Increase production safety: Integrate competencies with MES
The MES system in a manufacturing company is the central element of a digital factory. It is in MES – the heart of modern production – that data on processes, machines, and people come together. In an environment where any deviation can lead to quality errors, failures, or downtime, controlling access to machines and precisely managing employee permissions is of paramount importance. How can you increase safety when working with machines? And how can MES software combined with automated competency verification help with this?
What is an MES system and why is it the “heart” of modern manufacturing?
The MES system in a production plant is software that monitors, records, and controls the production process in real time. The software collects data from production stations, analyzes it, and provides feedback to devices and employees. The MES system in production allows data to be transferred from the production floor to the business area, thus acting as an intermediary between processes and other enterprise management systems. The most important functions of MES include:
- monitoring and control of production processes,
- tracking the flow of resources,
- scheduling,
- quality control,
- control of machine and employee performance.
Global industry analyses show that the demand for MES software is driven by the growing desire of companies to build smart, highly automated factories. Companies use digital solutions to reduce production time and eliminate many errors – the goal is to optimize costs and achieve the highest possible OEE.
According to a report prepared by Fortune Business Insight, the value of the global MES market in 2024 was estimated at nearly $15 billion, and according to forecasts, it will exceed $41 billion by 2032, maintaining an average annual growth rate of approximately 14%.
What is more, the perception of the role of software is also changing over time. MES in production has evolved towards integration with other digital solutions used in factories. This includes not only control and monitoring systems – i.e., purely operational areas – but also administrative tools that collect data on employees, their qualifications, and authorizations.
Why is traditional production authorization management risky?
The traditional process of verifying competencies, often based on manual lists, managers’ knowledge, or outdated Excel files, is fraught with risk. What are the consequences of accidentally assigning a person who does not have the appropriate competencies to a job?
- Operator errors resulting from lack of experience
- Increased likelihood of breakdowns, quality losses, and downtime
- Non-compliance with health and safety requirements and quality standards
- Allowing employees with outdated training or testing to operate machinery.
However, the financial consequences of delays or errors are just the tip of the iceberg. The most serious risks arise when an employee without valid health and safety training, without confirmed qualifications, or with insufficient competence to operate a given machine is assigned to a position—and suffers an accident at work.
In high-risk areas, the cost of a wrong decision can be much higher than financial loss—it can be the health or even the life of an employee. In such a case, the company must face legal liability: investigations, inspections, and the need to prove who failed to fulfill their duties and allowed the employee to work in a given position. If it turns out that the operator did not have the required competencies, the responsibility falls directly on the company.
In addition, such incidents damage the company’s reputation and can affect its relationships with customers, insurers, and future employees.
How does noSilo integration with MES work?
The integration of noSilo with MES involves combining data on company employee competencies from the noSilo system with production data stored in the MES system. In practice, each machine operation is preceded by an automatic verification of the employee’s permissions. How exactly does it work?
What competencies can noSilo verify?
noSilo competency matrices take into account hard and soft skills, as well as formal requirements that must be met in order for an operator to perform their work legally and safely.
The system checks whether an employee has the appropriate level of skills for a given process and whether they have been trained and verified for a specific position or machine. noSilo also analyzes documentation confirming an employee’s readiness to work, including the validity of position certificates, practical exams, health and safety training, and medical examinations.
If any of these elements expire, the system will immediately detect this and prevent the operator from working at the selected workstation.
What are the key benefits of integrating noSilo with MES?
Research on the integration of MES systems with business and administrative systems, such as ERP, shows that combining production data with data from outside the production hall leads to increased efficiency, better decision-making, cost reduction, and greater process accuracy. A similar mechanism applies to the integration of MES with noSilo, with the difference that this integration focuses on work safety and operator competencies. noSilo provides the MES system with accurate and always up-to-date information about employee skills, as well as the validity of training and qualifications required to operate a specific machine.
The integration of noSilo with MES provides, among other things:
- automatic control of access to machines,
- reduction of errors resulting from incorrect staffing of positions,
- lower risk of breakdowns and accidents,
- assurance that competency data is always up to date,
- compliance with health and safety and audit requirements,
- increased production efficiency and stability,
- higher level of safety in the manufacturing company.
The integration of noSilo with the MES system creates a coherent ecosystem in which each production operation is carried out by employees with proven competencies and current authorizations. Combining production data with competency data allows for automatic control of access to machines, eliminating the risk of errors, non-compliance, and accidents. This approach to personnel and process management effectively increases safety in the production plant.
Bibliography:
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/manufacturing-execution-systems-market-report;
https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/manufacturing-execution-systems-market-110827;
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/387504069_Integration_of_ERP_Systems_with_MES_for_Unified_Operations.
For years, he has been working on how technology can genuinely support people at work—especially in production environments. He develops technologies and content that help companies shorten the onboarding time for new employees, better manage team competencies, and more effectively transfer knowledge.
In his writing, he combines the language of practice with an accessible style, showing that digitalization in factories is not just a trend but brings tangible benefits: lower turnover, higher quality, and greater efficiency. He draws inspiration from everyday conversations with clients and observations from production plants, ensuring that each article is grounded in the real needs and challenges of the industry.
