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Yokogawa achieves 'Powered by SAP NetWeaver' status

August 2006 News

Yokogawa Electric Corporation recently announced that it has gained 'Powered by SAP NetWeaver' qualification from SAP after working closely with SAP to develop an open interface between the mySAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) application and the Yokogawa portfolio of MES and Operational Excellence solutions. The open interface, trade-marked 'MDX' (manufacturing data exchange) supports the ANSI/S95 standard for production management data interchange between MES and ERP systems. It makes use of the SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure (SAP NetWeaver XI) component to fully integrate operational and shop floor data within the SAP NetWeaver Portal.

MDX incorporates an embedded Yokogawa Exaquantum Plant Information Management System (PIMS) and delivers an open in/out standards-based platform for integration with mySAP ERP to any process control or manufacturing system that supports the OPC DA interface standard. This two-way, open communication clearly demonstrates Yokogawa's commitment to interoperability between manufacturing and business systems.

MDX provides a bi-directional flow of information between mySAP ERP 2004 and the production environment, delivering instructions and schedules from mySAP ERP 2004 to CENTUM CS3000 and to the manufacturing intelligence dashboards of mySAP. This enables closed-loop production management and allows users to conduct performance analysis of their plants through alerts, reports and key performance indicators, providing realtime business decision support.

The early prototype of MDX was showcased in 2005 at the InterKama Hannover Fair, where it generated high levels of interest from industry commentators and the process industry in general. The release of the MDX interface, which has been certified by SAP, is now available and complements the integration of manufacturing data within the ERP business management environment. MDX provides a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) approach to integration, leveraging open standards to ease implementation and reduce total cost of ownership. The MDX interface enables process plant users to connect their MES and process control systems with their SAP solution-based system using an easy-to-engineer, standards-based system that can be implemented quickly.

MDX supports the data exchange needs of both continuous and batch processing plants and can be applied equally effectively within oil and gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and specialty chemicals process plants. It handles planning and schedule execution, performance against plan, recipes and modes/targets, performance reporting, batch reporting, exception alerts and materials/product information seamlessly. The bi-directional nature of the interface allows control room operators to view SAP solution-based production planning data within the control systems while enabling users of mySAP ERP to view realtime production and control system data within the intelligent dashboard of mySAP.

Teruyoshi Minaki, managing director and CEO of Yokogawa Electric International, comments, "The MDX interface is part of Yokogawa's VigilantPlant solution portfolio that provides a value proposition for our customers to maximise their operational excellence by delivering Production Excellence, Asset Excellence and Safety Excellence solutions. The Powered by SAP Netweaver qualification of MDX demonstrates Yokogawa's commitment to working with best-in-class business solution providers to generate high-value customer benefits through actively supporting the use of open standards such as ANSI/SA-95. The certification enables customers to take advantage of industry standards to implement realtime flexible manufacturing solutions that deliver an integrated board-room-to-control-room view of their entire enterprise."

About Yokogawa South Africa

Yokogawa South Africa was originally founded in 1978 as Delta Controls, the exclusive distributor of Yokogawa Process Control and Instrumentation (PCI) products in South Africa. In 1997 Delta Controls became a wholly owned subsidiary of Yokogawa Europe B.V.

Via our head office in Johannesburg and branches in Durban and Cape Town, we are fully capable of selling, engineering and supporting the full range of Yokogawa PCI products.

The main Yokogawa product groupings are: recorders, controllers, transmitters, flowmeters, analytical (liquid and gas), PLCs as well as control systems. The company is also the exclusive distributor for Barksdale pressure and level devices and Kinetrol Actuators.

For more information contact Rob Oliaro, Yokogawa South Africa, +27 (0) 11 831 6300, [email protected], www.yokogawa.com/za



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