Answer extracted from The Manufacturing IT Podcast — listen to the full episode below.
How does transparent, flat-rate pricing affect user adoption and ROI in MES software adoption?
Transparent, flat-rate pricing models remove licensing complexity and handcuffs from operations teams, allowing them to add new users and expand platform adoption across more desks without worrying about per-tag or per-report cost barriers. This operational freedom directly translates to higher user adoption rates, broader system utilization, and measurably improved ROI at the bottom line.
Breaking the cost barrier to adoption
Traditional MES licensing models often lock operations teams into restrictive pricing tiers based on metrics like the number of tags, reports, or concurrent users. This creates a natural ceiling on adoption—teams hesitate to roll out the system to new workstations or invite additional operators because every expansion triggers cost negotiations and procurement delays.
Flat-rate pricing eliminates this friction point entirely. As Tom Heckman explains in The Manufacturing IT Podcast, this approach lets companies easily add new licenses or new users without the complexity of per-tag or per-report calculations. The result is that operations managers can focus on value rather than managing licensing constraints.
From constraint to scaling
When pricing is simple and predictable, the decision to expand becomes a business question, not a budget negotiation. Operations teams gain the freedom to roll out the platform to every desk that could benefit from it, rather than concentrating it in a handful of critical roles.
This unrestricted access directly fuels adoption. More users interacting with the system means more data collection, more process visibility, and more opportunities to optimize workflows. The operational benefits compound—and that compounding improvement is what ultimately drives ROI.
"Anything that simplifies the interactions between a company and our company to handle purchasing is what people are looking for."
Tom Heckman — Founder and CTO at Sepasoft, with over 20 years in manufacturing and automation. Heckman began his career in the 1980s at an Allen Bradley distributorship, working in data collection and automation systems, before founding Sepasoft in 2010 to bring transparent, user-friendly MES solutions to manufacturers.
For a deeper dive into how Sepasoft's approach to simplification extends beyond pricing, the full episode covers how Heckman's team has integrated with open platforms like Inductive Automation's Ignition to further reduce friction in MES deployment.
Key takeaways
- Flat-rate pricing removes per-tag and per-report licensing barriers, making it easier to expand adoption across the operations floor.
- Simplified pricing eliminates procurement delays and enables operations teams to scale without seeking repeated budget approvals.
- Higher user adoption directly correlates to better data collection, more system utilization, and improved ROI.
- Transparent pricing models signal vendor reliability and reduce customer friction in the buying and implementation process.
See also
What new advanced analysis capabilities is Sepasoft introducing to simplify AI implementation in manufacturing?
Sepasoft is releasing a product combining connectors like MQTT, API calls, and Kafka with an advanced analysis engine that includes root downtime cause analysis and other AI-driven insights to help manufacturers prepare and leverage their MES data more effectively.
What challenges do manufacturers face when preparing MES data for artificial intelligence applications?
Many manufacturers struggle with getting clean MES data into AI systems. MES data isn't static after initial recording—quality results change, tests run multiple times, and manual interventions occur. These dynamics require continuous data validation and transformation before AI models can use the data reliably.
How did Stone Brewing improve operational efficiency after implementing MES software for brew house control?
Stone Brewing, a Southern California brewer recently acquired by Sapuro, deployed Sepasoft software to control their entire brewing process, achieving rapid operator training times and improved consistency across their brew house operations.