Gartner defines manufacturing execution systems (MES) as a specialist class of production-oriented software that manages, monitors and synchronizes the execution of real-time physical processes involved in transforming raw materials into intermediate and/or finished goods. These systems coordinate this execution of work orders with production scheduling and enterprise-level systems like ERP and product life cycle management (PLM). MES applications also provide feedback on process performance, and support component and material-level traceability, genealogy and integration with process history, where required.
Gartner defines the market for quality management system (QMS) software as the business information management system that manages quality policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs). This may include, but is not limited to, customer requirements, quality documents, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) requirements, manufacturing capabilities, robust design, auditing procedures and protocols, nonconformance/risk management activities, testing criteria, and industry-specific regulations (for example, U.S. Food and Drug Administration [FDA] or Federal Acquisition Regulation [FAR] requirements).