What MESA International says an MES has to cover.
Every vendor calls their product an MES. MESA International settled the argument by naming the 11 functions the category has to cover. Below is each one, and how we deliver it on TrakSYS or AquiWeb.
All eleven functions live at ISA-95 Level 3.
All 11 MESA functions live at ISA-95 Level 3 — between the ERP's planning world and the SCADA's machine world. If a function below looks like something you do on paper or in Excel today, that is your MES gap.
New to the levels? Read ISA-95 explained first →
Resource Allocation & Status
Which machine is free, which tool is calibrated, which operator is qualified for the next job. The MES holds that state live.
Operations & Detailed Scheduling
Sequencing at line and shift level, constrained by what the floor can take. The plan arrives from the ERP as a target; this is where it meets capacity.
Dispatching Production Units
The right job goes to the right station in the right order. When a line stops, the queue behind it re-sequences instead of waiting for someone to notice.
Document Control
Serves the current work instruction, recipe or drawing at the point of use, versioned and approved. Executing against superseded paper stops being possible.
Data Collection & Acquisition
Machine signals arrive over OPC UA, operator input arrives from a tablet, and both get stamped and tied to an order and a lot.
Labor Management
Records who ran what, with which qualification. Skills matrices, task assignment and workload all read from that same record.
Quality Management
Checks, CCPs, holds, releases and deviations run inside execution. A failed check holds the batch at the station instead of raising a report later.
Process Management
Compares what's happening against the defined process, flags drift, and enforces sequence and interlocks. Correction happens in the operator's flow.
Maintenance Management
Equipment events trigger maintenance work: run hours, cycle counts, downtime with its reason attached. Your CMMS hears about a problem from the machine rather than from a phone call.
Product Tracking & Genealogy
Builds the family tree of every lot, batch and unit — forward and backward traceability in seconds, across sites.
Performance Analysis
Turns execution events into OEE and a loss tree, attributed at the source. Because every site writes it the same way, two plants can be compared without a reconciliation exercise first.
Nobody deploys eleven functions at once.
Treat MESA-11 as a map of the territory and sequence it. Data collection and document control come first, because everything else reads from them. Execution, quality and genealogy follow. Scheduling, labour and maintenance land last, once the data underneath them is worth trusting.
Our Discovery and Design phases produce that sequence in writing, with a first site live in roughly twelve weeks.
Common questions
about MES.
What is MESA-11?
MESA-11 is the functional model published by MESA International that defines the 11 core capabilities a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) must cover. It is the industry-standard framework for scoping, evaluating, and procuring MES solutions — and for sequencing an MES implementation roadmap.
What are the 11 functions of a Manufacturing Execution System?
The MESA-11 functions are: (1) Resource Allocation & Status, (2) Operations & Detailed Scheduling, (3) Dispatching Production Units, (4) Document Control, (5) Data Collection & Acquisition, (6) Labor Management, (7) Quality Management, (8) Process Management, (9) Maintenance Management, (10) Product Tracking & Genealogy, and (11) Performance Analysis.
How does MES implementation improve OEE?
An MES improves OEE by capturing machine events as they happen instead of reconstructing them at the end of the shift. MESA function 11, Performance Analysis, attributes downtime, speed loss and quality loss to a named cause, so the gap between reported OEE and actual OEE closes.
What is product tracking and genealogy in MES?
Product tracking and genealogy (MESA function 10) records the complete family tree of every lot, batch, or unit — what materials went in, which machines processed it, what quality checks were performed, and what it became. Forward traceability follows a component to the finished product; backward traceability traces a finished product back to raw material inputs. In regulated and food industries, this is a compliance requirement.
Do you need to implement all 11 MESA functions at once?
No. Programs get sequenced by where the losses are. Data collection and document control are usually the foundation everything else depends on. Quality, genealogy and scheduling follow once that data is trustworthy. Our Discovery and Design phases produce the sequence for your operation.