The showcase demonstrates how SAP solutions available today support the transforming Industrie 4.0 capabilities of vertical integration to cyber-physical systems (that, is machines which are inter-connected to each other as well as to the Internet), real-time data transparency, and service-oriented architecture.
Get started by viewing one of these videos:
One Minute Marketing Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IzwN2A7XF4&feature=youtu.be
Three Minutes with SAP’s Product Management Experts: https://youtu.be/zxnEI7dOQUk
Now that you’ve seen the scenario in action, keep reading to get answers to the top questions: what’s the benefit? how does the scenario work? and what are the prerequisites?
What are the business benefits?
- Delight your customers by meeting their individual requirements in time and in high quality.
- Produce individualized products in a lot size of 1 in a high-speed production line at about the same unit cost rate as regular mass production.
- Gain transparency through real-time data about machine and plant efficiency, capacity utilization, and current stock levels
What is the scenario? How does it work?
The showcase demonstrates the seamless integration of end-to-end business and production processes from customer order entry in SAP Hybris to the live production of an individualized smart device in lot size of 1 orchestrated by SAP Manufacturing Execution Solutions.
The scenario starts with a customer placing an order with unique requirements in the SAP Hybris solution. The production is planned and the execution is triggered through SAP ERP. The robotic arm places the individual product parts onto the conveyor system, then a laser printer transfers custom texts onto the shell, and finally cameras complete the quality control at the end of the production line. The machines get their operating instructions directly from the information in a SAP sales order, such as whether to include a chip into the product or not. Thus, the entire production process can be adapted for each customer order.
What are the key technological innovations?
- Convergence of IT
The innovation lies in the transformation of the machine to an agent. The seamless vertical integration between SAP manufacturing software and the machines enables the machines to orchestrate themselves and change their processing sequence depending on the production requirements. To achieve this, SAP utilizes service-oriented architecture (SOA) which leverages open standards like OPC unified architecture for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication protocols.
- High-speed production orchestration:
SAP Plant Connectivity allows for edge processing which buffers data and enables shortcuts thus the response from buffer is less than 20 milliseconds
How do I get started? What are the prerequisites?
You can realize the business processes demonstrated in this showcase with the following SAP’s software solutions:
Prerequisites: SAP ECC 6.0 EP5 or later, SAP ME 15.1, SAP MII 15.1 latest SP, SAP Plant Connectivity 15.1 FP2 (available Q3 2016)
Optional: SAP Hybris Commerce 6.0, SAP S/4HANA 1511
Consulting partners in Germany/EMEA:
Contact the partners below to learn about prerequisites regarding hardware and production machinery
System-integration Partner:
- IGZ Manufacturing
- SALT Solutions GmbH
- Systema Systementwicklung
- Trebing + Himstedt
- Freudenberg IT
- MHP
Co-innovation partners:
- Automation technology specialist: Beckhoff
- Robotics supplier: Stäubli
- Industrial image processing expert: asentics
- Industrial printing specialist: CAB
- 3-D printing solution supplier: Stratasys
- Wearables manufacturer: Proglove
- Energy measurement: Environmental and Energy Solutions (www.elster-gas.com) division of the Honeywell group
What is new compared to last year’s showcase?
- High interest: over 300% more visitors in 2016 compared to 2015
- High-speed production
- Service-oriented architecture from IT to OT
Further information: