Apriso: Meeting and Exceeding Industry Standards

Apriso is committed to interoperability across multiple platforms and software applications. As part of achieving this objective, the Apriso FlexNet^® platform is compliant in working with non-proprietary technologies, as detailed below. Apriso strives to comply with major software industry standards, and continues to maintain this functionality with each successive release of FlexNet.

MES Standards:

ISA 95:

Apriso designed FlexNet as a global solution for Manufacturing Operations Management, or MOM.  Architected as a platform-based solution, FlexNet supports a suite of applications that manage and execute manufacturing operations associated with Production, Quality, Warehouse, Maintenance and Time & Labor.  Recognizing the need for industry standards and consistency when integrating shop floor operations to enterprise applications, the product design team at Apriso paid close attention to the evolving ISA-95 standards to ensure alignment, which is the case today.  Apriso is currently a member of the International Society of Automation (ISA) and the trade group ISA-95.com.  Apriso was the first North American MES company to be ANSI/ISA 95 Netweaver certified by SAP. (click to see details)

MESA:

Apriso covers all 11 functional areas described as key elements of an MES application by MESA, including when the functional scope extends beyond manufacturing into other operational areas, such as Warehouse Management.

• Operations and detailed scheduling with FlexNet Dispatching Board
• Dispatching production units with both FlexNet Dispatching Board and Order Cockpit
• Resource allocation and status monitoring with FlexNet Dispatching Board and Order Cockpit
• Product tracking and genealogy with FlexNet Production module
• Labor management with FlexNet Time & Labor module
• Maintenance management with FlexNet Maintenance module
• Quality Management using FlexNet Quality module
• Data Collection Acquisition with FlexNet Machine Integrator
• Process authoring and management through FlexNet Process Builder
• Performance monitoring with FlexNet Performance Manager
• Document control with FlexNet Documents component

Data Collection:

OPC:

OPC (originally OLE for process control) is an industry standard created with the collaboration of a number of leading worldwide automation hardware and software suppliers, working in cooperation with Microsoft.  The standard defines methods for exchanging real-time automation data between PC-based clients using Microsoft operating systems.  The organization that manages this standard is the OPC Foundation.

Apriso ’s FlexNet is “Compliance Certified,” according to the OPC Foundation.  This mean that FlexNet has passed a series of Independent certification tests including interoperability, compliance, performance, stress, white box, behavior, environment and usability testing.  Products are only awarded the Compliance Certified status when all interfaces they support have passed the Independent Certification Test Lab testing.  The OPC Foundation “Certified” logo is used under license agreement, demonstrating official certification.

Apriso achieved OPC Compliance Certified status in late 2008 as the first (and only) Manufacturing Operations Management vendor to achieve this highly coveted certification status.  It was Apriso’s objective to attain Compliance Certified status to ensure standardized connectivity could be achieved to devices such as a PLC, DCS, RTU or a data source such, as a database or User interface, which could then translate the data into a standard-based OPC format.  With such a comprehensive integration capability, Apriso has further validated its unique leadership position in connecting plant floor operations to enterprise applications.

Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), initially RETMA Standard, to include RS 232c, RS 485 and RS 422 standards:

• FlexNet Machine Integrator is compliant with serial link standards as key machine and various device communication standards. It provides standard configuration, minimizing the need for custom driver development.

Product and Resource Identification Standards Body:

Flexible ID number generation:

• FlexNet provides standard functions and configuration tools to automatically generate lot, serial, product and resource IDs, based on standard or company policy.

Bar codes:

• FlexNet supports over 37 bar code standards by connecting to bar code scanners and printers for code 39, code 128, PDF 417, 2/5I, EAN-UPC, as well as industry standards such as Odette-Galia.

RFID:

• FlexNet can be connected to RFID readers and writers using TCP/IP or serial links, configured with FlexNet Machine Integrator. FlexNet supports EPCGlobal Tag Data Standards version 1.3 and Tag Data Translation version 1.0, in addition to Universal Product Code (UPC).

Web Technologies:

FlexNet utilizes the most current Web technologies, having embraced Microsoft .NET since its inception in 1999. Users can leverage the de facto standard Internet Explorer to access FlexNet functionality or alter its configuration. Web technology support extends to each of the most common protocols, including: HTTP, XML, XSLT and SOAP. The FlexNet platform is a Services Oriented Architecture (SOA), therefore FlexNet has Web integration capabilities embedded throughout its platform.

Governance:

Apriso customers use FlexNet to report production and inventory status. FlexNet is a key component of the information chain fueling financial reporting requirements for companies adhering to Sarbanes Oxley compliance. The FlexNet security framework and audit trail capabilities are key components that  ensure information is secure, valid and not modified without a sufficient audit trail. Learn more about FlexNet and Sarbanes Oxley Compliance.

IT (Information Technology) Standards:

Apriso has built FlexNet on the Microsoft platform because it has been, and continues to be, the most accepted in the industry, both in process control and manufacturing execution. FlexNet runs on Windows Server 2003, the enterprise-class server standard delivering the Web experience through Microsoft Internet Information Server. End user interfaces support Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista, and Windows Mobile/CE on client devices via Internet Explorer versions 6 and higher. (see www.microsoft.com)

FlexNet is designed utilizing the Unified Modeling Language™, the way the world models not only application structure, behavior, and architecture, but also business process and data structure. UML notation is coded in C# using the Visual Studio .NET Integrated Development Environment. The FlexNet data base is supported on the latest versions of both Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle database.

ERP Integration:

Apriso has maintained during the last 10 years integration and certification with successive technologies promoted by SAP to support integration with SAP R/3 and the mySAP Business Suite.  Today, FlexNet ships with over 40 standard interfaces utilizing SAP Netweaver Exchange Infrastructure capabilities, such as ALE/IDOC (both ISA S95 and native formats), BAPIs and RFCs.

Apriso achieves integration to ERP and other external applications through its FlexNet Business Integrator engine, and through other integration brokers including SAP Netweaver XI, SAP Business Connector, Microsoft BizTalk Server, IBM Websphere, and WebMethods.

ISO: ISO-14002, ISO-9001-2000 and other Vertical Industry standards:
Apriso maintains industry, government and standards requirements in FlexNet, in addition, security access, audit trail, process traceability and genealogy management capabilities are available. A sampling of some of the more common regulatory requirements include:

• Pharmaceutical / Life Sciences industry standards – FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and Part 820
• Automotive industry standards – AIAG / ISO TS2 ISO/TS 16949:2002 and TREAD Act
• Aerospace, Defense and Military industry standards – Mil-Std 883 & Mil-PRF-38534
• Within the EU market, adhering to RoHS and WEEE standards
• Within the US market, adhering to the Bioterrorism Act / Alert