Inductive Automation recently released a case study featuring Tree Top’s MES implementation with CedarTech, Ignition, and Kanoa MES. It is a strong example of what modern MES projects should aim to deliver: not just more data, but trusted operational visibility that helps people make better decisions across the plant.
For Kanoa, the Tree Top story stands out because it reflects several principles we believe are critical to a successful MES implementation:
Manufacturers need visibility that reaches the people doing the work.
OEE needs to be more than a single score.
Dashboards need to be role-specific, actionable, and close to real time.
MES systems need to support real-world plant variation.
And systems integrators need tools that let them configure, extend, and deploy without fighting the platform.
Tree Top’s implementation shows what that can look like in practice.
Many manufacturers already collect large amounts of plant-floor data. The challenge is turning that data into information people can trust and use.
That was a central theme in Tree Top’s story. Tree Top had been using Ignition for years to control, record, and interact with manufacturing equipment. With Ignition’s Historian, they could view historical records, temperatures, flow rates, and other important data. But the larger opportunity was connecting that data to production context so the organization could understand what was happening operationally.
That is where MES becomes valuable.
A good MES does not simply collect more information. It gives structure to production activity. It connects orders, equipment, downtime, counts, schedules, performance, quality, and reporting into a system that people can actually use.
In the Tree Top case study, one of the most important outcomes was trust. Tree Top described moving away from gut-feel decisions and toward decisions based on hard data. In the video, the team talks about information becoming quick, reliable, and immediately available, instead of requiring manual effort and time-consuming investigation.
That is one of the biggest shifts MES can create: when people trust the data, the conversation changes.
Instead of asking, “What do we think happened?” teams can ask:
That is the foundation of good MES visibility.
OEE is often one of the first metrics manufacturers want from MES. But OEE only becomes useful when teams can break it down into the operational factors behind the number.
Tree Top’s case study highlights this well. With Kanoa Ops implemented on Ignition, Tree Top can manage production schedules, track OEE, monitor downtime, evaluate performance against schedule, and get a clearer view of plant-floor efficiency.
One Tree Top engineer explained that OEE is especially useful because it separates availability and performance. In the past, a strong availability number could hide a weak performance number. With MES visibility, those issues become easier to identify and act on.
That distinction matters.
A single OEE score can tell you whether something is wrong. A useful MES system helps explain why.
For example:
| If the issue is… | The team may need to look at… |
|---|---|
| Low availability | Downtime, changeovers, maintenance events, staffing, material availability |
| Low performance | Cycle rates, micro-stops, equipment constraints, product mix, operator process |
| Low quality | Scrap, rework, inspection results, material issues, process conditions |
| Missed schedule | Order sequencing, production rates, downtime, line availability, planning assumptions |
The real value is not the OEE number by itself. The value is the ability to drill from that number into the operational reality behind it.
Tree Top’s team described this shift clearly in the transcript: instead of launching investigation teams and manually digging into problems, they can now see when performance is down and know where to look.
That is what good MES visibility should do. It should reduce the distance between noticing a problem and understanding the cause.
One of the strongest phrases in the case study is Tree Top’s goal of achieving a “plant at a glance.”
For a large food and beverage manufacturer, that is not a small goal. Tree Top operates complex facilities with multiple lines, many employees, and many moving pieces. The challenge is not simply displaying data. The challenge is bringing the right information together in a way that makes the current state of the plant understandable.
A common mistake in MES and manufacturing analytics projects is assuming that visibility means building one master dashboard.
But plants do not operate from one perspective.
Operators, supervisors, engineers, maintenance teams, and executives all need different views of the same operation. The underlying data may be shared, but the way it is presented needs to match the role, decision, and time horizon.
Tree Top’s implementation reflects this principle. CedarTech created custom views for operators, engineers, maintenance personnel, decision-makers, and management. The case study also describes interactive dashboards, widgets, break-room TV displays, and management reports.
That is what good MES visibility looks like.
For operators, MES visibility needs to be clear, current, and directly connected to the work in front of them.
They need to know:
In the Tree Top story, plant-floor visibility was not limited to office dashboards. The team installed televisions throughout the plant to display real-time information about how lines were running, how much product had been produced, and whether performance was up or down.
That matters because visibility only creates operational value when it reaches the people who can act on it.
A dashboard buried in a conference room is not the same as useful plant-floor visibility. Operators and production teams need information in the flow of work.
Supervisors need a broader operational view. They need to understand whether production is on track, where constraints are emerging, and what issues need attention before the end of the shift.
For supervisors, good MES visibility includes:
The Tree Top transcript describes the use of shift comparisons so teams can see how previous shifts performed and use that visibility to improve.
That kind of visibility can change day-to-day operating behavior. Instead of waiting for end-of-day reports or after-the-fact analysis, supervisors can respond while the shift is still in progress.
Engineering teams need visibility that goes deeper.
They need to investigate downtime patterns, validate performance assumptions, evaluate equipment behavior, and identify improvement opportunities. They also need enough context to distinguish between symptoms and root causes.
