Production to Business Interoperability: ISA 95 and B2MML. A White Paper

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Sydney Dennis
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1 : ISA 95 and B2MML A White Paper September 2005 Prepared by Greg Johnson Ampla Product Specialist Abstract: Effective integration between manufacturing execution systems (MES) and business and logistics systems (ERP) has long been a dream. A new international standard, ISA-95, and an accompanying technology, B2MML may make the required breakthrough on a global scale. B2MML is an implementation of international standard ISA-95, which covers the interface between the control layer and the enterprise layer of a manufacturing organization. Major ERP vendors are already supporting B2MML and some Ampla customers are already using B2MML to communicate between Ampla and their ERP system

2 Background ISA-95 and B2MML are emerging terms in manufacturing systems. The purpose of this whitepaper is to review the ISA-95 standard and the corresponding B2MML schemas (developed by the World Batch Forum) and explain the benefits of adopting these approaches. Further explanation is provided by reviewing how our MES system, Ampla, complies with ISA-95 and how this is being used today in leading implementations. About Citect Citect is a worldwide leader in industrial automation and next generation manufacturing execution systems (MES) and is the largest independent vendor in its field, in the world. Its CitectHMI/SCADA and Ampla analysis modules are complemented by professional services, customer support and training. These solutions are enhanced by strong partner programs and are sold in numerous industries, including mining, metals, food and beverage, facilities monitoring, gas pipelines, pharmaceuticals and power distribution. Citect is headquartered in Sydney Australia, has 15 offices in Australia, USA, Europe, China and Africa, and its products are distributed in more than 50 countries worldwide. Visit for further information Citect All rights reserved. The report was completed in September 2005.

3 Contents Background...2 Contents...3 Introduction ISA-95: Standards Based Integration...6 B2MML: Standard Documents...10 ISA-95 Compliance...12 Example...14 Summary...15

4 Introduction The manufacturing world is changing. Driven by the opening of China, Russia, India and other emerging economies, manufacturers are striving to re-configure their operations to meet the challenges of low cost competitors, new masses of consumers and innovative challengers in virtually all markets 1. Manufacturers must be operationally effective just to be in the game. Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) have been almost universally adopted bringing great benefits to the business and logistics layers of manufacturing company operations. Where these systems have been well executed, benefit has also been derived in the manufacturing execution layer, but many gaps were left. These gaps have been typically filled with combinations of manual systems, customized computer systems and use of disconnected PC applications. Disconnected and customized solutions at the manufacturing execution layer have caused the typical problems with islands of automation. These problems include: Lack of data integrity - detailed spreadsheets never match with aggregated data at the ERP level Low information visibility manual intervention is required to determine the real status of customer orders Poor flexibility increasing change means systems are left behind High cost - Custom integration requires high cost maintenance Figure 1: Manual systems never add up to aggregated data 1. A recent research report highlighted that 36% of North American companies are planning to start or expand manufacturing operations in China over the next three years. Available 25 Aug 2005

Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) give manufacturers the ability to standardize execution processes and tools across plants with perhaps widely disparate automation equipment and software.

5 Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) give manufacturers the ability to standardize execution processes and tools across plants with perhaps widely disparate automation equipment and software. To date, the missing piece in the puzzle has been the link between ERP and MES. Information that needs to be shared between manufacturing execution and business and logistics functions includes production plans and schedules, production performance, maintenance requests and schedules and production capability. Industry analysts ARC Advisory Group 3 make the point that whilst custom developed integration has been successful in the past, the increased level of integration and flexibility required in future will make this too costly and impractical. They have also proposed that standardsbased interoperability is the solution to the problems above. Figure 2: Evolution of 3. Available 25 August 2005

