Sepasoft Alternatives: Ignition MES Modules or Packaged Light MES

A brewery runs Ignition for its SCADA, and the controls engineer knows it well. Sepasoft's MES modules plug into it. The plant manager asks something simpler: why did packaging lose two hours last Tuesday, and how soon can we see that every day?

Both needs are fair, and they can lead to different tools. This page sets out what Sepasoft sells, going by its own site, when it fits, and three alternatives: another MES on Ignition, an MES platform from one vendor, and a packaged light MES. Fabrico is one of the three and wrote the page, so check its claims as you would any vendor's. For Ignition itself, see our Ignition review.

What Sepasoft sells (as of 12.11.2026, per sepasoft.com)

Sepasoft's company story traces its roots to the 1990s and says it built a modular MES platform specifically for Ignition by Inductive Automation. Its main office is in El Dorado Hills, California.

• OEE Downtime. Collects production counts, cycle times and downtime events. Detection algorithms, applied to a line or across cell groups, determine why the primary equipment is not producing, and blocked and starved time are tracked apart (OEE Downtime page). Data collection can be automatic, manual or hybrid.
• Schedules. The OEE module shows schedule entries, from the ERP, typed in or dragged on as work orders, next to actual and target output. SepaIQ Finite Scheduling is a separate planning and scheduling product built around real constraints (Finite Scheduling).
• Batch Procedure. ISA-88 recipe modelling, batch execution and procedure-based work instructions, with electronic batch records (Batch Procedure).
• Track and Trace. Genealogy from raw materials to finished goods, shown in a visual trace graph (Track and Trace).
• More modules. SPC, Settings and Changeover for product recipes, a Business Connector, Web Services and an Interface for SAP ERP (products).
• Multi-site. MES Enterprise links site systems across Ignition servers, including edge and cloud-hosted ones (MES Enterprise).
• Who builds it. Sepasoft lists certified integrators in its integrator directory. Its Quick Start Program page says your team and implementation partner remain responsible for configuration, validation and delivery.

Its case studies page lists OEE, batch, SPC and trace projects in food, brewing, biopharma, steel and other plants. The results there are reported by the vendor, so this page does not repeat them.

Ask in the demo: which modules your first phase needs, and who configures and maintains them, your engineers or an integrator.

When Sepasoft fits your plant

On the evidence of its own site, Sepasoft belongs on the shortlist when:

• Ignition already runs your SCADA or HMI, and your engineers or integrator know it. Its OEE page says OEE data flows directly within your Ignition projects.
• You need batch records and genealogy as well as OEE, from one suite.
• Your lines have many cells, and you want downtime reasons determined across cell groups.
• You plan several sites with synchronised configuration.

The alternatives fit when you want another MES on the same platform, one vendor's MES platform, or OEE and downtime running before any MES build starts.

Modules on a platform, or a packaged light MES?

The biggest difference is not a feature. It is who assembles the system. Sepasoft's modules run on Ignition. Its Quick Start Program page says your team and implementation partner remain responsible for configuration, validation and delivery, and its OEE page describes a built-in analysis engine and custom dashboards. A packaged light MES such as Fabrico is set up with the vendor for your lines, shifts and stop reasons.

Comparison table: Sepasoft and three alternatives

Each cell comes from the vendor's own site as of 12.11.2026; the links are in the sections below.

Want to see line losses by cause before you scope modules? Book a demo and bring your station list.

Fabrico: a packaged light MES that starts with OEE

This is our own product, so weigh it like the others. Fabrico is a cloud OEE and light MES platform: the monitoring and OEE layer of an MES. Fabrico is built around OEE and downtime.

Scope, per the MES and OEE overview:

• Included: machine data collection, production monitoring, OEE and downtime by cause, losses in money by line and shift, with maintenance built in.
• ERP: a connection to SAP or another ERP can be scoped per customer through REST APIs.
• On the roadmap: production planning and scheduling.
• Not included: job dispatching, BOMs, routings and product genealogy. Plants that need them keep them in the ERP or another system.
• Every machine type: PLC lines are read from the PLC, older machines get an IoT device with sensors, and operators pick the stop reason on a tablet or phone. AI cameras, an add-on on request, count output at manual steps; see AI visual counting.
• Camera video: with the camera add-on, video can be opened for any moment of the shift; by default it is streamed when you ask for it and not kept in Fabrico. A camera add-on that detects stops or proposes a reason is on the roadmap, not live.
• Timeline: Devices connected in about a month; full rollout in 3 to 4 months. Training is live and on site.
• Data out: REST API, webhooks, and Excel or CSV export, with web, iOS and Android apps.

Ask in the demo: what a pilot line shows after the first month, and how results would reach an MES added later. Our computer vision page and FMCG camera guide cover the add-on.

Two guides help with the build or buy question: light MES vs full MES and build vs buy OEE software.

Kanoa MES: another MES built on Ignition

Kanoa's overview page describes Kanoa MES as a modular manufacturing execution system built on the Ignition platform, the same base Sepasoft builds on. As of 12.11.2026, its pages say:

• Kanoa Ops is the foundation, for OEE, downtime tracking, scheduling and work execution. Kanoa Trace, Quality, Maintenance and Inventory are optional add-ons.
• Kanoa Ops includes downtime, scrap and performance-loss coding, and its Kanoa Ops page says it standardises downtime capture.
• Its documentation says Kanoa ships as an Ignition module, a Microsoft SQL Server database and Ignition Perspective projects that provide the out-of-the-box MES application. Extensions are made in the Ignition Designer.
• Its homepage describes a systems integrator partner program with certification levels.

