Building and deploying a bilingual MES that connected a changing NPI operation with a mass-production floor in another country.
The operation combined new-product introduction in Texas with mass production in Mexico. Spreadsheets, shared drives, and informal handoffs connected the two floors, while the NPI process continued to change.
I built the business case for an in-house MES and led its delivery across both plants, working with Engineering, Operations, Quality, IT, and Supply Chain. The leadership challenge included deciding what to own, earning operator adoption, and releasing changes without disrupting the other plant.
The tradeoffThe commercial options we evaluated involved license and integration costs, with a change-request process between our engineers and process improvements.
My responseBuilt the business case for developing the MES in-house, secured approval, and owned scope, schedule, and delivery with the cross-functional team.
What supported the decisionThe NPI line changed weekly, and process-system changes could deploy in days.
The tradeoffA shared system still has to work for operators on both floors. Language support could not be deferred until after launch.
My responseReleased English and Spanish screens together, enforced through the release process.
What supported the decisionThe system served both production plants with the same workflow coverage and a shared database.
The tradeoffTwo live sites on one database make deployment a manufacturing-continuity problem as well as a software task.
My responseUsed backward-compatible schema changes and retained historical records when retiring inputs.
What supported the decisionExisting production records remained readable while the system evolved.
The system covered the production flow, from work orders through execution and genealogy. Explore the operating responsibilities below; this is a conceptual view of the system’s scope, not a screenshot of proprietary software.
↳ Controlled changes return to station execution.
Production orders and line release connect to ERP. Completions and inventory updates connect the production record back to the business system.
Order → MES → completion / inventory
EVIDENCEOrder identity and release context
English and Spanish execution, controlled documents, and labels support operators at both plants. Bilingual readiness was treated as a launch gate.
Released order → operator workflow
EVIDENCEUnit, station, and process context
Measurements from test, inspection, and process equipment are tagged with part, station, and recipe so they can support traceability and investigation.
Equipment → contextual production record
EVIDENCEMeasurement + part + station + recipe
Serial genealogy and timestamped production and quality records connect the two plants. Historical records remain readable as the system evolves.
Execution + measurements → genealogy
EVIDENCEUnit history across production and quality
SPC reaction plans and quality records support investigation and response. A signal initiates engineering action; this diagram does not imply automatic process adjustment.
Production record → investigation → response
EVIDENCESignal, evidence, and investigation context
Findings inform process improvements. Controlled documents, bilingual releases, and backward-compatible data changes support continued operation at both plants.
Engineering decision → controlled station release
EVIDENCEUpdated method and retained historical evidence
Conceptual information flow based on the case study; not a network topology, live integration, or proprietary system screen.
Adoption came station by station: replacing disliked paperwork and letting operators see their own data before asking them to trust more automation.
Quality investigations depended on finding and connecting spreadsheets, shared files, and local knowledge.
Serial genealogy linked production and quality records across both plants, with timestamped evidence for customer and audit questions.
The result was a production system running across two plants, with bilingual execution, ERP integration, direct measurement capture, and traceable unit histories. Process changes could deploy in days.