6 ISA-95: Standards Based Integration Overview In response to the requirements identified above the Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society (ISA) has developed a standard to address the integration issue. ISA-95 is a multi-part standard that defines the interfaces between enterprise activities and control activities. Published to date are: ANSI/ISA , Enterprise-Control System Integration, Part 1: Models and Terminology, provides standard terminology and a consistent set of concepts and models for integrating control systems with enterprise systems that will improve communications between all parties involved. The models and terminology emphasize good integration practices of control systems with enterprise systems during the entire life cycle of the systems. ANSI/ISA , Enterprise-Control System Integration, Part 2: Object Model Attributes, contains additional details and examples to help explain and illustrate the Part 1 objects. ANSI/ISA , Enterprise-Control System Integration, Part 3: Activity Models of Manufacturing Operations Management, presents models and terminology for defining the activities of manufacturing operations management. Under development are: Part 4: Object models and attributes of manufacturing operations management activities Part 5: Business-to-manufacturing transactions Part 6: Manufacturing operations transactions Source: Available 25 Aug 2005 This whitepaper paper reviews ISA-95 Parts 1 and 2 which focus on the production-to-business interface. The keys to understanding these standards are the following three models: hierarchy of activities model equipment hierarchy model object model

7 Hierarchy of Activities Model The hierarchy of activities model provides a framework for the activities of a manufacturing enterprise. Levels 0,1 and 2 cover the actual production process, sensing and manipulating and supervisory control and automation and are the domain of SCADA, HMI and physical automation systems. Level 4 covers business planning and logistics and is typically the domain of ERP and SCM systems. MES systems focus on Level 3 which is execution of the production process. A key concept introduced in ISA-95 Part 3 is that systems such as ERP and MES do not map neatly to the activity levels. Depending on the requirements of a specific implementation, there may be different lines of responsibility and technical integration between Level 4 and Level 3. For instance, a make-to-stock process plant may have less need for complexity at Level 3 than a make-to-order discrete products plant. Figure 3: Hierarchy of Activities Model

8 Equipment Hierarchy Model The equipment hierarchy model defines the typical equipment terminology and structure against which activities are applied. The equipment hierarchy model can be used to structure clear specifications and to standardize user interfaces. Figure 4: Equipment Hierarchy Model

9 Object Model ISA-95 Parts 1 & 2 describe an object model and object attributes of the information that are shared between Level 3 and Level 4. The standard is only concerned with information that overlaps these activity domains. Part 1 defines this information as falling into three categories: production capability information, production definition information and production information. Figure 5: Overlap between Business Domain and Manufacturing Domain Source: ISA The 9 object models described are: Production capability model (7 objects) Process segment capability model (7 objects) Personnel model (6 objects) Equipment model (9 objects) Material model (9 objects) Process segment model (7 objects) Production definition information object model (10 objects) Production schedule model (14 objects) Production performance model (14 objects)

10 B2MML: Standard Documents B2MML is an XML implementation of ISA 95 Parts 1 & 2. B2MML consists of a set of XML schemas written using the World Wide Web Consortium's XML Schema language (XSD) and developed by the World Batch Forum. The schemas map to the 9 object models in ISA-95 Parts 1 & 2 and also include a Common Schema. Available 25 August 2005 B2MML is best described with an example. Choosing the Production Performance object from ISA-95 Part 1, we can see that it is made up of a number of Production Responses. For example, a production order for say 1000 items may be split on the shop floor into 5 lots of 200. The Production Response refers to the sub-lot of 200. Each Production Response is made up of a collection of Segment Responses which contain actual production and consumption data for one or more process steps. This is shown in the object model diagram from ISA-95. Figure 6: Production Performance Object Model from ISA-95 Production Performance Is made up of 1..n Production Response Is made up of 1..n Segment Response Corresponds to a Process Segment May contain 0..n 0..n 0..n 0..n 0..n 0..n Production Data Personnel Equipment Material Produced Material Consumed Consumable 1..n 1..n 1..n Personnel Equipment Material Produced Property Property Property 1..n Material Consumed Property 1..n Consumable Property

