Brooks Software looks to enterprise interoperability
by Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 7/1/2005 12:00:00 AM
Last year, enterprise vendor SAP—admitting that manufacturers could not operate in an "all-SAP-all-the-time" environment—announced its Shop Floor Partner Program and an ISA S95-compliant business package, both of which promised to make integration of factory-floor systems with mySAP ERP easier.
Now the results of this new openness are starting to take shape. Brooks Software'snew Enterprise Interoperability Hub—a middleware application that enables plant-to-business information exchange—integrates mySAP with Brooks' manufacturing execution system, FACTORYworks MES. It contains components certified through SAP's Powered by NetWeaver program. ISA S95 and Open Applications Group (OAG) adapters link the MES to other enterprise applications. Brooks plans to release adaptors for other ERP, CRM, and supply chain management systems later in the year.
"People have been doing this for years, but it has always been a very customized solution," says Phil Walker, Brooks' director of business development. "Now that we have an out-of-the-box solution, [it's possible to] construct applications that take advantage of a common data model for ERP and the shop floor."
SAP's strategy shift and the willingness of ISVs with footprints closer to the plant floor to play along are welcome developments for customers.
Says Chuck Wallace, VP and CIO at Phoenix-based silicon wafer supplier SUMCO(a customer of both Brooks and SAP), "What this means for us is the ability to provide the right kind of information to executives and others at a lower total cost. SAP has traditionally sold to financial officers. Brooks has sold to engineers and factory-floor people, and it was up to IT to bring the two of them together. We're certainly hoping both of them will be more aggressive in supporting these connections."
