What Is a Manufacturing Execution System (MES)?

A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) helps businesses ensure that their manufacturing operations and production output are working to maximum efficiency. It’s a software system that connects, monitors, and controls machines, work centers, and data flows on the factory floor. The MES does this by tracking and gathering real-time data throughout the production lifecycle and on every piece of equipment involved in the production process—from order to delivery.

An MES provides businesses with data on product tracking and genealogy, performance, traceability, management, work in progress (WIP), and other plant activities throughout the production cycle. This information provides decision makers with detailed insight on how to optimize their operations. In this eBook, we’re going to take a look at:

What Does a Manufacturing Execution System Do?

Manufacturing Execution System Architecture

What are the Benefits of Using a Manufacturing Execution System?

Complete the form to download the What Is a Manufacturing Execution System (MES)? eBook now!

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Realizing Digital Value: Three Opportunity Areas for OEMs

Success as an OEM has always hinged on the ability to design and deploy machines in ways that yield rapid time to value, no matter the challenges that may be involved.

Industry challenges, both perennial and new, are likely here to stay.

What’s different now is the technology landscape and opportunities it presents for OEMs to not only maximize efficiency from within, but also to differentiate themselves and strengthen their position in the marketplace.

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MYTH vs. REALITY

Many organizations that use Microsoft 365 hold a common misconception that Microsoft is responsible for their data protection and that data backup isn’t necessary. While Microsoft is responsible for application uptime and availability, you are responsible for the protection of your data.

To help protect your Microsoft 365 data better, we have come up with a concise eBook. This eBook demystifies the common myths surrounding Microsoft 365, explains how data can be lost in the Microsoft 365 Cloud and ways to ensure your mission-critical data is securely backed up and protected.

The eBook covers:

Busting the common Microsoft 365 myths.

Causes for data loss in Microsoft 365.

How Spanning Backup helps protect your Microsoft 365 data.

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Pentesting Re-defined

Let’s say you find a SQL database directly accessible from the internet. It’s the same story all over. There’s really no reason you should have this sort of system directly on the internet. There are much more secure ways to make this system available.

So why do we want to waste time as a tester to try and hack something we already know is insecure and why does the security manager need to pay more for this effort? The only real value is that you use this information to prove to other managers that this access needs to be shut down. So my argument here is that, once you find something that point blank doesn’t belong on the internet, your efforts as a company should be to put resources towards fixing the problem rather than proving that it’s a problem in the first place. It’s a waste of effort at this point.

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How Often to Perform Pentesting

IT Leadership is beginning to realize that one Pentest a year is not enough. What happens if an engineer makes a configuration mistake exposing your systems environment one week after your Pentest has been completed? You are basically exposed for a whole year if your vulnerability scans do not detect the issue.

Pentesting as a service is currently offered by a number of companies in this automated fashion. It’s only a matter of time before industry leaders start taking advantage of these technologies. Unfortunately, many organizations only implement the tools required for compliance, but those organizations who are serious about data security will gravitate towards these sorts of technologies that make your security program more effective.

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Get More Out of Your Network

Why A Bigger Pipe Alone Doesn’t Lead to Faster File Transfers

More platforms, larger file sizes, tighter deadlines, content globalization and the growing complexity of the media supply chain are causing organizations to modernize their technology stacks and upgrade their networks. On the surface, it may seem that moving large files from one location to another is relatively simple and that a faster pipe is all you need, but it turns out there’s much more to it.

Read this guide to learn:

The differences between bandwidth and throughput,

When to use UDP, when to use TCP and how intelligent file transfer makes decisions on the fly,

How the right software can help with network latency, packet loss and congestion, and

Why Signiant technology helps you get the most of your network.

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7 Must-Haves for Remote Work in M&E

Key Considerations for Accessing Large Media Assets

In 2020, when the pandemic hit, some companies were well prepared to enable a remote workforce, others had to scramble. Remote work is here to stay and a top priority across the industry is shoring up those remote workflows to make sure they are secure and scalable in preparation for whatever comes next.

One lesson that many learned the hard way is that standard tools including Dropbox, Google Drive and WeTransfer, which work well in many industries, lack the technology necessary for most media projects.

Read this guide to learn about seven important considerations you should keep in mind while implementing a permanent, secure and scalable remote working strategy that supports the unique conditions of a distributed workforce in the media industry.

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Cloud I/O for Media Assets

10 Key Learnings from Moving Petabytes to AWS, Azure and Google

Most media companies are not moving all their assets to cloud storage but are looking to the cloud to provide elasticity when there is an unexpected surge in storage needs, for backup and disaster recovery, content aggregation, fan-out distribution and a variety of other workflows.

There are many tools available for moving files to, from and between cloud storage endpoints including those offered by the cloud providers themselves. But in an industry that deals with huge files, complex supply chains and growing security challenges, there are several factors to consider when choosing the right tool for the unique challenges of M&E.

So, where do you start? Right here.

Avoid common mistakes and learn about tools that were designed for the media and entertainment industry.