DFX: Manufacturing Execution System (MES) Software for Food and Beverage

DFX, AI-native MES, brings production, quality, downtime, traceability, and operator actions into one live record, giving food and beverage manufacturers the visibility to run better today and the data foundation to apply AI tomorrow.

MES: A layer that connects planning and execution on the plant floor

A manufacturing execution system, or MES, helps production teams see what is running, what happened, what changed, and what needs attention.
Every shift, an MES answers questions
Without an MES, those answers are scattered across clipboards, logbooks, and spreadsheets, reassembled by hand whenever a hold or audit comes up. An MES closes that gap.
DFX operates in this MES layer, turning machine, operator, quality, and material data into one live production record for food and beverage manufacturing.

MES creates clarity on the plant floor

Execute
Guides operators through the right production, recipe, material, and quality steps, so each run follows the defined process.
Monitor
Gives every plant, line, and machine real-time visibility. Production, downtime, and quality are updated continuously, so problems can be immediately noticed and fixed.
Improve
Turns stops, speed losses, quality exceptions, and reliability issues into structured insights, so teams know where performance is being lost.
Track and trace
Connects materials, lots, checks, events, and finished goods to the batch record, so audits, holds, and recalls have a clear production history.

DFX delivers visibility, measurement, and traceability

DFX delivers MES as a set of apps on one data model, one entity hierarchy, and one security model. Data is captured once on the floor and is available everywhere in real time.

Quality and compliance
DFX builds quality checks into the production flow, from receiving and in-process checks to finished-product validation. QI, FTQ, GMP scoring, and checklist compliance are tracked continuously.
Quality becomes part of how the run is executed.
Real-time OEE and performance
DFX calculates Availability, Performance, Quality, and OEE at workcenter, line, and plant level. It separates brief stops from true breakdowns and captures slow-running time that often goes unrecorded.
So teams see the real performance gap, not just the reported one.
Downtime and loss analysis
DFX categorizes losses automatically, ranks them through Pareto analysis, and separates major stoppages from minor stops. It also tracks MTBF and MTTR, and estimates the OEE impact of reducing specific losses.
Improvement work starts with the losses that matter most.
Genealogy and traceability
DFX connects materials, lots, production events, downtime causes, and quality checks to the batch record. From a single date code, teams can reconstruct the full production history.
Recalls, holds, and audits are investigated with confidence and speed.
Paperless operations
DFX replaces paper-based workflows with digital checklists, guided steps, timestamps, and user attribution. Every check is enforced and recorded as part of the production process.
So the plant stays inspection-ready without relying on manual follow-ups or last-minute record collection.
ERP reconciliation
DFX brings production orders in from ERP and books actual output back as work happens on the floor. The production record stays connected to the business system.
Planning, inventory, and reporting reflect what actually happened on the plant floor.

DFX: AI-native MES starts with a trusted production record

Most MES platforms add AI later, as a reporting feature. DFX is built so that the record itself is the foundation that an industrial agent needs.

Machine Learning

Predict what will happen

Models trained on the production record can help teams identify patterns and anticipate issues before they affect output, quality, or reliability.

Agentic AI

Recommend what to do next

AI agents can monitor the live production record and surface what needs attention, so teams can act before small issues become larger losses.

Built for live food and beverage deployments

DFX is built around the operating realities of the food and beverage industry, such as recipes, batches, quality checks, sanitation cycles, material traceability, holds, exceptions, and audit-ready records.

Raw material preparation
Guided recipes and material scanning help enforce the right inputs in the right order, reducing the risk of incorrect material usage.
In-process checks
Quality checks are scheduled into the run and surfaced to operators, so critical checks are not missed or completed too late.
Sanitation and changeovers
Clean-in-place and sanitation cycles are recorded against their required steps, helping teams maintain a reliable record of compliance.
Performance losses
Line and machine tracking separates real breakdowns from minor stops and slow-running losses that often go unrecorded.

Proven across live food and beverage deployments

200+

lines connected

8%

average OEE improvement

170+

plants live

XXM+

cases traced annually

Case study snapshot

Pernod Ricard: Scaling operational intelligence across 30 facilities

Pernod Ricard: Scaling operational intelligence across 30 facilities

Altizon’s DFX Platform unified Pernod Ricard’s production, quality, and sustainability data by replacing fragmented, paper-based…

Large Beverages Major: Standardizing performance across multi-OEM bottling lines

Large Beverages Major: Standardizing performance across multi-OEM bottling lines

Altizon’s DFX Platform helped large beverages major connect multi-OEM bottling lines and utilities into a…

Metric What it measures
Availability Share of scheduled time equipment is actually running
Performance How close the line runs to its designed speed
Quality Good output as a share of total produced
OEE Availability × Performance × Quality
Downtime Booking Compliance Share of downtime formally recorded with a reason
MTBF Mean time between failures (equipment reliability)
MTTR Mean time to repair after a failure
Quality Index (QI) Composite quality score per line and SKU
First Time Quality (FTQ) Product passing without a hold
Process Index (PI) Adherence of quality parameters (out-of-spec rate)
GMP Score Good Manufacturing Practice compliance
Checklist Compliance On-time completion of scheduled checks

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

SCADA monitors and controls equipment in real time at the device level. An MES sits a layer above (ISA-95 Level 3), recording and orchestrating the whole production operation across machines, lines, and plants. DFX consumes SCADA and PLC signals as inputs to that fuller record.

In practice, yes. SaaS (software as a service) is the subscription model where a vendor hosts and maintains the software; "cloud" describes where it runs. A cloud MES is normally delivered as SaaS, which is how DFX is offered.

Both run and record production. The difference is where the software lives and who maintains it. An on-premise MES runs on servers you install and patch at each plant, which leaves every site on its own island. A cloud MES runs in the cloud, with no per-site servers, central updates, and one record across every plant. On-premise still has a place for sites with no reliable connectivity or strict air-gap requirements.

Both run and record production. The difference is where the software lives and who maintains it. An on-premise MES runs on servers you install and patch at each plant, which leaves every site on its own island. A cloud MES runs in the cloud, with no per-site servers, central updates, and one record across every plant. On-premise still has a place for sites with no reliable connectivity or strict air-gap requirements.

A software connector at the plant reads machines and control systems over standard industrial protocols and streams the data to the cloud. There is no new control hardware to add, and the same connector can also feed alerts to Slack and pull production orders from your ERP.

Data capture and time-critical operator tools run on the connector at the plant, so collecting machine data and recording production do not depend on a live cloud link moment to moment. If the connection drops briefly, the connector keeps recording locally and reconciles with the 6 Confidential cloud when it returns. How much local buffering each site needs is sized during deployment.

DFX is built for regulated operations: SOC 2 controls, encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access so people see only what they should, and timestamped audit trails and traceability that meet food and beverage requirements.

Yes. In a shared multi-tenant cloud your data is logically separated so other companies cannot see it. If you need physical isolation, DFX also runs as a dedicated private cloud on your own infrastructure.

DFX is a cloud subscription that scales with how many plants, lines, and machines you connect and which modules you deploy. You can start with the lines that matter most and expand from there, with no upfront server cost.

Ready to see your plant floor as one live record?

Start with the lines that matter most and see measurable OEE, quality, and traceability gains in weeks.