MES Software Market to Grow to US$5.4 Billion in 2031 as Manufacturers Accelerate Digital Automation

Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) might have been around for a while, but recent innovations put their evolutionary path at the intersection of Industry 4.0 and next-generation industrial automation.

MES software is a significant product for manufacturers to bring their factories into the industry 4.0 space. According to analysis by global technology intelligence firm ABI Research, investment in MES software will reach US$5.4 billion in 2031 as manufacturers embrace new and innovative productivity-enhancing solutions.  In particular, the research revealed a growing shift to cloud-based MES software alongside tactics and best practices for integrating and automating the use of production data with the help of modern architecture.

“While some manufacturers remain hesitant to move to cloud-based MES software due to security concerns, the ease of deployment and maintenance, alongside cheaper and transparent costing, will continue to encourage manufacturers to adopt this new structure and usage,” explains James Prestwood, Industrial and Manufacturing Analyst at ABI Research.

The MES market has seen a growing number of new entrants in recent years, with younger companies, such as Apprentice.io and Tulip, bringing new MES offerings to the market. These new entrants are driving major change in the MES market by introducing innovative functionality, such as cloud-native design and tools for citizen developer communities that ease and accelerate application creation to serve not only enterprise-level manufacturers but also SMEs. Similarly, established enterprise software firms, such as Oracle and SAP, are also turning their hand to MES products. These cohorts join large market incumbents such as Siemens, Dassault Systèmes, and Rockwell Automation.

“Whereas MES software was once a large and expensive investment, its delivery through the cloud and availability as SaaS, makes it more accessible to a broader base of manufacturers, including those with lower CAPEX budgets,” Prestwood concludes.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES): Their Future and Place in the Modern Factory application analysis report and Manufacturing Execution Systems market data report. These reports are part of the company’s Industrial and Manufacturing research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights. Based on extensive primary interviews, Application Analysis reports present an in-depth analysis of key market trends and factors for a specific application, which could focus on an individual market or geography. Market Data spreadsheets are composed of deep data, market share analysis, and highly segmented, service-specific forecasts to provide detailed insight into where opportunities lie.