The primary challenge for pharmaceutical executives is how to bring more products to market faster. Manufacturing systems must support rapid product launches, accelerations, and yield maximization, as well as facilitate the reinvention of drug products. To manage this, data integration needs to be seamless and flow across silos. For this reason, Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) play a crucial role in the overall architecture of pharmaceutical manufacturers. As the industry transitions to cloud-based systems and focuses on core capabilities, the requirements for MES are changing. Therefore, the question arises: what does the future hold for MES?