An Interview with Ryan Sorensen, Vice President of Information Technology at Innovative Labs

Presented by Expandable Software – ERP for High-Tech and MedTech Manufacturers

A Familiar Debate with New Urgency

Across the manufacturing world, there’s always been a lively debate between engineering, manufacturing, and finance teams over whether a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is truly necessary—or whether the embedded functionalities inside an ERP can get the job done.

At Innovative Labs, Vice President of Information Technology Ryan Sorensen has lived that debate firsthand. His perspective? “The truth is, MES and ERP aren’t competing systems—they’re complementary. ERP plans the work. MES proves it was done.”

For high-tech and medtech manufacturers, where compliance, traceability, and precision define success, that partnership between MES and ERP has become critical to digital transformation.

Defining MES vs ERP: The Nerve Centers of Modern Manufacturing

In a modern manufacturing environment, MES (Manufacturing Execution System) focuses on real-time production management on the factory floor, tracking raw materials to finished goods, while ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) manages broader business processes such as finance, human resources, and supply chain management.

“Think of MES as the digital nervous system of your production line,” Sorensen explained, “and ERP as the central nervous system of your company.”

An MES executes production and provides real-time data that keeps ERP accurate and current. It’s that real-time connection, Sorensen said, that allows the enterprise to operate on facts instead of estimates.

Understanding the Need for MES

Sorensen described MES as “the missing link” between business plans and operational reality. “ERP will tell you what should be happening. MES tells you what actually is happening.”

• Among the many benefits derived from MES:
• A vital bridge between planning and execution – MES connects Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), business planning, and financial reporting.
• Improved ERP accuracy – By capturing live shop-floor data (actual counts, scrap, downtime, and labor), MES ensures ERP operates on verified numbers.
• Enhanced inventory management – Real-time updates for lot quantities, expiration tracking, and location data ensure precise on-hand and available-to-promise visibility.
• Production scheduling support – ERP defines planned orders and capacity; MES translates them into executable jobs and feeds back actual start, stop, and completion times.
• Increased visibility – MES gives ERP users real-time production insights—status, equipment performance, WIP—reducing blind spots and delays.
• Accurate cost accounting – By recording true material usage, rework, and downtime, MES enables ERP to calculate standard versus actual costs and margins.
• Regulatory compliance – MES helps maintain 21 CFR Part 11 and ISO compliance by capturing electronic signatures and quality data, then pushing verified results to ERP.
• Improved financial and cost reporting – MES tracks real labor, yield, and waste metrics to give ERP the data needed for real-time cost reconciliation.
• “The KPIs don’t lie,” Sorensen said. “On-time delivery, yield, scrap reduction, labor efficiency, and inventory accuracy all show measurable improvement once MES and ERP are integrated.”

Integrating MES with ERP

When asked if MES should integrate with ERP, Sorensen’s answer was clear: “Absolutely. Integration is what turns data into insight.”

MES-ERP integration improves visibility across departments and enables unified dashboards. Finance can see production variances, logistics can view real-time inventory status, and quality can monitor batch performance—all from shared data.

Common integration points include production orders, inventory transactions, quality results, lot genealogy, material consumption, and WIP tracking.

Integration eliminates duplicate entry, synchronizes production and inventory data, and ensures that financial and operational systems reflect the same version of reality.

“When you automate order release and synchronize production and material availability instantly, ERP’s MRP engine can finally plan based on what’s actually happening,” Sorensen explained.

Two-way (bi-directional) integration offers the greatest benefit: ERP sends master data and work orders to MES, while MES returns real-time production feedback. The result is a closed feedback loop for scheduling, costing, and quality—supporting a connected, data-driven environment that fuels digital transformation.

Challenges of Integrating MES with ERP

• Sorensen was candid about the challenges. “The number one issue in MES-ERP integration is data quality. If your master data isn’t clean, your integration will just automate bad information faster.”
• Clean master data—accurate part numbers, BOMs, units, and routings—ensures smooth synchronization. Poor data quality leads to mismatched inventory and reporting discrepancies.
• Other common challenges include:
• Data mapping inconsistencies – Shared data must be formatted and defined consistently between systems.
• Unclear ownership of master data – Item Masters, BOMs, product costs, and vendor data must live in a single source of truth with a designated owner.
• Time granularity mismatches – Operations runs in minutes and hours; finance runs in weeks and months. Data synchronization must respect both.
• Lack of real-time synchronization – “If different departments are looking at different snapshots, you’ll get conflicting answers—and lose trust in the data,” Sorensen warned.
• Integration success requires both technical and organizational alignment.

Make or Buy?

When it comes to selecting an MES, Sorensen’s advice was simple: “Buy. People love to say, ‘We’re different.’ But most manufacturing operations face the same challenges.”

While some teams may advocate building their own system, homegrown software often ends up reinventing the wheel and introducing bugs or scalability issues that commercial vendors have already solved.

However, Sorensen emphasized that success depends on inclusive decision-making: “Involve operations, quality, and finance early. You may not get 100% of every wish list item, but achieving 80% with a stable, supported system is a win.”

Consensus, he said, is critical to long-term adoption and effectiveness.

Best Practices and Lessons Learned

• Sorensen shared several best practices drawn from his own experience:
• Clean data and robust processes – “If your processes aren’t sound, integration just makes bad data move faster. Define ownership and governance first.”
• Understand data sources and flows – Typically, work orders, BOMs, and item masters flow from ERP to MES; production completions, scrap counts, and quality results flow from MES to ERP.
• Phase the rollout – Start with critical modules like inventory, batch tracking, and production execution, then expand to quality, maintenance, and planning.
• Use standard integration technologies – REST or SOAP APIs, middleware (such as Dell Boomi or MuleSoft), message queues, or direct SQL synchronization.
• Build consensus – “Integration isn’t just IT—it’s a company-wide initiative. Everyone needs to buy into the same version of truth.”

The Takeaway

“MES isn’t replacing ERP—it’s completing it,” Sorensen concluded. “ERP plans. MES executes. Together, they form the backbone of a truly connected, data-driven factory.”

For small and midsize high-tech and medtech manufacturers, integrating MES and ERP is no longer optional—it’s a strategic imperative for operational visibility, accuracy, and agility.

About Expandable

From established enterprises that have grown with us from the pre-revenue phase to ground-breaking startups that need a dependable partner for their growth journey, Expandable is a leading provider of ERP solutions for highly regulated discrete and process manufacturing environments that demand audit trails, serial number and lot tracking, RMAs, kitting, and the like. Expandable’s customer base includes some of the most innovative high-tech and MedTech manufacturers worldwide. The platform unites every part of your operation—from product management and engineering, to production, quality, inventory, and after-sales service—into one affordable, fully integrated system.