Manufacturing companies have traditionally and primarily used manufacturing systems that touched specific functional areas within each operational level, each addressing individual and specific needs. As a result, this has often lead to hundreds of disconnected solutions within a specific company. While this may be an effective way to capture data, the technologies often do not easily interoperate with or across each other. Because of rapidly evolving user needs, competition, and advancements in technology, this traditional model of disparate systems is reaching the unsustainable.

In this Research Spotlight, LNS discusses the evolution of manufacturing operations management (MOM) software into future integration and collaboration platforms that provide consistent and efficient functionality in the areas of:

• Collaboration Capabilities
• Security Services
• Asset & Production Model
• Operations Database & Historians
• Visualization and Mobility
• Smaller and Focused 'Apps'