From Prototype to Production: The MESS Project

Level of Education of Students Involved

Undergraduate

Faculty Sponsor

Polly Wainwright

College

College of Arts & Sciences (CAS)

Discipline(s)

Computer Science, Manufacturing Engineering

ORCID Identifier(s)

Sam Thyen, 0009-0008-3511-491X

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Symposium Date

Spring 4-30-2026

Abstract

SENSIT Technologies, a gas leak detection equipment manufacturer in Valparaiso, Indiana, utilizes a custom-built Manufacturing Execution System (MES) developed with C#, Blazor, ASP.NET Core Identity, and PostgreSQL to manage production data. In May 2025, the Manufacturing Execution Software System (MESS) began to evolve from a student prototype into a production-ready platform. This transition included a full migration from Microsoft SQL Server to PostgreSQL, significant database schema redesigns, and major frontend and backend refactoring. One key feature introduced is a drag-and-drop work instruction editor with rich text, image support, and XLSX import/export. The system also supports batch production logging and rework tracking aligned with real-world manufacturing processes. MESS is currently deployed on Microsoft Azure and used daily by approximately 10 operators across multiple product lines. Ongoing development focuses on part traceability, including modeling component genealogy under complex rework scenarios and implementing a reusable QR code tagging system. This work introduces challenges in balancing data accuracy, system performance, and environmental considerations. Additional efforts addressed Entity Framework tracking conflicts and included a full redesign of persistence logic for the work instruction editor. With over 690 commits, this phase marks MESS’s transition into an actively used, free and open-source industrial system, improving production visibility and standardizing manufacturing workflows.

Biographical Information about Author(s)

Sam Thyen, a Senior Computer Science major at Valparaiso University.

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