Digitalization Smart Factory : Best practices for successful industrial software projects

I recently attended the go-live event of a leading steel company in Europe for a project on Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). The project had lasted for a little over a year and went live as planned. Last year, I spoke to another customer about a major MES project. He confided in me that the project was on time, on budget and within specification. Unfortunately, not all industrial software implementation projects or manufacturing process software share similar positive narrative.

Despite this outlook, experts maintain that producers using industrial software, including Production Management System can boost overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), bring efficiency to the organization, reduce downtime and waste, and achieve leaner, smarter supply chains.

So how can project managers better prepare to ensure the success of their MES, SCM, ERP, and SCADA projects?

I spoke to several project managers and customers with decades of industry experience and here are their top recommendations.

As a marketing manager, I often think about how useful it would be to have crystal balls that predict the future of industrial software projects. Unfortunately, this is not possible. As an alternative, my correspondents recommend that to boost success rates, each software implementation project should begin by clearly defining its purpose. It’s not enough to say we want better integration or more visibility.

When everyone, from executives to engineers and end users understands what success looks like, alignment follows naturally.

After you have set clear goals, the next step is to carefully select the team and partners that will help you achieve them.

Stakeholder involvement is another area where failure often begins.

In fact, J. Richard Hackman summarized this in his 60-30-10 rule for teams. According to the rule, 60% of the success of a project comes from the team set up decisions even before the team starts work. 30% come from the launch of the teams, when they learn about the purpose for which they have been brought together, the design of their work and the expertise they contribute to the overall success of the project. The remaining 10% come from what the project leader does with the team after the project has begun. 

Considering that 90% of a project’s success is determined by the team set up and launch even before the project kick-off, project managers should dedicated a huge chunk of their time to selecting the right teams and partners.

During the launch process, ensure that you engage them to maintain high team spirit and enthusiasm. In the summer of 2024, I attended a kick-off project for a major MES and decarbonization project for a key manufacturer in Europe. It involved more than 150 experts selected to be part of the project. I had never encountered anything of that nature before. I spoke to several of the attendees and with great enthusiasm, they couldn’t wait to begin the project.

Another recurring recommendations from my correspondences is to avoid “big bang” go-lives. Big bang go-live involves going live with all aspects of the systems being implemented. While it’s tempting to flip the switch to your MES platform, all at once, the risks are enormous. It is very helpful to plan the go-lives in small steps and phases. While big bang go-lives may cost less, it carries higher risk that will become more expensive for the project. On the other hand, phased go-live costs more but it offers significantly better risk control and stability. 

According to findings by Oracle, only 21% of organizations used a big bang go-live, while over 50% preferred a phased implementation with structured, step-by-step system rollout.

Jan further emphasizes, “In addition to avoiding ‘big bang’ go-lives, it’s equally important to adopt an agile approach that delivers tangible results to the customer as quickly as possible. Projects often fail during extended specification and design phases, where the customer struggles to visualize the final solution. For example, at Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann GmbH and GMH Gruppe, both steel producers, we’ve executed truly agile projects that have been highly successful. The feedbacks we’ve received consistently show how much customers appreciate seeing early, working solutions."

The success of MES, ERP, SCM, SCADA projects depend on clean accurate. Poor master data can derail even the best-designed implementation. The project manager should ensure the auditing and cleaning of legacy datasets to make them accurate and reliable because they are crucial for generating meaningful insights in business intelligence (BI) and data analysis.

After that, they should map data flow from MES to ERP and to SCM depending on the system set up of the project. My correspondents recommend dedicating at least 15% of your implementation timeline to data cleansing, mapping, and carrying out sufficient testing and process re-engineering. Ensure that from day one, all project teams know where to find all project related documents, project updates and also who to contact in the case of challenges or questions.

Implementing effective change management practices is not just important, it is critical for the success of software implementation projects. It ensures smooth transitions, reduces resistance to change, improves stakeholder involvement, and promotes high team spirit and effective communication.
An article by Harvard Business Review states that in every 100 digital transformation projects, an average of 87 fail. According to the report, poor change management is one of the three main causes of the high failure rate, including over-optimistic expectations and poor execution.

Project managers have to take care that they efficiently manage the transition from the old system to the new in order for the new system to gain wide acceptance and not be resisted. There's also training and retraining. ERP Focus reports that 95% of failing projects allocate less than 10% of their budget to training, even though that’s where user adoption lives or dies.

I’ve found that hands-on, role-specific training—delivered before, during, and after go-live—is the most effective way to build confidence and prevent shadow processes from creeping in. You will likely prefer to limit your involvement following the go-live phase. However, it is equally important not to overlook the team. You should monitor the teams’ usage process carefully and based on the scenario, you can coach the teams to help them get back to track if you feel that they are slacking.

In the past half-decade, there have seen an increase in cyber-attacks on business with incurred losses running double digit millions of euros. This has made cybersecurity increasingly non-negotiable, especially with SCADA and MES systems exposed to OT networks. Check that outdated PLCs and unsecured HMIs that could provided an easy entry point for attackers are taken care of early enough.

After segmenting the network, enforce role-based access controls, and conduct penetration testing. This will not only protect your assets, but will earn the trust of entire team and partners.

Pilot, Learn, Scale is a phased approach to software implementation. A small pilot tests functionality in a controlled setting. Lessons learned guide improvements before full rollout. This reduces risk, improves adoption, and increases success rates by ensuring the system is optimized before scaling across the entire organization. This whole process is crucial to software project success because it enables risk reduction by identifying and addressing issues early in a controlled environment.

Conducting a pilot allows teams to optimize costs and resource use, avoiding wasted investment on flawed implementations. It also creates valuable stakeholder engagement and feedback loops, resulting in improved processes and user readiness. Finally, pilots deliver data-driven insights supporting confident decisions on broader deployment. Scaling only after successful trials ensures more reliable, efficient full implementations.

Successful industrial software implementation—whether MES, ERP, SCADA, or SCM—relies not just on the right technology and financing, but on the right approach. From assembling a capable team to adopting phased strategies, every decision plays a crucial role in reducing risk and maximizing ROI.

Despite the high failure rates reported in the industry, organizations that prioritize change management, clear objectives, and continuous learning consistently outperform those that do not.

AT PSI, we design and implement MES, ERP, SCADA, SCM etc. software for various industries in discrete manufacturing, process industries, grid and energy manage and the logistics industries. With several decades of industry experience, we have recorded huge success in our project and have become the go o industry partner for such projects. With the right mindset, preparation and PSI as your partner, your implementation can become a strategic advantage—not just a technical upgrade.