Tree Top’s team described being able to keep drilling into the data, down to specific downtime events. The case study also describes using MES analytics to identify weak points in production lines and support more targeted capital investments.
That is an important point. MES visibility is not only for daily production management. It can also support longer-term engineering and investment decisions.
One example from the case study involved comparing Tree Top’s current inkjet coders against a new option. Using OEE metrics, Tree Top could evaluate the ROI of the new equipment more quickly and with more confidence than before.
That is a strong example of MES moving beyond “what happened?” and into “what should we invest in next?”
Management visibility has a different purpose. Leaders need to understand operational performance across lines, shifts, departments, and facilities. They need reports and dashboards that support decision-making without requiring them to manually piece together information from spreadsheets, meetings, and anecdotal updates.
In the case study, CedarTech built reports for Tree Top management so they could dig into deeper operational data. One of the most memorable quotes from the case study comes from Drew Dixon, Selah Plant Manufacturing Manager at Tree Top: “I can’t imagine, as a leader, not having this information anymore.”
That is the level of dependency a successful MES system should create.
Not because the software becomes complicated or unavoidable, but because the information becomes too valuable to operate without.
Another major lesson from the Tree Top story is that MES systems need to be flexible enough to reflect the real world.
Food and beverage manufacturing is full of variation. Facilities differ. Lines differ. Products differ. Reporting requirements differ. Processes evolve. New equipment gets added. New operational priorities emerge.
That means manufacturers need MES functionality that can be deployed quickly, but they also need the ability to adapt the system to the way their operations actually work.
The case study describes Kanoa MES as a modular manufacturing execution system built on Ignition, giving Tree Top a balance of immediate functionality and customization. CedarTech could deploy Kanoa and deliver value quickly, while still modeling Tree Top’s operational structure and building custom reporting and integrations around their needs.
That balance is critical.
A rigid MES can force plants to change around the software. A fully custom MES can take too long to build and too much effort to maintain. The better path is a flexible MES foundation that provides core manufacturing functionality while allowing integrators and manufacturers to extend where it matters.
Tree Top’s team captured this well in the transcript, describing Kanoa as customizable enough to fit unique plant needs while still providing out-of-the-box functionality.
The Tree Top case study is also a strong example of the role systems integrators play in modern MES projects.
Tree Top had a clear operational vision. CedarTech brought Ignition and MES implementation expertise. Kanoa MES provided the Ignition-native MES foundation.
That combination matters because MES projects are not just software deployments. They involve production processes, ERP integrations, PLC data, operator workflows, reporting needs, change management, and continuous improvement.
In the case study, CedarTech started with an enterprise-first architecture, defined a standardized data model across Tree Top’s plants, integrated ERP order data through Ignition, passed validated information into Kanoa’s database schema, and built custom end-of-shift reports.
The case study also notes that Kanoa’s standard scripting libraries made it easy to get data in and out of the system without directly touching SQL.
That is an important implementation principle.
Systems integrators should be able to configure, integrate, and extend the MES without fighting the system’s core architecture. When they can do that, manufacturers get the benefit of a productized MES foundation and the practical customization needed for their specific operations.
You can learn more about Kanoa's Systems Integrator partners on our webpage.
One final lesson from Tree Top’s case study is that a successful MES project should not be a dead end.
It should create a foundation that can expand.
Tree Top has implemented Kanoa Ops at two facilities, with two more planned for 2026. They are also establishing a company-wide MES Forum to align all six plants on shared metrics, terminology, and expectations.
That is exactly the kind of organizational maturity MES should support.
The first goal may be visibility at one plant or on one line. But once the data model, operating rhythms, dashboards, reports, and terminology become trusted, the organization can start scaling those practices across facilities.
That is where MES becomes more than a software layer. It becomes part of how the manufacturer operates.
Tree Top’s case study is valuable because it shows MES success in a real operating environment.
Not a generic demo.
Not a theoretical dashboard.
Not a one-size-fits-all implementation.
It shows a manufacturer using Ignition and Kanoa MES, with CedarTech as the systems integrator, to build practical visibility across complex food and beverage operations.
For manufacturers planning MES projects, the takeaways are clear:
Start with trusted data.
MES visibility only matters if people believe the information.
Make OEE actionable.
Do not stop at the score. Use MES to understand availability, performance, downtime, and quality drivers.
Design visibility by role.
Operators, supervisors, engineers, maintenance teams, and management need different views.
Put information where work happens.
Dashboards, TV displays, reports, and widgets should support real operating decisions.
Plan for variation.
Especially in food and beverage, every plant and line will have unique requirements.
Choose a platform that integrators can extend.
The best MES projects combine productized functionality with implementation flexibility.
Think beyond the first deployment.
A good MES project should create a foundation for continuous improvement and multi-site alignment.
That is why the Tree Top story is such a strong example of modern MES visibility. It shows what happens when plant-floor data becomes trusted production intelligence — and when that intelligence reaches the people who can use it.
For Kanoa, this is exactly the kind of outcome we want Kanoa MES to support: helping Ignition-first manufacturers move from raw operational data to real-time visibility, better decisions, and a scalable foundation for continuous improvement.