The technology expertise required to successfully integrate plant-floor systems with enterprise applications has resulted in a spate of unusual vendor couplings.
Many of the latest MES and ERP vendors' relationships are a result of companies looking beyond point-to-point integration efforts. IBM Corp. (Armonk, NY) has been wooing factory-floor vendors with its WebSphere middleware, positioning its technology, and itself, as the missing link for sensor-to-boardroom integration. It appears IBM has been successful.
Some recent announcements align IBM with automation giants Invensys plc (London, England) and Rockwell Automation (Milwaukee, WI), EAM vendor MRO Software Inc. (Bedford, MA), and Camstar Inc. (Campbell, CA), a provider of collaborative MES applications.
Each strategic partnership touts the ability to tie together disparate applications, which is appealing to manufacturing customers struggling to bridge the gap between the plant and the enterprise. But some of these pairings are intriguing, specifically because IBM's technology is based on Java. Indeed, many of IBM's new factory-floor bedfellows have committed to Microsoft Corp.'s (Redmond, WA) .NET framework as they move into the realm of Web services. For instance, Invensys' ArchestrA initiative has Microsoft .NET technology at its core. Nevertheless, over a year ago Invensys announced a strategic alliance with IBM to deliver e-business solutions that link the plant floor to enterprise applications.
For those vendors that have built their applications on Java-like MRO Software has done with its Maximo 5 EAM application-the IBM integration partnership is a win-win situation. But since most of the automation companies are .NET-based, the question remains: Why in the world would they partner with IBM?
According to Bob Mick, vice president of emerging technology at ARC Advisory Group Inc. (Dedham, MA), there are a few reasons. First and foremost, IBM is a company that offers architecture in the form of middleware and development tools-but not applications. "IBM doesn't compete with those companies, whereas there is always the threat that Microsoft might enter into their market," says Mick. "IBM drew a hard line and said, 'we will not compete with you'. Second, IBM brings more business to [the automation] companies through its global services."
IBM has a couple of things in its favor that attract prospective partners: WebSphere and Global Services. "[WebSphere middleware] gives us the ability to run a plug-and-play environment where you don't have to rip out everything in the plant and start from scratch," says Rick Fournier, IBM's business development executive for the automotive industry.
The other boon is Global Services, which was clearly one of the things that attracted Camstar to the company. Camstar began aggressively courting medical device manufacturers when it added corrective and preventive action (CAPA) capabilities to its MES offering. The MES vendor has not been idle on the integration front-it has teamed up with major ERP players including PeopleSoft Inc. (Pleasanton, CA), J.D. Edwards & Co. (Denver, CO), and SAP America (Walldorf, Germany)-and has its own services organization that does integration work. But IBM adds global capabilities into the Camstar mix. "We are embracing the WebSphere suite of products, because as we get outside of a single [facility]we can take advantage of a portal-like view into multiple plants," notes Rob Rudder, Camstar's vice president of business development.
Furthermore, IBM's acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting (New York, NY) in October makes the relationship that much more powerful, Rudder admits. "We have ERP, WebSphere expertise, analytics, data warehousingthe customer ends up benefiting because they get what they want pulled together in a tight solution."
Similarly, Rockwell inked an agreement with IBM in November, focusing on integration services for the automotive industry. Indeed, the relationship may seem mismatched at first glance, but it makes sense. "Rockwell can't go all the way up to the enterprise, and IBM can't get down to the control level," says Beth Parkinson, director of strategic alliances at Rockwell Automation Global Manufacturing Solutions group. "We've recognized the benefit of bringing that together."