Announcing Availability of FlexNet Version 9.4

Updated SOA/BPM functionality delivers improved performance, enhanced user-interface capabilities and expanded integration with PLC, PLM and ERP to support real-time operations visibility

Updated FlexNet® applications include Business Process Builder 2.0, Quality Management 2.1, and Machine Integrator 2.0. These upgraded applications within Apriso’s Operations Execution System (OES) work in concert to deliver improved performance, expanded user visibility and real-time integration capabilities.

Recognizing the need for real-time integration and improved flexibility between business, production and engineering systems, Apriso has improved the design, performance and integration capabilities of FlexNet. With this release, manufacturers can improve the monitoring of their global operations (see Global Performance Manager) by providing production performance metrics from the machine to the enterprise layer – immediately via an actionable dashboard – achieving planned production metrics with far greater accuracy. Unlike rigid MES systems operating as ‘silos’ at the plant level, Apriso’s OES supports real-time global visibility and control, and optimizes product design (PLM) and business strategy decisions (ERP) while contributing to faster new product introductions and shorter time-to-global market.

Several technological improvements are included within this new release of FlexNet, continuing Apriso’s mission to enable improved systems integration, capable of continued adaptation while providing global visibility and control across manufacturing operations. A partial listing of improvements includes:

• An architecture that supports 64-bit processing, with business process authoring capabilities that leverage the benefits of Microsoft .NET 2.0 and 3.0
• Improved usability with simplified navigation, keyboard shortcuts, wizards and drag & drop functionality
• Expanded integration with automation equipment and PLC controllers supports driving the PLC automation layer, in real-time
• Support for Microsoft Office 2007 and the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system

With FlexNet 9.4, it is now possible to better aggregate production performance metrics into a single data infrastructure, greatly simplifying the task of compiling, measuring and adjusting performance indicators for global deployment of distributed operations to optimize production and minimize waste, as part of Lean manufacturing and other continuous improvement initiatives.