Integrating Shop-Floor Systems with SAP R/3 PP and PP-PI Modules – Some Recent Project Experience

Overview:

Business drivers to improve performance, such as supply chain performance and operational effectiveness, require that integration of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and shop-floor systems is considered. Many manufacturing companies have implemented the SAP R/3 ERP system, supporting core business processes including financials, sales, distribution and so on. The manufacturing processes may be controlled by a combination of automatic control equipment and human operators. SAP R/3 supports production planning functionality in its PP (standard production planning) module and sub-modules PP-PI (production planning for the process industries), PP-REP (repetitive manufacturing) and PP-Kanban. These modules support the exchange of data with external systems. However, the technology issues associated with such data exchange are part of a broader set of challenges that an integration project must address if the intended business benefits are to be obtained. This paper examines a business-driven approach to integration and explores recent project experience integrating shop-floor systems with the PP and PP-PI modules.