Enterprise Resource Planning – (ERP)

Plex by Rockwell is the only ERP solution with manufacturing at its core. Plex is 100% focused on full MES and ERP integration for your discrete and process manufacturing needs, with industry-leading plant floor to top floor functionality. With a modern cloud-based manufacturing ERP and MES that scales and adapts to your business needs, Plex lets you keep your focus on your business instead of IT.

The Plex Manufacturing Cloud significantly cuts the cost of installing, maintaining, supporting, and upgrading your ERP system. By removing ongoing costs such as maintenance, support, and upgrades, the total cost of ownership is lower not just in year one, but throughout the lifetime of your relationship with Plex.

Manufacturing Execution System (MES) / MOM

Built on the shop floor, Plex MES/MOM delivers unmatched functionality to seamlessly connect your inventory, plant floor operations, and quality systems.
At Cumulus Consulting, manufacturing is in our DNA — our team averages over 20 years of hands-on experience with both manufacturing operations and Plex.

We’ve successfully implemented Plex MES/MOM across virtually every type of manufacturing environment and organization size. With a deep understanding of what operational excellence looks like, we bring proven best practices to every engagement.

Plex MES (Manufacturing Execution System) is a cloud-based solution designed to help manufacturers manage and optimize their production operations in real time. It’s part of the Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform, which integrates manufacturing, quality, inventory, and supply chain management.

Plex MES is a manufacturing execution system that delivers real-time production monitoring, allowing manufacturers to track data as it happens and quickly identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies. Its quality management features ensure compliance with industry standards through automated checks and full traceability. The system monitors inventory and materials at every stage—from raw materials and work in progress to finished goods—across the supply chain. With robust traceability, every part and process can be tracked from supplier to customer, a capability that is essential for recalls and audits. By digitizing work instructions, checklists, and production records, Plex MES enables a paperless shop floor, while seamless ERP integration provides end-to-end operational visibility.

The benefits of Plex MES extend across efficiency, quality, and cost management. Real-time data helps reduce downtime, improve throughput, and optimize production scheduling. Built-in quality controls minimize defects and maintain compliance with industry standards. Its cloud-based dashboards give manufacturers greater visibility into operations from anywhere, supporting informed decision-making. The platform is highly scalable, adapting to the needs of growing operations or multi-facility enterprises. By reducing waste, rework, and manual data entry, Plex MES helps lower operational costs, while its real-time analytics empower faster, data-driven decisions.

Quality Management System (QMS)

At Cumulus Consulting, helping your organization deliver high-quality products is at the core of what we do.
Our team brings decades of real-world manufacturing experience and a deep understanding of Plex QMS to solve complex quality challenges.

Plex QMS empowers your organization with real-time visibility into quality issues, enabling proactive decision-making and continuous improvement.
With comprehensive expertise across the entire Plex QMS suite, Cumulus can guide your journey toward best-in-class quality control systems and processes.

The Plex Quality Management System (QMS) is a powerful tool designed to help manufacturing companies like yours ensure consistent product quality, meet compliance standards, and drive continuous improvement. Here’s how it can benefit your operations:

Plex QMS provides real-time quality visibility by capturing data directly from the shop floor, giving teams instant insight into potential issues. This capability allows manufacturers to detect and address defects early, minimize scrap and rework, and make informed, data-driven decisions in real time.

Built-in compliance and traceability features make Plex QMS ideal for regulated industries such as automotive, aerospace, and food and beverage. It offers full part and process traceability, electronic records and signatures, and ensures adherence to standards including ISO, IATF, and FDA requirements.

The platform includes a comprehensive suite of integrated quality tools to manage every aspect of quality control. These include control plans and checksheets, FMEA (DFMEA, PFMEA) and HACCP processes, PPAP and first article inspections, as well as CAPA, 8D, and deviation tracking. Gage management and calibration tools, supplier quality management, and compliance, auditing, and certification tracking further enhance its capabilities.

By digitizing quality documentation and workflows, Plex QMS supports paperless processes that eliminate manual errors, ensure version control, and streamline audits and reviews. With built-in analytics and reporting, the platform enables continuous improvement by helping organizations identify trends, pinpoint root causes, and uncover opportunities for optimization—all within a single, unified system.

MES Automation & Orchestration – Asset Performance Management (APM)

Plex Automation and Orchestration (A&O) is a powerful extension of the Plex MES platform that helps manufacturers streamline and automate plant floor processes. It’s designed to eliminate manual tasks, reduce errors, and improve operational efficiency by connecting machines, systems, and people in real time.

At Cumulus Consulting, we have a dedicated team of experts that specialize in Plex Automation & Orchestration (A&O).
With hands-on experience across hundreds of manufacturing environments, our subject matter experts are equipped to design and implement tailored A&O solutions that align precisely with your organization’s operational needs.

