Panel DiscussionStreamlining MES Implementation with Partners

Moderated by Jeff Winter, VP Business Strategy at Critical Manufacturing, the panel counted with: Reginald Warlop, CIO, IMEC; Dinesh Soundararajan, Technical Program Manager – Smart Manufacturing, Danfoss; Shantanu Rai, Vice President and Head of Digital Manufacturing, HCLTech, Shankar Subramanian, Area Senior Director, Consulting and Digital Manufacturing, Europe, LTTS.

MES is one of those initiatives that sounds simple when it is on a slide deck: “connect operations, standardize execution, unlock insights.” But in reality? It’s a multi-year, cross-functional, borderline spiritual journey that tests your processes, your people… and your patience. And yet, it is one of the most important moves a manufacturer can make in the Industry 4.0 era. MES is what turns strategy into execution. It is the system that takes all your great ideas and makes them real on the shop floor. MES doesn’t come together with software alone. It comes together with the right support. Because streamlining MES implementation isn’t just a technical challenge—it’s an organizational one. And trying to do it alone is a recipe for delays, misalignment, and burnout. And that’s what this session is really about: not just how to implement MES—but how to streamline it by building the right relationships between manufacturers, integrators, and a software provider. With a pretty unique setup on stage: Two manufacturers. Two integrators. But here is the fun part—one manufacturer works with both integrators up here, while the other is working with a completely different partner. It’s a real-world, cross-perspective panel where we can dig into what works, what doesn’t, and why these partnerships make or break MES success.

This panel discussion was featured at the MES & Industry 4.0 International Summit, held on June 12-13, 2025 in Porto, Portugal.

Fill out the form to see the recording of this session.