ERP - MES Integration Approach

A Clear Separation of Responsibilities

When integrating ERP and MES, Workfloor follows a simple and proven principle:
treat the MES as a black box with a limited, well-defined set of integration points.
This approach minimizes complexity, reduces coupling between systems, and makes integrations easier to maintain and evolve over time.
In this example, we describe a typical integration between EZ-MES and Microsoft Business Central (BC), using EZ-BRM as the integration layer.

The Role of EZ-BRM

Data Flow from ERP to MES

Using Business Central as an example, the ERP system is responsible for defining and owning the commercial and financial master data. Through EZ-BRM APIs, Business Central can provide the following information to EZ-MES:

• Part Definitions (Item Masters)
  Definitions for incoming materials, raw inventory, and finished goods.
• Production Orders
  Sent to MES as Work Orders, triggering production flows for Raw Material Inventory (RMI) or Finished Goods Inventory (FGI).
• Material Receipts
  When ordered materials are received in ERP, corresponding inventory items are created in MES based on the part definitions.

In this model, Business Central remains the system of record for part definitions, BOMs, and production orders.

Execution Feedback from MES to ERP

While ERP plans and finances production, MES executes it. EZ-MES provides real-time and historical execution data back to ERP through EZ-BRM APIs.
This includes:

• Completion Notifications
  MES notifies ERP when items on a Work Order are finished.
  ERP can request updates at any time, or receive them on a scheduled basis (for example, daily).
• Estimated Completion Information
  Progress updates and estimated completion per item on a Work Order.
• Completion Notifications
  MES notifies ERP when items on a Work Order are finished.

Once completion is reported, Business Central performs material backflushing based on the BOM, ensuring accurate financial accounting.

Inventory & Financial Ownership

In this integration model:

• ERP owns all financial data
• ERP owns part definitions, BOMs, and production orders
• MES owns execution, routing, and serialization

At regular intervals, inventory reconciliation is performed to keep ERP and MES aligned. EZ-MES provides dedicated APIs to retrieve current material quantities, ensuring both systems stay synchronized.

Why Routing and Serialization Belong in MES

Certain manufacturing details are intentionally managed in MES rather than ERP:

• Routing
  Business Central routings are not required. Production flow is defined in MES using Flow Definitions, which consist of detailed Step Definitions. MES steps provide a much higher level of operational granularity than typical top-down ERP systems.
• Serialization & Lot Tracking
  Serialization of parts and lots is fully handled by MES, where real-time execution and traceability are required.

The Result: A Clean, Scalable Integration

By clearly separating planning and financial control (ERP) from execution and traceability (MES), this integration approach delivers:

• Lower integration complexity
• Clear ownership of data
• Better scalability and maintainability
• Accurate financial accounting
• Detailed, real-time execution visibility

This makes Workfloor and EZ-MES easy to integrate into existing ERP landscapes, without forcing ERP systems to manage shop-floor complexity.

Responsibility Breakdown