93% of manufacturers have MES, but only 23% have fully integrated it across the enterprise

Nearly every manufacturer on the planet has a manufacturing execution system. Almost none of them have it working the way it should. That is the central finding of Rockwell Automation's 'Scaling MES Across the Enterprise' report, released July 14, 2026, which surveyed 1,560 manufacturing and industrial operations decision-makers across 17 countries. The numbers are stark: 93% of respondents have MES running in at least one facility, yet only 28% have deployed it enterprise-wide, and just 23% report full integration across ERP, PLM, quality, and operational technology systems, according to PR Newswire.

The integration gap that's costing manufacturers real value

MES was built to do one job: monitor, track, document, and control the conversion of raw materials into finished goods on the factory floor. But the role of these systems has expanded well beyond production tracking, now covering quality management, worker productivity, and supply chain forecasting. That expanded scope makes the integration gap more expensive to ignore.

Integration ranks as the top MES buying requirement, cited by 44% of manufacturers surveyed, according to PR Newswire. It also tops the list of modernization challenges, with 33% identifying MES as their single biggest data integration problem. The result is a circular trap: manufacturers need integration to get full value from MES, but integration is the obstacle they cannot clear.

Manufacturing Dive's coverage of the report notes that these patchwork, disconnected systems have become one of the industry's defining challenges, particularly as AI adoption accelerates and cyber risk grows. Manufacturers are not starting from zero; they are trying to rationalize an infrastructure built incrementally, site by site, over years.

AI ambitions require a data foundation most manufacturers don't yet have

The AI stakes are high. Rockwell's research finds manufacturers expect 42% of processes to be AI-supported within the next year, rising to 54% by 2030, according to PR Newswire. Those projections assume a clean, connected data layer that feeds machine learning models with reliable, real-time inputs. But 43% of manufacturers acknowledge they are not effectively using the data they already collect, meaning the AI roadmap and the data reality are on a collision course.

The gap between ambition and readiness is not theoretical. AI models trained on fragmented or siloed data produce unreliable outputs. For a VP of operations or a plant manager relying on AI-driven quality alerts or predictive maintenance recommendations, that unreliability is an operational risk, not an IT abstraction. Getting MES data flowing cleanly across every site is a prerequisite, not a follow-on project.

Cybersecurity is now a procurement requirement, not just an IT concern

The security picture adds urgency. Forty-six percent of manufacturers reported experiencing a cyber incident in the past year, according to Rockwell's report. Security and compliance have consequently become the second-highest MES buying requirement, cited by 43% of respondents. That figure signals a shift: cybersecurity has moved from the IT checklist to the procurement specification, and MES vendors that cannot demonstrate compliance coverage are increasingly disqualified before any demo.

The exposure surface grows with every disconnected system. An MES that sits isolated from the broader enterprise architecture is also one that may lack the visibility and access controls needed to detect or contain a breach. Full integration, in other words, is not just a performance issue; it is a security architecture issue.

What scaling actually looks like in practice

Kumi North America, a Tier 1 automotive supplier focused on injection-molded interior plastics, offers a concrete example of phased MES expansion. The company initially deployed Rockwell's Plex platform in 2008 and has since rolled it out across facilities in the United States and Canada, most recently adding Plex MES Automation and Orchestration capabilities, according to PR Newswire. The company's assistant vice president of systems, Paul Andrews, told PR Newswire that before Plex, operations struggled to synchronize and some locations had no software at all.

IDC Associate Research Director Lorenzo Veronesi, whose firm contributed context to the report, told PR Newswire that organizations disconnected systems and underutilized data risk leaving significant value on the table if the integration gap goes unaddressed. The framing matters: the value destruction is not future or hypothetical. It is happening now, in facilities where MES data is not reaching ERP or quality systems and decisions are being made on incomplete information.

Rockwell's own framing, offered by Vice President of Product Management Anthony Murphy in the company's press release, positions the next competitive frontier as coordination rather than capability. Manufacturers with the same tools but better connectivity are outperforming peers who are still operating in silos. The full 'Scaling MES Across the Enterprise' report, including recommended steps for closing the deployment-to-scale gap, is available on Rockwell Automation's website.