DAB Pumps

DAB Pumps, an Italian industrial pump manufacturer, faced a critical challenge common in Industrial Machinery: their production line user interface was built on obsolete technology that had become a barrier to modernization. Operators and line leaders relied on a familiar interface that, despite its age, had become deeply embedded in daily workflows. Replacing it outright risked significant workforce disruption and change management costs. Without a low-code approach, modernizing the MES would have required full rewrites of custom applications — extending development timelines and driving up costs precisely when the business needed to move faster on its digitalization roadmap.

DAB Pumps worked with Siemens and their Smart Expert Partner Industries eXcellence (IndX) to upgrade their existing Opcenter Execution Foundation MES to the latest release, which natively embeds Mendix, Siemens' low-code UI development platform. Rather than rebuilding from scratch, the upgrade path preserved existing process logic while enabling a modern, visually refreshed interface to be composed in Mendix without custom code. The native Mendix integration meant new UI components could be introduced or modified during future system upgrades without triggering full application rewrites. This deployment approach — upgrading within the existing Siemens MES ecosystem rather than replacing it — minimized integration risk while unlocking a sustainable path for ongoing UX evolution.

The implementation delivered measurable improvements across both user experience and development efficiency:

• Improved operator UX: Production line interfaces became more visually intuitive, increasing engagement among operators and line leaders without requiring retraining on new workflows.
• Reduced development cost and time: The low-code approach eliminated the need for custom code rewrites during the MES upgrade, directly cutting development overhead.
• Greater upgrade flexibility: Future Opcenter releases can now be adopted with Mendix UI customizations intact, removing a longstanding bottleneck in the MES upgrade cycle.

Qualitatively, the project validated a repeatable modernization pattern — update the platform, retain the workflow — that DAB Pumps can apply to subsequent digitalization initiatives.

• Upgrade-in-place beats replace: When an existing MES vendor offers native low-code integration, upgrading within that ecosystem is typically faster and lower-risk than a greenfield replacement.
• UX continuity is a change management lever: Preserving the look and feel of legacy interfaces during technology transitions reduces retraining costs and resistance from the shop floor.
• Low-code in MES is a long-term investment: The real ROI compounds over multiple upgrade cycles — each future release becomes cheaper to adopt when UI customizations don't need to be rewritten.
• Partner selection matters: Working with a certified system integrator (IndX) familiar with both Opcenter and Mendix accelerated the implementation and reduced technical risk.