Personnel Management in MES

Definition

Personnel management in MES links production orders with the availability and qualifications of employees.
It ensures that the right people are assigned to the right workstations at the right time.
According to VDI 5600, personnel management is one of the core MES functions, bridging planning, execution, and human resources.

Purpose and Significance

The goal is the efficient use of human resources considering shifts, qualifications, and order priorities.
Integrated into MES, attendance, activities, and labor times are not only recorded but actively used for control and analysis.
This turns personnel management from an administrative task into an operational management function on the shopfloor.

Key Tasks

• Shift and workforce scheduling at workstation level
• Recording attendance, activities, and working times in production context
• Qualification management with approvals for machines, inspections, and tasks
• Automatic assignment of employees to orders and machines
• Mapping multi-machine operation and team work
• Real-time analysis of productivity, workload, and headcount

Practical Benefits

• Optimized resource utilization: employees are assigned based on demand
• Higher productivity: through visibility of workload and qualifications
• Faster response: to shift changes or labor shortages
• Traceability: full documentation of who worked on which order
• Improved compliance: through qualification and approval records

Example from Manufacturing Practice

An electronics manufacturer integrates personnel management into its MES to digitize shift and machine assignments.
Operators log in at workstations, and the system automatically verifies qualifications.
Result: 12 % less rescheduling effort, full traceability, and improved line utilization.

Integration with Other MES Functions

Personnel management interacts closely with other MES areas:

• receives order data from scheduling and dispatching
• uses feedback from data collection (BDE/MDE)
• delivers workforce KPIs to information management
• supports quality management through qualification checks

Conclusion

MES personnel management ensures that people, machines, and orders work together efficiently.
It increases production transparency, quality, and workforce agility — forming the basis for real-time, data-driven workforce management.