On-Premises MES Vs. Cloud-Based MES: What is the Difference?

The competition in the manufacturing industry is getting fiercer and fiercer. That is why every possible means is explored to lower production costs and improve margins to ensure product viability in the market. This is where an MES can prove to be extremely useful. MES stands for Manufacturing Execution System. It refers to a centralized system that connects and monitors machinery and workstations on the production site. An effective MES streamlines the operations and brings higher production efficiency.

MES can be further divided into two categories: the on-premises MES and the cloud-based MES. Each offers its unique features, making them suitable for use under different scenarios.

The on-premises MES focuses on greater integration and control over the system to deliver a highly personalized user experience that meets the manufacturing firm’s detailed requirements. For that purpose, all the necessary infrastructure needed for establishing an MES is placed on a location owned by the manufacturing firm. This improves control over equipment and encounters relatively fewer security threats as well.

The cloud-based MES opts for greater agility and flexibility at the cost of lesser control. The cloud-based MES utilizes third-party cloud computing services for providing the necessary resources for MES. This allows the manufacturing firm to focus on their core competencies since the maintenance of the system is often done by the cloud computing service provider.

Among all the different features, the fundamental differences between the two lie in the deployment of infrastructure. The on-premises MES sets the necessary equipment and devices on the operation site, while the cloud-based MES installs supporting equipment on site but runs the data as well as gives commands off site from the cloud.

Both kinds of MESs have their own benefits, but cloud-based MES holds an edge over the on-premises MES. This can be attributed to the fact that cloud-based services are improving and evolving rapidly by integrating other relevant technologies like IoT. Some of the edges which cloud-based MES holds compared with on-premises MES are listed below:

• All employees have greater accessibility to the system, leading to greater utilization of the MES.
• Cloud-based MES has lower costs since you can expand or cut down the use of computing resources, and there is no large investment needed to deploy the infrastructure. At the same time, the deployment of on-premises MES requires a lot of investment from the business, and the performance is not improved even though more investment is made.
• Cloud-based MES provides more scalable, faster and easier system configuration.
• Enterprise IT resources can be saved and utilized for other important tasks since the cloud service provider manages MES maintenance and updates.
• Data is updated in real-time, so decision-making improves as more up-to-date information is available.

Despite the benefits of a cloud-based MES, there are cases in which one may need to opt for an on-premises system. That is why it is important to know what to consider when choosing between cloud-based MES and on-premises MES.

1. Accessibility – If the enterprise hopes to have greater accessibility and transparency in operation data, cloud-based MES is the better option since internet connectivity makes it easier to access the system. However, if, due to data sensitivity and confidentiality, the access needs to be restricted, an on-premises MES will be more useful.
2. Security – Generally, on-premises MES is considered more secure since an enterprise firewall can protect the information. Meanwhile, cloud service providers have evolved and improved their security. On-premises MES requires security experts to handle the safety issues, while for cloud-based MES, security will be handled by the service provider.
3. Cost Estimation – The budget is always a key consideration for any business decision. The on-premises MES requires large capital investment to deploy the necessary infrastructure, while the cloud-based MES can be treated as a service for which one just needs to pay for necessary components only.
4. Scalability and Flexibility – With on-premises MES, scaling can be a daunting task since it requires sizeable investment and transition time. This is not the case with cloud-based MES since it is handled by the service provider who can scale up or scale down the offered services almost seamlessly. Besides, on-premises MES needs IT professionals to conduct scheduled maintenance and periodic updates, but cloud-based MES can obtain updated versions from the cloud – the flexibility of cloud-based MES is easy to be justified.

The future of MES appears to be cloud-based MES. One of the leading service providers in this domain is ROOTCLOUD. ROOTCLOUD‘s solutions cover a wide range of industries such as construction, textile, and logistics, while it provides reliable services across over 60 countries and regions. ROOTCLOUD is an ideal candidate for any manufacturing firm looking for services to deploy a cloud-based MES.