Frost & Sullivan: Rising Competition Among End Users Drives Growth in the European Manufacturing Execution System Market

LONDON, April 20, 2010 - Intense competition amongst all end users is driving the European
Manufacturing Execution System Market (MES). The end users from both process
and discrete industries are going to invest in MES, to boost their
productivity, integrate the global value chain, and enable innovation and the
shift to sustainable production while reducing the time to market and
business risk.

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New analysis from Frost & Sullivan
(www.industrialautomation.frost.com), Strategic Analysis of the
European Manufacturing Execution System Market, finds that the market earned
revenues of US$1,209.4 million in 2009 and estimates this to reach US$2,455.2
million in 2016. The markets covered in this research by end users are:
process industries that include pharmaceuticals and biotech, food and
beverage, oil and gas, chemicals and petrochemicals, pulp and paper and
metals and mining as well as discrete industries that include automotive,
aerospace and defence, semiconductor, electronics, consumer packaged goods
and medical devices.

"With increasing competition among different end users, companies need to
re-evaluate and enhance their product offerings to meet the ever-changing
consumer demands, analyse strategic changes to accelerate their time to
market and improve the profitability of new products," says Frost & Sullivan
Research Analyst Katarzyna Owczarczyk. Ensuring profitability and sustaining
competitive advantage - this is a continuous process, which can only be
achieved by gaining real-time information from business systems and the
production line. Data collection in real time is an integral function of the
MES implementation.

Hindrances to workflow, a technical error or a human error, resulting in
unplanned downtime, negatively influences the balance sheets of companies.
Therefore, operational excellence has become a key sustenance factor for
companies that can be realised by the elimination of waste and acceleration
of time to innovation, contributing to the efficient functioning of the
organisation.

MES can help companies create distinctive manufacturing and supply chain
capabilities that allow them to use their processes, as well as product and
price, to gain a competitive edge. It can also help them sustain that edge by
providing a feedback loop that enables them to sense and respond to business
changes. The shift to MES is gaining momentum, making it a competitive
necessity.

However, one of the key challenges that the manufacturers face is the
requirement to provide solutions that could facilitate seamless interfacing.
Major end users, especially within the discrete industries, have homegrown
systems with minimum MES capabilities that are developed and maintained by
in-house IT staff. When manufacturers build plants at different locations,
replication of these homegrown MES becomes a challenge. Although they may be
functioning within a particular location, they do not comply with specific
standards, making it futile to duplicate them on a global platform. Moreover,
their seamless integration into newer software and automation systems is
often difficult. A change in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) or any
other system completely alters the interface of these homegrown systems,
resulting in higher integration and maintenance costs.

"Most of the legacy software solutions are unable to function in large
and complex manufacturing environments involving higher throughput, quality
and efficiency," explains Owczarczyk. "Moreover, MES are expected to have an
interface to integrate with the legacy systems."

Greater standardisation initiatives from the manufacturing execution
systems association (MESA), instrumentation, systems and automation society
(ISA) and others groups are happening with an aim to discuss MES capability
and functionality in order to remove diversity from the MES space.
Additionally, many MES vendors have started implementing modern technology in
their products. Production processes information from MES is available on the
intranet and Internet.

"The MES market has a tendency towards limiting the number of platforms
and database systems," concludes Owczarczyk. "This enables better integration
between MES and the existing systems and automation products."

If you are interested in more information on this study, please send an
e-mail to Joanna Lewandowska, Corporate Communications, at
joanna.lewandowska@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title,
telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and
country.

Strategic Analysis of the European Manufacturing Execution System Market
is part of the Industrial Automation & Process Control Growth Partnership
Services programme, which also includes research in the following markets:
Strategic Analysis of the Global Manufacturing Execution System Market,
Automation and Control Solutions Market in Eastern Europe, and EMEA
Automation and Control Solution Services Market. All research services
included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry
trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market
participants.

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    Strategic Analysis of the European Manufacturing Execution System Market
                                     M491-10

    Contact:
    Joanna Lewandowska
    Corporate Communications - Europe
    P: +48-22-390-41-46
    E: joanna.lewandowska@frost.com

www.frost.com

Joanna Lewandowska of Frost & Sullivan Corporate Communications - Europe, +48-22-390-41-46, joanna.lewandowska at frost.com