Software expected to reduce complexity in business-to-manufacturing integration
Lake Forest, CA — January 4, 2006 — Wonderware, a business unit of Invensys Systems Inc., today announced the release of a new version of its enterprise integration offering designed to reduce the complexity and costs of business-to-manufacturing integration.
Wonderware said its Enterprise Integration Application 2.0 integrates diverse sets of manufacturing systems and business applications to help manufacturers improve operational performance and achieve greater levels of business productivity.
Built on Invensys' innovative ArchestrA software architecture, the Enterprise Integration Application openly sits on top of existing multi-vendor, plant-floor applications such as human-machine interfaces (HMIs), historians or manufacturing execution systems (MES). It then aligns business and manufacturing processes by using workflow functionality and transformation mappings configured in a non-programmatic environment to define reusable and maintainable integration solutions.
"Since the initial release of the Wonderware Enterprise Integration Application in October 2004, we have experienced a surge in demand for the standardized and maintainable approach it represents," explained Claus Madsen Abildgren, Wonderware's program manager for production and performance management software solutions. "Our customers see this application as the key to transitioning from custom integration to affordable B2M interoperability.
Madsen added that Wonderware is currently involved in rollouts with several clients that span several industries. More than 10 projects are already underway, which include implementation rollouts at more than 40 manufacturing sites, he said.
Version 2.0 of the software extends the library of pre-built integration templates to better facilitate the integration of business applications that include middleware or computerized maintenance management systems. The software also supports industry standards such as WBF B2MML and ISA-95, and enhancements have been added to the built-in event-handling feature.
Additionally, the software offers the ability to operate securely between non-trusted environments with guaranteed message delivery through architectural options.
Finally, the software offers a new production dispatch client functionality so production orders can be independently released regardless of business system or network availability, enabling continuous plant operations.
With the release of version 2.0 of its Enterprise Integration Application, Wonderware said it has launched an initiative to reduce the complexity and risks associated with large-scale deployments through its consulting services and by collaborating more closely with the broad network of Wonderware's ArchestrA-certified system integrators. The goal is to establish a worldwide group of qualified system integrators for successful implementations of Wonderware applications.
ASECO Integrated Systems Ltd., a system integration company that has acquired top-level ArchestrA-certified status in the Wonderware SI Program, is one of many integrators that have recently enjoyed success with this product.
"The two main benefits we've received from using the Wonderware Enterprise Integration Application — compared to previous approaches to custom development — are that it takes away a lot of risk while maintaining the flexibility to meet specific requirements," said Robert Peters, president of ASECO. "It also has helped us pursue new opportunities because the ability to integrate business and plant-floor information improves our standing with potential customers."
Business demand for increased operational performance across multiple sites has been the impetus behind enterprise integration. In addition to overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and dashboards with real-time key performance indicators, enterprise integration offers increased consistency in product quality driven by tighter specification management, better planning and faster execution of production orders.
