SAP Manufacturing Execution vs. Viewpoint Spectrum

SAP Manufacturing Execution is suitable for desecrate manufacturing. For the complex routing of the product, this software ensures users do not by mistake start executing the wrong steps. This is the best tool to track and work on nonconformance and rework scenarios. This is most suitable when the landscape has SAP ERP in place.

Incentivized

The Installation team is amazing. They provide clear guidance at the beginning of the process regarding what is expected and what needs to be done. The implementation manager follows up monthly with you to make sure you are on track and if you need additional help. They are very helpful and responsive in resolving issues.

Incentivized

• Visual routing ensures the production line layout is as appropriate as shown on the application.
• Production house needs a lot of data to do an in-process inspection of the product. ERP might not need that. SAP ME provides that place to do every data collection.
• Nonconformance functionality ensures when needed the product goes to the appropriate station to get repaired. Also, data collection can raise NC and can move the product to a particular station to get an issue corrected.
• All the information is well integrated with SAP ERP and makes SAP ME more valuable for the organization.
• SAP MII also comes along with SAP ME helps to get the application well integrated with the shop floor equipment.

Incentivized

• Job Costing - Viewpoint Spectrum handles job costing per project, per work order, per site, and gives us an up to date analysis of the project.
• HR - helps to keep all of the training certifications and HR incidents in a consistent and manageable order for all Managers to use.

Incentivized

• ODS or the BI part of the ME needed more improvement.
• The archiving job needs to be more robust.
• Database indexes need to me more analyzed and setup as per the organization requirement.
• SAP MII UI integration plugin to be developed for increased usability of this application.

Incentivized

• Support isn't readily available. You can submit a ticket and wait days before it's picked up. Even critical issues (system outages) can wait an hour or two before someone responds.
• Large companies will feel limited. This product wasn't designed to handle large amounts of data, and performance seems to slow when there are more than 80 concurrent users.
• The new developments are limited. HR Management is less robust than a third-party product specializing in HR Management. Viewpoint Analytics is nowhere near as robust as Power BI or Tableau.

Incentivized

The product is working for us and the cost to implement a new system does not warrant the expense.

Incentivized

There's a little bit of a learning curve, but once you've been working in the system for a while, it becomes second nature. I would say that out of all of the other software that I've personally used, Spectrum has been the easiest one to pick up and learn quickly

Incentivized

I've never seen Spectrum down

For the most part the product is very reliable. Since we are hosted we sometimes have connectivity issues but I would say that is more our ISP than Spectrum.

Incentivized

The support has recently changed. Last year, you could call in and get an immediate response. Now that doesn't seem possible unless you have an urgent situation with access to the software, payroll or payables. I have found that using chat or e-mail works nicely for the most part, but sometimes I feel it would be easier if someone from support would jump on our site and take a first-hand look rather than going back and forth

Incentivized

Our trainer was excellent and navigated the time zone differences expertly. She gave us test assignments to complete and was available for questions at any time.

Incentivized

My only insight would be to take time in your implementation and training process; ours was six weeks from start to finish.

Incentivized

There was no product evaluated before using SAP ME. This replaced the custom homegrown MES system. The custom MES system had a lot of issues with the integration with SAP ERP. While evaluating the situation, SAP MII was the initial tool used to create the integration of the custom MES. We later found the fully functional tool SAP ME off the shelf had several functionalities out of the box.

Incentivized

I have previously used Sage Masterbuilder, another construction industry software. This has been a number of years ago. The company I am working for already had Spectrum and have been using it for as long as it has been around when it was known as Forefront. Based on conversations I've had with the personnel that were here at the time of purchase, Spectrum clicked off all the boxes they were looking for.

Incentivized

You can grant user specific access which is nice. Project managers do not need all the same modules as Accounting. But Accounting does need access to PM modules as well

• Production house is more efficient now.
• Less paperwork improved means less unproductive work on the shop floor.
• Regulatory audits are more efficient.

Incentivized

• [In my opinion,] it takes at LEAST twice as long to do our jobs now.
• [I feel like] we are paranoid about something not being printed correctly because of [what I believe are] buggy text fields.
• [In my experience,] we still have to refer to a physical file cabinet with paper, even though a main point of switching was to go paperless.
• [In our experience,] screens can now be "locked", so we can't see something if our coworker is also looking at it.
• [I believe that] the financial hit our company took from this switch was astronomical. [In my opinion:] Beware!