An MES coordinates manufacturing from the order to the finished part. It connects machines, operators, and materials, and records progress, times, consumption, and status in real time. In sheet metal manufacturing, it provides traceability by sheet batch, profile, and remnant, as well as a clear view of workload by line and shift. With consistent data, companies can reduce paperwork, repeated tasks, and avoidable errors.

In a Lantek MES environment, the Control Panel and Production Analytics bring together progress and KPIs in one view, making daily decisions easier without losing detail by order or part.

ERP manages orders, customers, purchasing, financial stock, and accounting. MES runs production and records what happens on the shop floor. ERP defines what must be produced and when. MES shows how production is progressing and what it actually costs. Using both avoids duplicate entries and keeps the office and the workshop connected.

In a setup with Lantek MES and Lantek Integra ERP, orders are released with reserved materials, actual consumption returns to the ERP, and inventory is updated by batch. This makes month-end closing easier and reduces manual adjustments.

An MES becomes useful when delays, high work in progress, disorganized stock, or uncertainty about cost per part begin to affect performance. In small workshops, it standardizes scheduling, data capture, and reporting while reducing dependence on paper. In large plants, it coordinates mixed technologies such as laser, waterjet, plasma, punching, and bending, and gives visibility of bottlenecks and upcoming workload.

The connection between MES, CAD/CAM, and ERP links orders with planning, design, and production in one digital workflow with full traceability. MES organizes orders according to available materials, priorities, and customer requirements. It then sends data to CAD/CAM for nesting and CNC program generation, and schedules execution on the shop floor.

At completion, ERP receives finished quantities and costs by batch to update inventory and review margins. This traceability links the order, drawing version, batch, and machine.

In a Lantek environment, Lantek Expert and Lantek Flex3D provide ready nests and estimated times to Lantek MES, while Lantek Integra ERP consolidates inventory and order data so urgent changes can be rescheduled without losing dates or material control.

MES software records machine times, setup and downtime, and operator times. It tracks good parts, rejected parts, and waste reasons. It measures sheet, profile, and remnant consumption by batch and location, and manages queues by work center. It can process signals from numerical control, OPC UA, barcode readers, and touch terminals.

With Lantek MES, this information feeds live dashboards and reports by shift, machine, or order. It also helps compare actual results with the estimated values from CAD/CAM.

An MES can calculate OEE by machine and shift, including availability, performance, and quality. It can measure OTIF, delays and their causes, waste, rework, and cost per order or part. It can also compare estimated time with actual time and calculate material and labor consumption.

In Lantek MES, Production Analytics brings these indicators together with lead time, work in progress, queues, and remnant usage to help production teams set priorities and support investment decisions.

MES brings together orders, priorities, materials, tools, and available capacity by machine and shift. It groups jobs by material and thickness, suggests remnant use, and reduces unnecessary tool changes. It can also reschedule work when urgent orders or incidents appear and show the effect on delivery dates.

Lantek MES Manager works with ready nests from Lantek Expert and Lantek Flex3D and reflects the actual status of the plant. This reduces waiting time and movement and improves delivery planning.

MES maintains inventory by batch, material, thickness, dimensions, and location. It reserves raw material when an order is released and suggests compatible remnants during nesting. It deducts actual consumption, records new remnants with their dimensions, and returns them to stock.

In Lantek MES, inventory management is linked with CAD/CAM, so programmers can view and reserve actual stock of sheets, formats, and useful remnants during nesting. ERP then receives consumption by batch for purchasing control and inventory valuation.

Yes. With Machine Connectivity, machines from different manufacturers, generations, and communication protocols can be connected for automatic data collection. Manual methods are also available when operator input is required.

Return typically comes from lower waste and rework, reduced work in progress, improved delivery performance, and less administrative effort through automatic reporting. A phased rollout helps companies begin with data capture, then move into planning, analysis, and production improvement.

When Lantek MES is connected with Lantek Expert, Lantek Flex3D, Lantek Bend, and Lantek Integra, actual costs are reflected without manual re-entry, and before-and-after KPIs can be reviewed clearly. This helps companies extend the project to other lines and shifts with lower risk.