MES solution interfaces with ERP

Yokogawa launched its ISA-95 interface at InterKama, showing its potential with a plant-to-business interoperability demonstration with the SAP NetWeaver platform.

Yokogawa launched its ISA-95 interface at InterKama, showing its potential with a plant-to-business interoperability demonstration with the SAP NetWeaver platform.

To show the potential of the interface Yokogawa demonstrated a real-time manufacturing execution solution leveraging the ISA-95 interface to connect Yokogawa's CS 3000 distributed control system (DCS) via Exaquantum/Batch plant information management system (PIMS) with the mySAP ERP solution via the SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI) component of SAP NetWeaver.

The demonstration showed Yokogawa's commitment to the ISA-95 standard and the Business To Manufacturing Markup Language (B2MML) implementation of the standards.

Yokogawa and SAP have worked together to make these plant-to-business demonstration scenarios possible.

Yokogawa has developed an ISA interface for its MES system, the industry-leading Exaquantum/Batch PIMS coupled to its CS 3000 DCS, to receive ISA-95/B2MML format production schedules from mySAP ERP via SAP XI.

on completion, the PIMS sends an ISA-95/B2MML format production performance message through SAP XI to mySAP ERP.

Yokogawa has interfaced its systems with the configurable SAP Manufacturing Intelligence Dashboards that are built on the SAP Enterprise Portal to provide mySAP users with real-time access to the control and MES systems.

This reduces costs, speeds up information exchange within the enterprise, and can make manufacturers leaner and more agile.

The Yokogawa MES system sends production alerts to the SAP Manufacturing Intelligence Dashboards to notify mySAP ERP users of critical operational events in real time.

The events are configurable and include a wide variety of real time data, including alerts based on the start and end of production, abnormal production occurrences like order cycle time exceeding targets, quality/lab results that are not acceptable, and the abnormal termination of an order due to production upsets.

These real-time alerts permit adaptive manufacturing, providing production managers and corporate executives with real-time access to operational data without having to wait for daily, weekly or even monthly reports of production shortfalls.

The Yokogawa MES system also sends key performance indicator (KPI) data to the SAP Manufacturing Intelligence Dashboards.

The KPI data is also configurable, reporting batch cycle time, OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), individual unit (reactor) utilisation rates, product quality levels and product cost vs.

target.

The KPIs are displayed in the SAP Dashboards that provides KPI trend displays and hyperlinks to related displays in the Yokogawa MES system.

The demo brings together different Yokogawa capabilities such as its base CS 3000 and Exaquantum/Batch products, the new HIS TSE (Terminal Server Edition), standard MES solutions built on the Exaquantum/Batch reports, CS Batch 3000 schedule interface with custom MES programming that provides a configurable, standards-based solution for interfacing Yokogawa's production management systems with SAP solutions.

Typical ERP-MES integrations are very expensive and take a long time.

SAP's and Yokogawa's support of the ISA-95, B2MML, XML and web server standards translates into less expensive and faster implementations for end users.

Yokogawa is a prime contributor to both the ISA-95 and B2MML standards.

Yokogawa has been represented on the SP95 committee since the development of Part 1 of the standard and has aligned its MES offerings with the standard.

Dave Emerson, Systems Architect at Yokogawa, is the co-author of the WBF B2MML XML schemas.

Says Emerson: "This demonstration shows the power of the ISA-95 standard and the B2MML XML schemas".

"SAP and Yokogawa have both implemented web services to exchange the ISA-95 format B2MML production schedule and production performance reports between SAP solutions and Yokogawa's MES system".

"This was accomplished for substantially less cost and in less time than a proprietary method would require".

At Interkama, Yokogawa demonstrated how the ISA-95 interface enables bidirectional connectivity with SAP XI and how it can be applied to pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The FDA Process Analytical Technology initiative allows for the faster release of products by "real-time validation".

Costly and time-consuming off-line laboratory analysis has become obsolete in PAT processes.

Validation of a PAT manufacturing process is based on process understanding.

This implies that the inside of the process is visible in real time.

As a result, the manufacturer understands what is seen and can control the process to stay within the defined boundaries that result in a product with the correct quality.

The application of PAT technology is expected to save the pharmaceutical industry billions of dollars in manufacturing and regulatory expenses.

Exaquantum/Batch Plant Information Management System (PIMS) enables real-time data acquisition, batch manufacturing control and interpretation of collected data as well as 21 CFR part 11-compliant handling of the relevant records.

This allows clear process visibility, the building of thorough process understanding and the possibility of adequate process control and preparation of the required regulatory documents, in real time.

SAP includes in SAP XI support of the ISA S95 standards for plant-to-business connectivity, which brings a whole new dimension to this by summarising the critical process parameters in the management information system, allowing real-time visibility of plant performance and product validation in the board room.

Through this, Yokogawa brings the VigilantPlant concept to the pharmaceutical industry in showing that process analytical technology equals "see, know and act", straight into the management information system.

Nigel Bowden, Yokogawa GMSC Managing Director, adds: "The competitive performance put up by today's best plants is huge, and without the most up-to-date process control MES solution interfaced with ERP solutions, no operator can compete".

"The Yokogawa solutions we have on display at Interkama are state-of-the-art and set a new industry standard".

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