ISA-95
ISA-95 is the international standard for enterprise-control integration that defines a hierarchical model of manufacturing systems. It separates manufacturing operations into five levels: Level 0 (physical process), Level 1 (sensing and actuation), Level 2 (control, SCADA, HMI), Level 3 (MES/MOM — production, quality, inventory, maintenance operations), and Level 4 (ERP and business planning). ISA-95 provides the reference model that defines where MES sits, what data it owns, and how it integrates with systems above and below it in the stack.
Why it matters
ISA-95 is the vocabulary that allows MES buyers, integrators, and vendors to have a common conversation about system boundaries, data ownership, and integration requirements. Without ISA-95 as a reference frame, MES projects routinely suffer from scope conflicts between ERP, SCADA, and MES — each claiming ownership of data that should belong to a single system of record.
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Cite this definition
Finocchiaro, Michael. “ISA-95.” DemystifyingPLM PLM Glossary, 2026, https://www.demystifyingplm.com/glossary/isa-95