What MES software does, phase by phase
The ERP knows what to produce, the shopfloor knows what is happening: the MES connects the two. It receives orders, BOMs and routings, takes them to shopfloor terminals and collects progress, declared quantities, scrap and times in real time.
The result is an always up-to-date picture of production that doesn't depend on end-of-shift transcription or parallel spreadsheets.