<font size=-1>HP ENTERPRISE LINK FIRST TO BE CERTIFIED FOR SAP R/3 PLANT MAINTENANCE</FONT>
Links Real-time Equipment Data To R/3 SystemsHP Enterprise Link is the first software program to be certified for use with the SAP R/3 Plant Maintenance (PM) module via the PM-PCS standard interface, according to HP, which certified its production-integration software by completing a battery of tests at SAP's facility in Walldorf, Germany.
This newly certified PM extension can send detailed equipment-usage data -- run-hours, availability, production alarm reports -- to SAP R/3 or advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems. By linking real-time equipment data (through automatic messaging) to R/3 systems, businesses can minimize downtime while keeping production schedules on track. Integrating equipment availability into an APS application also automatically matches production needs with delivery requirements.
In keeping with its worldwide implementation of SAP R/3 installations, HP's new plant-maintenance option already is in use at numerous customer sites around the world. The first such application, at Worsley Alumina Pty. Ltd. of Western Australia, has run continuously for 15 months. "SAP certification of the PM communication object for HP Enterprise Link is indeed good news," said Peter Black, technical-support specialist for Worsley Alumina. "We use the PM communication object for recording equipment run-hours and PM notifications in SAP."
HP Enterprise Link is used widely as a plant-integration backbone to link real-time shop-floor collection systems with SAP R/3 systems for integrated order fulfillment and inventory synchronization. It first was certified for use with the SAP R/3 production planning-process industries (PP-PI) module in June 1996.
Because HP collaborates with many leading plant-automation suppliers, the new PM option can work with most equipment-monitoring packages used by process manufacturers. These include software products from ABB, Citect, Fisher-Rosemount, Gensym, Honeywell, OSI, Moore Process Automation, Rockwell Automation, Siemens, Simulation Sciences and Wonderware, as well as popular production databases such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and HP RTAP.
Additional information on HP automation-integration software products is available at www.hp.com/go/ais.