Plex A&O streamlines manufacturing operations by automating repetitive tasks such as updating machine or workcenter statuses, entering production and scrap counts, and executing work orders. This automation reduces human error and frees operators to focus on higher-value activities. By enabling real-time data flow between machines and systems, Plex A&O provides instant visibility into production metrics, supports faster and more confident decision-making, and eliminates the need for paper-based tracking. It also orchestrates complex workflows, ensuring that the right data reaches the right place at the right time, production flows remain optimized, and downtime is minimized. With these capabilities, manufacturers gain greater control over production variability, improve scheduling accuracy, and increase throughput and equipment utilization.

Plex Production Monitoring (PM) complements these capabilities as a fast-to-deploy solution that delivers immediate value. It offers real-time visibility into key production metrics—such as counts, scrap, and downtime—and can be implemented as a stand-alone system independent of the full Plex MES suite, enabling quicker rollouts and rapid results without a full system overhaul. Real-time production counts are automatically tracked at each workcenter, integrating with machines and operators to capture data without manual input, while providing insight into throughput and performance trends across shifts or lines. Scrap tracking records events as they occur, including reasons and quantities, and supports root cause analysis by linking issues to specific machines, operators, or materials—ultimately reducing waste. Downtime monitoring captures both planned and unplanned downtime in real time, categorizes reasons such as maintenance, material shortages, or changeovers, and helps improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) by reducing unplanned stops.

The system works by connecting machines and sensors directly to Plex, utilizing operator interfaces like touchscreen terminals for quick event logging, and delivering dashboards and alerts to supervisors and managers for immediate action. The benefits are significant: improved accuracy by removing the reliance on manual logs or spreadsheets, faster responses to issues as they arise, and better decision-making driven by real-time data to optimize scheduling, staffing, and maintenance.

In addition to training, configuring and implementing these solutions Cumulus will also help you find the proper hardware equipment and sensors necessary to meet your shop floor goals. This allows us to give our clients a full suite solution form software to implementation and hardware.

Plex Refresh & Optimizations

One of the key advantages of Plex’s multi-tenant SaaS architecture is its continuous evolution — with new features released quarterly and made instantly available to all customers.
This version-less approach ensures the platform stays aligned with the latest manufacturing trends and operational needs. However, without staying current, your organization risks falling behind peers and competitors who are leveraging these advancements.

That’s where Cumulus Consulting comes in.
Our team stays ahead of every Plex release and emerging manufacturing best practice. Through our Refresh and Optimization Services, we assess your current challenges, identify underutilized features, and help you adopt the latest Plex functionality to drive measurable improvements across your operations.

Plex UX Transitions

Let Cumulus Consulting guide your transition to the Plex UX platform.
Plex UX introduces a host of powerful new features designed to enhance usability, streamline workflows, and improve operational efficiency. Our team is deeply experienced in leveraging these capabilities within real-world manufacturing environments.

Through our UX Transition Services, we conduct a comprehensive assessment of your current use of Plex Classic and deliver a tailored roadmap for a smooth, effective migration to Plex UX — all while unlocking new functionality that saves time and drives value.

Plex UX Transition Services Include:

• Assessment of Plex Classic to UX Gaps
• Gap Closure Recommendations
• Custom VisionPlex Screen Conversions
• UX Security Model Setup and Training
• Label and Documentation Conversion
• Documentation, Training, and Go-Live Support

FactoryTalk Energy Manager – (FTEM)

Designed to meet rising energy costs and sustainability targets, FactoryTalk Energy Manager is an industrial energy management (IEM) solution built on the DataMosaix DataOps platform. It focuses on IT/OT convergence to better manage energy usage, emissions, and cost at all levels—from site-wide to individual machines.

This platform offers powerful capabilities for monitoring and optimizing energy use. Its real-time dashboards and analytics track energy intensity, cost, emissions, and usage trends across utilities such as water, air, gas, steam, and electricity. Through contextualized, multi-level modeling, it visualizes data from an entire plant’s operations down to individual lines and machines, enabling detailed insights. Reporting and alert features support custom reporting, baseline comparisons, KPI tracking, and the creation of alerts for defined energy thresholds.

These capabilities deliver significant benefits across a range of use cases. By identifying energy-intensive processes, the system provides actionable insights that drive cost reduction. It supports sustainability and ESG goals by tracking emissions and utilities for compliance and reporting purposes. It also accelerates digital transformation by integrating OT data seamlessly into enterprise systems, allowing for cross-site visibility and control. Furthermore, by correlating energy usage with production metrics, it helps optimize production processes and enhance overall operational efficiency.

