Proficy Enterprise Connector extends plant integration with business systems
September 2006
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
GE Fanuc Automation has announced the release of its Proficy Enterprise Connector 1.5. It provides bi-directional enterprise integration between Proficy and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, such as SAP.
This is according to Daniel Coetzee, manager of GE Fanuc Automation division for Sub-Saharan Africa.
"The introduction of this realtime capability allows manufacturers to establish flexible production operations and remain competitive in the global economy," says Coetzee.
"As an extension of GE Fanuc Automation's Proficy Plant Applications integrated suite of Production Management Solutions, Enterprise Connector enables the mapping of the external Business Systems requests to/from the Proficy Information Architecture. The information from manufacturing facilities is now available to the business to make more rapid, informed, business decisions," he explains.
"We have helped industry-leading manufacturers connect their enterprise applications to our Plant Applications systems many times over the years, to drive their corporate quality, productivity and profitability initiatives."
Coetzee points out: "By utilising industry standards, the Enterprise Connector allows GE Fanuc Automation to package our extensive ERP integration experience into a powerful, standards-based, off-the-shelf product which makes these efforts repeatable and supportable for us and our customers on a global scale."
The Proficy Enterprise Connector performs as follows:
* Leverages the ISA-95 standard to define the interface between the business and manufacturing systems of an enterprise, through the XML-based B2MML (Business to Manufacturing Markup Language) schema.
* Automatically generates B2MML schemas and message types for immediate use in orchestrations and/or mapping.
* Exchanges messages from all of the various connected business applications with Proficy; thereby enabling ERP visibility into production management realtime data for material consumption, performance reporting, schedule execution and other supply chain and/or enterprise-level functions.
Proficy Enterprise Connector is supplied, out-of-the-box, with a number of B2MML-based templates to jump-start the integration process, and speed up a user's time-to-value. The B2MML-based templates can be tailored to meet the specific needs of a customer, site or implementations of an ERP system, which is crucial, according to Coetzee.
"In manufacturing, there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all. You need to be able to support the special requirements of an industry, a customer and a specific site; while providing as much stable, re-usable technology as possible. GE Fanuc Automation's Plant Applications products support continuous, batch, hybrid and discrete production environments with the same solution set. Any manufacturer considering a standard solution for plant, business unit or enterprise-level roll-outs needs to consider how well their solution can support all of these different environments," he concludes.
About GE Industrial - GE Fanuc Automation division
The GE Fanuc Automation division of GE Industrial is a joint venture between GE and FANUC of Japan, delivers automation hardware and software designed to help users reduce costs, increase efficiency and enhance profitability. With solutions and services catering to virtually every industrial segment, the GE Fanuc Automation division provides a diverse array of capabilities and products, including controllers, embedded systems, advanced software, motion control, CNCs, operator interfaces, industrial computers, and lasers. GE Fanuc Automation is a part of GE Industrial and combines the diverse global strengths of the GE family with the local presence customers need to design, develop and maintain their automation investments.
For more information contact GE Industrial - GE Fanuc Automation, +27 (0) 31 583 3640.
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