Potential Pitfalls in an MES Project

1. Scoping

Implementing MES is a major project, and that implies a significant workload for an organization. It is therefore extremely important to clearly define the scope before the project begins. It can be tempting to include all sorts of optimizations during the MES implementation. However, this can cause the project to stray too far from its main objective.

This does not mean that no optimizations can be included at all, but they should be evaluated separately based on their impact on the project and the organization. If it is a minor change, it can be presented to the organization for consideration, after which the optimization can be incorporated into the project. In other cases, for major changes, it may be better to incorporate the optimization into a follow-up project in which further optimizations are implemented within the organization.

Keep in mind that implementing an MES often requires a significant adjustment on the part of employees, especially during the initial implementation. If too many changes are implemented simultaneously, this may lead to resistance.

2. Composition of the Project Team

A project team should, of course, consist of various employees with different backgrounds and job roles. A diverse project team is an asset to the project, as it can provide different perspectives and ideas for improvement. However, if a project team is too large, these differences can also prevent the team from functioning efficiently.

Therefore, the recommendation is to carefully assess the necessary stakeholders and competencies within your core team, taking the workload into account. The project team should be carefully selected, striking a balance between people with a production background, a project background, and so on.

3. Communication

As in any project and any team, communication is one of the most important pillars, and this is no different for an MES project. As previously described, an MES implementation involves various departments within an organization. It is therefore important that the affected departments are involved in the necessary stages of the project; for example, QA should definitely be present during a discussion of changes to the Batch Record Review process, but someone from Engineering likely should not be present.

However, it is possible that such communication is not managed efficiently. For example, QA might be brought in far too late, resulting in numerous changes being required at the last minute at QA’s request, which causes a significant loss of time. Another example is inviting people who should not be involved. Or yet another example: the right department is invited, but not the right people. That is why it is useful to assess for each meeting whose presence is required in order to ensure the most efficient communication.

In addition to communication within the organization, communication within the team is also very important. If there is a lack of communication within the team, it’s possible that two people will be working on the same task, which is a regrettable waste of resources. Furthermore, miscommunication can also be a pitfall; if a team suffers from miscommunication, it can lead to a poor atmosphere, unnecessary arguments, etc., which can have a negative impact on the team’s performance, motivation, and, ultimately, the project. Make sure that miscommunication is identified and addressed in a timely manner so that a team remains a team and does not become a collection of individuals.

4. Leadership & Vision

A clear vision must be developed in advance and must be supported by the leadership team. A strong vision will result in clear guidelines for all stakeholders and will also contribute to the change adoption process.

If guidelines are unclear and keep changing, this will lead to confusion, resulting in differing interpretations within the team. The team will approach tasks in different ways, which will cause delays in completing a given task. It is therefore important that clear guidelines are communicated to all stakeholders so that everyone is on the same page.

5. Insufficient project or process knowledge

As described above, a team should be composed of people with diverse backgrounds and from different departments. If there isn’t a good balance between people with project knowledge and those with process knowledge, this can also cause delays in the project. Just as having too many people with little or no project/process knowledge can slow down the project.

With the right balance, those with project knowledge can support those with process knowledge—and vice versa. In addition, it is not a disadvantage if there are also a few people who have neither of these but have gained other experiences that could be useful for the project. The most important thing is a balanced team whose members complement each other’s experiences rather than work against them.

6. Customization

Regardless of the vendor, MES is typically a standard system that can be customized at the customer’s request. Nevertheless, it must be made very clear that these “customizations” can lead to high maintenance costs, increased validation efforts, and even have a negative impact on future updates (e.g., bug fixes) to the system.

It is therefore recommended to avoid “customizations” as much as possible, or at the very least to conduct a thorough evaluation based on a strong business case.

Conclusion

These pitfalls may apply to any project, not just an MES project. Additionally, while these are potential pitfalls, not every project will encounter them, and there are other pitfalls not described in this blog. A general tip is to address observed pitfalls quickly and not let them linger. A pitfall should not immediately be viewed as something negative. Depending on how the pitfall is addressed, it can make a project and/or team stronger. This way, a project can be completed efficiently and successfully.