FactoryTalk Batch

FactoryTalk Batch is a software solution developed by Rockwell Automation that provides a batch processing control system for manufacturing, especially in industries like pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, chemicals, and consumer goods. It supports the ISA-88 standard for batch control and integrates well with PlantPAx and other Rockwell systems.

FactoryTalk Batch is designed to efficiently manage and control batch manufacturing processes. It organizes procedures into reusable recipe elements—such as units, phases, and operations—allowing for structured and repeatable workflows. The system executes complex multi-step batch processes by controlling and coordinating each stage, while tracking and recording historical data and batch events for quality control and regulatory compliance. It enables operators to interact directly with the system, providing capabilities to pause, resume, or handle exceptions as needed. Additionally, FactoryTalk Batch supports modular systems that can scale from small standalone setups to large, distributed batch architectures.

Its key components work together to provide a complete batch management solution. The Batch Server acts as the central control hub, coordinating all batch operations. Batch View offers operators an intuitive interface for monitoring and interacting with batch processes. The Recipe Editor allows for the creation and management of procedures, operations, and phases, while the Equipment Editor maps the physical plant to the software using the ISA-88 model. The Batch Historian captures and reports on execution data for analysis, and the optional Phase Manager—often integrated into PlantPAx—manages phase logic within a Logix controller.

The benefits of FactoryTalk Batch include compliance with regulations such as FDA 21 CFR Part 11, improved batch consistency and product quality, efficient change management, and enhanced recipe reuse. It is scalable for both small and large operations and integrates seamlessly with Rockwell’s PlantPAx DCS and the broader FactoryTalk suite.

FactoryTalk DataMosaix

FactoryTalk DataMosaix is a cloud-based Industrial DataOps solution that integrates Operational Technology (OT), Information Technology (IT), and Engineering Technology (ET) data into a single contextualized platform. It creates a unified, trusted data hub tailored for domain experts, analysts, and data scientists alike.

This platform serves as a unified data hub, aggregating information from diverse sources—including historians, MES/MOM, PLM, sensors, and engineering tools—into a single, coherent source of truth. Its AI-driven contextualization builds an industrial knowledge graph to automatically enrich data with meaningful context, transforming complex information into actionable insights. With real-time edge-to-cloud capabilities, it ingests live data through extractors, including edge-level inputs like FactoryTalk Optix, to deliver insights as events unfold. A low/no-code app builder provides a drag-and-drop interface for quickly creating dashboards, charts, and scheduled PDF reports without the need for programming skills. The platform offers flexible deployment options—SaaS, private cloud, or on-premises—and is compatible with Azure, AWS, GCP, or local data centers. Its extensive connectivity supports integrations through featured connectors and APIs, including third-party tools like Power BI and various engineering systems.

By breaking down data silos, the platform unifies operational, engineering, and enterprise data to foster cross-functional collaboration. It democratizes data access, making information readily available to operators, engineers, executives, and data scientists without requiring deep backend expertise. Real-time data contextualization accelerates decision-making by enabling faster root-cause analysis, predictive maintenance, and operational optimization. Additionally, it supports advanced use cases such as predictive and prescriptive analytics powered by AI/ML, allowing teams to turn insights into tangible actions.

Its integration capabilities extend to a variety of strategic applications. For energy management, it works in conjunction with FactoryTalk Energy Manager, providing the contextual data needed for both utility-level and machine-level analytics. It is ideal for organizations with distributed operations, offering consistent data modeling and cross-site analytics for multi-site visibility. The platform also enhances connected worker experiences and visualization by delivering insights across dashboards, Power BI, mobile interfaces, and connected worker apps. Built for collaboration, it empowers domain experts, system integrators, and IT/OT teams to work together effectively, supported by centralized governance and robust access control.

FT-Optix

FT-Optix is a software environment designed for building industrial operator interfaces and automation systems, supporting applications such as SCADA, HMI, dashboards, and web-based visualization. It is built with multi-screen support in mind, enabling expansive, kiosk-style user displays and smooth transitions across monitors—often used alongside tools like Thin Manager for enhanced control room and plant-floor experiences.

The platform offers a range of core features that make it both powerful and adaptable. Its recipe management enhancements, planned in the Version 1.7 roadmap, introduce advanced recipe capabilities well-suited for batch processes. Cross-platform visualization ensures operator screens can be delivered in both desktop environments and through web interfaces, improving accessibility across devices. A modular architecture allows for easy expansion through add-ons, including dashboards, alarming functions, and client-server connectivity. Additionally, FT-Optix is integration-centric, working seamlessly with other FactoryTalk tools, PLCs, smart devices, and industrial databases to create a unified, connected automation ecosystem.