Architecture
Not a suite of modules. One record, written by all of them.
Most manufacturing software is a set of applications that each keep their own copy of the truth, and an integration project to reconcile them. MESvantage is the other shape: one record per part, and 74 modules that write to it at different moments in that part's life.
That distinction is the whole product, and it is easier to see as a sequence than as a list. Below is what happens to one part, in order, and which part of the system acts at each stage.
Every stage writes to the same record.
Nothing below is re-keyed from one system into another. Each stage adds to a record that already exists, which is why the device history record is complete the moment the lot is ready to ship rather than a fortnight afterwards.
- 01
Work order arrives
Platform
The order, part, revision and routing come from your ERP. Nothing is re-keyed, and the MES does not become a second place where work is defined.
Writes to the record — Order · part · revision · routing
- 02
Operator starts
Training
Before the first operation can begin, the system checks that this operator is trained on this part and this operation, against your QMS.
Writes to the record — Operator identity · training state at start
Blocks: an untrained operator cannot start the work
- 03
Work happens
Production
The electronic traveller runs the operation sequence. Stages lock in order, so step seven cannot be signed before step six. Machine data arrives on its own.
Writes to the record — Each operation · times · machine state · downtime reason
Blocks: a stage cannot be skipped or back-dated
- 04
Features are measured
Metrology
CMM output is parsed and attached to the operation it belongs to, against the tolerances on that part revision — not filed in a folder for someone to find later.
Writes to the record — Measured features · tolerance result · instrument used
- 05
Something is out of tolerance
Quality
A nonconformance is raised against the exact lot and operation that produced it, and the affected material is held. The link back to the measurement is not typed in by hand — it is already there.
Writes to the record — Nonconformance · hold · affected lots
Blocks: held material cannot move to the next operation
- 06
Someone decides
Quality
Use, rework or scrap. The decision carries an electronic signature bound to the record it dispositions, and to the person who made it.
Writes to the record — Disposition · justification · signature
Blocks: no disposition, no release
- 07
The record assembles itself
Quality
The device history record is not written at the end. It has been accumulating since stage one — every operation, measurement, signature and deviation already sits on it.
Writes to the record — The complete DHR
- 08
The lot ships
Quality
Release checks the record is complete. Genealogy can then trace that serial back to raw material, or forward to every product it touched.
Writes to the record — Release · genealogy links
- 09
Someone asks why
Intelligence
Because every stage above wrote to one record, the questions that normally take a week — which cell, which shift, which supplier, how often — are queries rather than investigations.
Writes to the record — Trends · alerts · the answer to the audit question
The amber lines are the ones that matter to an auditor. They are enforced in software, not by procedure — the system will not let the work continue, which is a different claim from a policy saying it should not.
Where each module sits in that sequence.
Each domain lists what feeds it and what it feeds, so any module can be traced back to a stage above rather than read as a standalone feature.
Quality
Owns the record and the decisions made against it.
- Fed by
- Metrology results · Production execution · Training state
- Feeds
- The DHR · customer portals · Intelligence
Modules
- First Article Inspection (FAI)
- First Pass Yield (FPY) tracking
- Statistical Process Control (SPC)
- Device History Record (DHR)
- Incoming Inspection workflow
- Non-Conformance Reports (NCR)
- Corrective Action (CAPA)
- Customer Quality Portal
- Hold & quarantine management
- Quality KPI dashboards
- Out-of-tolerance alerting
- Root-cause analysis tooling
Production
Runs the work and records what actually happened.
- Fed by
- ERP work orders · machine telemetry · Training gate
- Feeds
- Quality records · Metrology triggers · Intelligence
Modules
- OEE — live per machine and fleet
- Production scheduling (closed-loop)
- In-Process Documentation (IPD)
- Standard Times & variance analysis
- Operator graduation & release
- Work order execution tracking
- Setup time tracking
- Downtime root-cause coding
- Shift handover briefings
- Throughput vs. takt time
- Cell load balancing
- Live escalation routing
Metrology
Turns measurement into a record entry, automatically.
- Fed by
- CMM output · part revision tolerances · calibration state
- Feeds
- Quality nonconformances · SPC · the DHR
Modules
- CMM result ingestion (auto)
- Renishaw / Hexagon / Zeiss support
- AI feature-to-tolerance mapping
- Calibration management
- GD&T attribute parsing
- Instrument type classification
- Operator-readable PDF reports
- Drift detection over lots
- Auto-link to part revision
Training
Decides who is allowed to touch the work.
- Fed by
- Your QMS (Qualio) · operator scope by part and operation
- Feeds
- The gate at stage 02 · audit-ready history
Modules
- Training enforcement at WO start
- Trainer/trainee context tracking
- Operator scope by part / op
- Qualio QMS bidirectional sync
- Cert expiry alerts
- Graduation workflow
- Training gap analytics
- Skills matrix by cell
- Re-training trigger rules
- Audit-ready training history
Intelligence
Reads everything above. Changes none of it.
- Fed by
- Every record written by the four domains above
- Feeds
- Dashboards · alerts · drafts a person reviews
Modules
- CEO Intelligence Dashboard
- AI Executive Agent (LLM)
- Energy & sustainability intel
- Machine condition monitoring
- Customer-facing portals
- Ops intelligence stream
- Continuous improvement tracker
- Energy ECM live data
- Anomaly detection (auto)
Platform
The regulated floor everything else stands on.
- Fed by
- Your ERP · your identity provider · your documents
- Feeds
- Every module above
Modules
- Audit trail against 21 CFR Part 11 §11.10
- Electronic signatures against Part 11 Subpart C
- Role-based access control
- Microsoft Entra SSO
- Mobile PWA (install-ready)
- Digital factory floor signage
- Dedicated deployment per customer
- Backups with tested restores — last test date published
- ERP integration (M1/SAP/Plex)
- Power BI bidirectional
- OneDrive document linking
- Infrastructure provisioned from code
This directory names the modules a customer meets in the first year. It is not the complete register — the full list, with a label on each one saying whether it is live in production today, is on the product page, and what we don't have yet is on its own page.
One record. One clock. One audit trail.
Three rules make the sequence above hold together. They are worth asking any MES vendor about, including this one.
- A record is written once, at the moment the work happens — never reconstructed afterwards from someone’s notes.
- Every entry carries who, what and when. Signatures are bound to the specific record they signed, not to a session.
- The intelligence layer reads and drafts. It is barred in software from releasing product, dispositioning parts or closing a quality record.
- Integrations are one-directional where they should be: your ERP defines work, the MES records execution, and neither silently overwrites the other.
- Nothing in the sequence can be skipped by a person in a hurry — the gates are enforced by the system, and refusing work is the point of them.
Next
Bring us the hardest part you make.
Send one drawing and one traveller. We will walk that part through the sequence above using your own data model, and you can judge the fit against something real rather than against a feature list.