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The Road to Integration: A Guide to Applying the ISA-95 Standard in Manufacturing

Bianca Scholten
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Product ISBN/ID:
978-09792343-8-5

Stock Status: In Stock

About

In recent decades, industrial companies have invested much time and money in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and in automation of the process control layer. In our quest to reap the rewards of all these investments, the gap between business automation and process automation is becoming painfully obvious. ERP systems are only valuable if you supply them with current data, and these data originate largely from the process control layer. When integrating these systems, both IT departments and engineering departments must confront the high degree of heterogeneity found in technology, metadata, programming languages, user interfaces, and more. Good communication with the system’s end user is essential as several departments are usually involved, such as production, maintenance, the lab, and the office. Try speaking the same language then!

Against this backdrop, ISA decided in the 1990s to develop the ISA-95 standard for integrating enterprise and control systems in order to reduce the risks, costs, and errors that go hand in hand with implementing manufacturing control systems and integrating them with ERP systems. This handy resource explains how to apply ISA-95 in manufacturing enterprise systems (MES) and vertical integration projects, as well as reveals the most important ISA-95 models and terminology. It is ideal for those just starting out who need to get up to speed on ISA-95’s background information but also for those who have some practical experience with ISA-95 and require additional support in carrying out analyses to determine a specific company’s MES strategy and to define user requirements. If you develop MES functionality or realize interfaces based on ISA-95, then this guide will help you understand and apply the ISA-95 object models. Most important, the guide explains how to integrate ERP and MES systems using ISA-95. It places ISA-95 in the broader context of modern information exchange technologies and thus offers a complete picture for project managers, consultants, programmers, and information architects who want to integrate ERP and MES systems based on the international standard.

Format: Softbound Book
Length: 234 pages
Book Size: 7 x 10 		Shipping Weight: 1.13 lb(s)
Copyright: 2007
Publisher: ISA

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Spotlight Reviews

From Chaos to Integration - Nov 26, 2008
Reviewer: Nicholas Sands
Some of the most important standards developed by ISA in the last decade are the ISA95 standards on integration between control systems and enterprise systems. ISA95 Part 1 was published in 2000. It took many years before any books on implementing the standard appeared. One of the first is Bianca Scholten’s The Road to Integration: A Guide to Applying the ISA95 Standard in Manufacturing. Scholten is a fellow at TASK24, one of the largest system integrators and consultancy service providers in the Netherlands and Belgium in the area of technical automation. She received her Master’s degree from the University of Utrecht and is an active member of the ISA95 committee.

Scholten first provides some background on ISA95, which may be somewhat of a mystery to many readers. ISA95, Enterprise-Control System Integration is divided into several parts. Part 1, Models and Terminology provides the common language for integration and the important functional hierarchy model, which shows level 0,1, and 2 functions, including the process and control systems as described in ISA-88, the level 3 functions of manufacturing operations and control, and the level 4 functions of business planning and logistics. The focus of ISA95 is the exchange of data between levels 3 and 4. The functional enterprise control model other models are also very important. Part 2, Object Model Attributes defines more details of the information flows shown in part 1. Part 3, Activity Models of Manufacturing Operations Management describes the activities at level 3. Part 4, Object Models and Attributes on Manufacturing Operations Management is in development and defines the information exchange between level 3 systems. Part 5, Business to Manufacturing Transactions, describes the data messages exchanged in transactions between levels 3 and 4.

After the orientation to the ISA95 standards, Scholten illustrates how to use the ISA95 standards as a methodology to analyze existing system interfaces. The process includes a tour, a review of business drivers, and then an examination of the functional and activity models, during which the specific needs are defined. A summary with concerns and recommendations complete the analysis. Scholten provides comments from users that have been through the analysis.

Another chapter explains how to apply the models described in the ISA95 standards from a practical point of view. A detailed example includes the resources of personnel, equipment, material, and process segment and illustrates many points.

The final chapter reveals the structure of B2MML (Business to Manufacturing Markup Language) and its implementation, including adaptors and middleware. There is also a plan for implementing a project to implement ISA95. There are some critical questions to answer, like ownership of the master data and the interface systems.

Scholten provides an experienced view of the benefits of following the ISA95 standards and, importantly, an international view. She draws upon many interviews with users to keep the book grounded in realty. Scholten also adds her own style as an art historian. The ISA95 standards will have a very significant impact on the control system environment so this practical explanation is worth buying.