11 B2MML then takes this object model and transforms it into a set of XML schemas. This is shown below for the Production Response object Figure 7: Production Response Type Object from B2MML Schema <xsd:complextype name = "ProductionResponseType"> <xsd:sequence> <xsd:element name = "ID" <xsd:element name = "ProductionRequestID" type = "IDType" minoccurs = "0"/> type = "ProductionRequestIDType" minoccurs = "0"/> <xsd:element name = "ProductProductionRuleID" type = "ProductProductionRuleIDType" minoccurs = "0" maxoccurs = "unbounded"/> <xsd:element name = "StartTime" type = "StartTimeType" minoccurs = "0"/> Diagram and section of the.xsd file for the ProductionPerformance Schema and Production Response object from the B2MML set of schemas developed by the World Batch Forum Available 25 August 2005

12 ISA-95 Compliance ERP Vendors Both SAP and Microsoft have announced support for the ISA-95 series of standards. Microsoft announced a Plant-to-Enterprise Interoperability initiative on March 8, which is aimed at lowering integration costs and improving productivity. SAP is represented on the ISA-95 standards committee and has announced various initiatives around ISA-95 and B2MML 5. Ampla Ampla is a high-quality, scalable suite of MES solutions, delivering realtime access to aggregated plant and business intelligence, allowing key personnel to analyze and act on opportunities to refine the workflow, maximize overall equipment effectiveness, and to correct problems before they impact the business. Ampla has been implemented by a wide range of blue chip customers to improve plant performance. Ampla supports an ISA-95 compliant equipment hierarchy tree. This is the key object on which Level 3 manufacturing operations management activities are applied, and from which information flows. An appropriately structured equipment hierarchy facilitates integration with ERP and EAM systems as well as lower level systems. Figure 8: Ampla ISA-95 Compliant Equipment Hierarchy 4. See Available 25 August See and ) Available 25 August 2005

13 Some Ampla customers are already using B2MML to communicate between Ampla and their ERP system. Configurability is important because of the inbuilt flexibility of B2MML to support additional data fields on top of the standard set. Documents can be created and exported to an ERP system that supports B2MML (or any other agreed schema). Figure 9: Sample of the XML document produced from the ProductionPerformance schema <MaterialProduced> <MaterialDefinition> </MaterialDefinition> <MaterialLotID> </MaterialLotID> <MaterialSubLotID>?</MaterialSubLotID> <Quantity> <QuantityString>50</QuantityString> <UnitOfMeasure>Units</UnitOfMeasure> </Quantity>

14 Example Documents can be generated using B2MML to pass messages between MES systems and ERP systems. Typical examples would be the passing down of production schedules from ERP to MES, and the passing back up of actual production results from MES to ERP Figure 11: Example Use of B2MML to Integrate ERP and MES The integration dream of the past is now partially realized with the standard document definitions in ISA-95 and B2MML. Further work on the ISA-95 standard will define standard production to business and intra-production messages.

15 Summary The pace of change in manufacturing is increasing. New markets, new competition, globalization and industry consolidation require systems with greater standardization and flexibility than in the past. ERP has provided the solution at the business planning and logistics level, and MES is now providing the solution at the manufacturing execution layer. Integration between ERP and MES has been successfully accomplished in the past with custom solutions, but this does not provide the answer moving forward. A new standard ISA-95 describes the interface between the Enterprise Layer and the Control Layer. ISA-95 Parts 1 & 2 focus on the interface, while ISA-95 Part 3 focuses on the activities at the manufacturing execution layer. A further 3 parts to the standard are in development, covering information exchange within Level 3 and Business to Manufacturing messages. B2MML, an XML schema, has been developed by the World Batch Forum as a practical implementation of the objects and attributes described in ISA-95 Parts 1 & 2. Major ERP vendors are already supporting B2MML and some Ampla customers are already using B2MML to communicate between Ampla and their ERP system. Configurability is important because of the inbuilt flexibility of B2MML to support additional data fields on top of the standard set. Documents can be created and exported to an ERP system that supports B2MML (or any other agreed schema). END

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