Using a Flywheel to Build a Composable MES

All the way back in 2020 Gartner published the following statement "the future of business is composable":

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Naturally, many software companies adjusted their marketing material and verbiage to align with this influential voice.

While much can be said of the market for composable/low code/no code/citizen developer tools, this blog post is focused on applying the flywheel concept into a composable MES use case.

For me, the flywheel solidified my understanding of the benefits of composability and gave me a real framework to hang some tasks onto. In short, this was my "oh I get it" moment.

So, let's dive into this flywheel concept!

Use Case Example

First, we will focus on a MES use case for a medical device manufacturing company. This company has multiple factories globally, and their tech stack looks like this:

There is some global standardization at Level 4, but at Levels 0 and 1 there is a large amount of variation between factories. The DHR is synonymous with a batch record and is required for each lot produced.

Global & Local Flywheel

There are two needs in tension as it relates to leveraging a composable MES at local factories while desiring to scale benefits globally:

Global Governance Team

• Enables standardization of best practices

• Maintains a Library of apps that enable faster flywheel cycles

• Ensures Security & Validation standards are upheld

Local Process Experts

• Empowered to use digital tools for their unique challenges

• Engaged with actionable tasks for growth

• Create a pull for digital expansion

How to Build Composable MES Apps

Three examples of how to develop a composable MES system are shown below:

There are challenges that arise for #1 and #2 as you try to scale. App proliferation, lack of control, quality issues, and slow deployment time can all be symptoms of these models.

Let's look deeper at the #3 Flywheel model:

6 Elements of a Flywheel

1. Flow: Activities flow smoothly from one into the next

2. Ease: Each rotation is easier than the last

3. Growth: Each rotation produces more value than the last

4. Focus: There should only be one goal of the flywheel

5. Measurable: Start with 2-3 metrics

6. Cyclical: Global & local review meetings occur at a standard cadence

For our MES example, I have drafted the following flywheel. I've stated a single goal, I've set my cadence of how often I will check in on it, and I've identified my measures:

I then identified 8 steps that would comprise of a single cycle. These are shown in the black boxes:

Local Factory Task List

For each step of the flywheel, I listed out tasks that need to be performed:

Global Governance Gates

To address the global needs of this composable MES implementation, a group is created that performs governance approval gates throughout the flywheel:

Scaling Across Multiple Factories

This is where the value starts to multiply in a well-managed composable system. Apps that must be standardized globally can be managed top down from the governance team, while individual factories that understand their own processes the best can tailor specifc apps to complete their DHR for each product line:

Conclusion

The basics of a flywheel can provide a simple, repeatable process for using composability in a MES application. Identifying what steps are in your flywheel, what tasks are associated with each step, and how you will measure the flywheel itself are key in making one that works in your organization.

Ultimately, this is a PDCA cycle from lean principals but modified into app development context. The spirit of continuous improvement is baked into the cycle as you can learn from each revolution, building on the momentum and lessons learned.

Let's talk about implementing a flywheel in your organization!