but many struggle to gain full value across the enterprise."

Kumi North America, a Tier 1 automotive supplier, represents the successful path. The company deployed Plex MES in 2008 and has since expanded it across U.S. and Canadian facilities, most recently adding MES Automation & Orchestration capabilities.

"Before Plex, our operations struggled to synch and some locations didn't have any software," said Paul Andrews, assistant vice president of systems at Kumi North America.

The full report, titled "Scaling MES Across the Enterprise," was first reported by Rockwell Automation and includes detailed recommendations for addressing the deployment-to-scale gap. More than half of survey respondents work at organizations with over $1 billion in annual revenue, and 54% are primary decision-makers.