Every year for the past seven years, Managing Automation has surveyed manufacturing executives about their plans for integrating plant floor systems and enterprise applications. And, every year, the responses have shown two consistent themes. First, manufacturers place a high strategic priority on shop floor-to-top floor integration, and most say they have at least started down that integration path. And second, each year manufacturers say they expect to complete plant-to-enterprise integration within two to three years.
When it comes to delivering on shop floor- to-top floor integration, many manufacturers must feel a bit like Sisyphus, the character from Greek mythology who, as punishment, was condemned to push a heavy rock up a steep hill.
Why has plant-to-enterprise integration proved so challenging? Several reasons, experts say. First, the environment is highly fragmented, with many different legacy systems in place. And that makes the task of developing and maintaining integrations complex and expensive.
Second, until fairly recently, vendors of ERP, MES, quality, supply chain, and plant control systems have not invested a lot in developing and maintaining plant-to-enterprise integrations. That has left it to manufacturers, such as electronics manufacturer Celestica Inc., to develop the integrations themselves, a time-consuming and expensive task. Although vendors, such as SAP, Visiprise, and others, recently began to create out-of-the-box integrations for their systems based on standards such as ISA 95, manufacturers say those integrations have yet to be tested in full production environments.