Compared with Sepasoft: both add MES functions to Ignition. Kanoa's docs describe one module, a SQL Server database and Perspective projects, extended in the Ignition Designer; Sepasoft's pages describe separate modules for OEE, batch, trace, SPC and recipes. Ask each which screens come ready and which your team builds.

Ask in the demo: which Kanoa Solutions phase one needs, and how upgrades reach a gateway your team has extended.

TrakSYS by Parsec: one vendor's MES platform

Parsec Automation calls TrakSYS a unified MES platform for real-time operations and data contextualization, on its TrakSYS overview. As of 12.11.2026, its pages say:

• It integrates with equipment, PLCs and enterprise systems, and connects to ERP, SCADA, LIMS and historians with low-code tools. Plant apps can be composed and deployed without custom code.
• Its food and beverage page lists digital quality checks, recipe and batch management, yield monitoring, traceability and recall management, and live monitoring of yield, quality and downtime.
• It also has a consumer packaged goods page.
• Its homepage describes delivery that can combine Parsec, partners and your internal teams.

Compared with Sepasoft: both are modular MES suites. TrakSYS is Parsec's own platform; Sepasoft's modules run on Ignition.

Ask in the demo: which parts phase one needs, and who delivers it: Parsec, a partner or your own team.

Which of the four routes fits your plant

• Sepasoft fits plants that run Ignition and want OEE, batch and trace modules on it, configured by their team and an implementation partner, per sepasoft.com.
• Kanoa MES fits Ignition plants that want a productized MES starting point to configure and extend in the Ignition Designer, per kanoa.ai.
• TrakSYS fits plants that want one vendor's MES platform, with recipe and batch management and traceability on its food and beverage page, per parsec-corp.com.
• Fabrico fits plants that want OEE, downtime by cause and losses in money first, with dispatching, BOMs, routings and genealogy kept in the ERP, per fabrico.io.

Not sure a light MES covers your plant? Our light MES guide has a five-question test. For how SCADA and MES split the work, see SCADA vs MES; to add OEE next to an existing SCADA, see our OEE and SCADA integration guide.

Worked example: what one week of OEE data says about scope

Made-up numbers for one week on a bakery bagging line, two shifts a day for five days, not a customer's line or a Fabrico screen. Planned time is 4,500 minutes at an ideal 60 bags a minute, so the week could make 270,000 bags.

Stops took 400 minutes and changeovers 310, so the line ran for 3,790. Availability is 3,790 of 4,500 minutes, or 84.2%.

In 3,790 minutes the ideal is 227,400 bags. The bagger counted 211,500, so performance is 93.0%. Scrap was 3,170 bags, leaving 208,330 good, so quality is 98.5%. OEE is 84.2% x 93.0% x 98.5% = 77.2%, the same as 208,330 good of 270,000 possible.

Turn each loss into minutes at the ideal rate: stops 400, changeovers 310, slow running 265 and scrap 53. Scrap is about 5% of the lost time.

In this sample, 95% of the lost time is stops, changeovers and speed, which OEE and downtime data show. If a recall or an audit is the main risk, batch records and genealogy come first. For the formula, see our OEE calculation guide; for the camera add-on on lines like this, see our guides for bakeries and breweries.

Questions to ask before you choose modules on Ignition or a packaged MES

Put the same questions to every vendor, for one real line and one real site.

• Which Ignition version, modules and servers does phase one need?
• Who owns the Ignition project after go-live? Your engineers, the integrator, or both.
• How are module upgrades tested before they reach the production gateway?
• If OEE runs in a separate cloud tool next to Ignition, which tags does it read, and who maps them?
• Where do batch records and genealogy live? In the MES, in the ERP, or split, and who keeps the link working.
• What does an operator do at the line? Count the taps for a stop reason and for a changeover.

What people ask next

Is Sepasoft an MES?

Yes, per its site. Sepasoft sells an MES suite of modules for Ignition by Inductive Automation: OEE Downtime, Batch Procedure, Track and Trace, SPC, and Settings and Changeover, plus enterprise and ERP connectors.

Do I need Ignition to use Sepasoft?

Sepasoft's company story says it built its modular MES platform specifically for Ignition by Inductive Automation, and its OEE page says OEE data flows directly within your Ignition projects. Plan the Ignition side with your integrator.

Can we start with OEE only?

Sepasoft lists OEE Downtime as its own module on its products page. Ask Sepasoft and your integrator what an OEE-only first phase involves.

Who implements a Sepasoft project?

Sepasoft lists certified integrators in its integrator directory, and its Quick Start Program page says your team and implementation partner remain responsible for project execution, configuration, validation and delivery.

How is Fabrico different from Sepasoft?

Sepasoft sells MES modules that run on Ignition and are configured by your team and an implementation partner. Fabrico is a cloud OEE and light MES platform: machine data, downtime by cause and losses in money by line and shift, with an AI camera add-on, on request, where no signal counts. Job dispatching, BOMs, routings and genealogy stay in your ERP.

Which alternatives cover batch records and genealogy?

On this page, Kanoa lists genealogy in its Kanoa Trace add-on, and TrakSYS lists recipe and batch management and traceability, per their own sites. Fabrico does not cover genealogy or batch records; our page on when a light MES is not enough covers that case.

Want to see OEE and downtime by cause on a line like yours before you scope an MES? Book a demo, or talk to our team.