Integrating third-party manufacturing plant floor applications with the SAP® R/3® and mySAP® Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems can be an extremely complex undertaking. Manufacturing end customers are demanding that application vendors provide a standards-based, turn-key integration solution between their applications and SAP that is deployed and (more importantly) supported by the application vendor. B2MML is rapidly becoming the de-facto data exchange standard in this area. This is excellent news for the manufacturing plant floor but it's not the whole story ...

THE PLANT-FLOOR INTEGRATION PROBLEM
However, even after you choose to use B2MML as a data exchange mechanism there are still a number of problems that remain:

• Product Development (B2MML) - The plant-floor application will need to be modified by the application vendor in order to support the ability to send and receive XML if it does not already have this capability (or if its existing support of XML is not flexible enough).

• Product Development (Web Services) - The plant-floor application will also need to be modified to support web services if it does not already do so. The plant-floor application needs to be able to act as a web services client and a web services server. And, the web services implementation needs to be able to work with the ERP's implementation of the web services (non) standard.

• Avoid Tightly-Coupled Systems - Either the plant-floor application or the SAP system will need to handle the mapping, routing, transformation and business logic. If this capability is not handled by the plant-floor application then it must, by definition, be built into the SAP system. In reality, some parts of these functions will end up in both systems which, without careful planning and flawless execution, can create an inflexible and tightly-coupled system.

• Avoid Narrow Technical Solutions - If the only way that the plant-floor application can connect to SAP is via B2MML-based web services, the manufacturing end-customer will need to have SAP NetWeaver deployed in their SAP landscape. Next, the NetWeaver deployment must also have the SAP Exchange Infrastructure (XI) configured or xMII must be deployed and configured. Once these pre-conditions are met then the end customer's SAP support staff will be ready to either start writing Java code to handle the interfaces via XI or to start configuring xMII to handle the interfaces. It must be said that for some end customers this may be a perfectly acceptable solution.

• Limited or No SAP Experience - Most plant-floor application vendors do not have any SAP functional or technical experts on staff. Nor do they have easy access to, or experience with, the full range of SAP systems that they may need to integrate to.

• Avoid Expensive Solutions - All this product development cost on the part of the application vendor will inevitably be passed on to the manufacturing end customer. The end customer is also still responsible for the SAP side of the expense equation. To understand the true cost you have to include both sides of the equation and then factor in ongoing support and maintenance costs as the business processes change over time and the SAP and plant-floor applications are upgraded to new releases.

HOW DOES NLINK ADDRESS THESE PROBLEMS?
Deployed worldwide across a variety of industries since 1998, NLINK is a mature product that was designed from the ground-up to provide a total solution to the plant-floor to SAP integration problem. Fast to Implement and easy to change, NLINK’s patented architecture and SAP Certified interfaces deliver a configuration-driven solution requiring no end-user programming and no in-depth knowledge of communications protocols or data formats.

• Simple & Pre-Built - NLINK is a configuration-based product; no end-user programming is required. Underlying details of the data formats, protocols, transports, encoding methods and application interfaces are hidden from the end-user. The NLINK Configuration Module presents the integration task in a logical and consistent manner guiding the end-user through the entire process. NLINK has comprehensive built-in support for both B2MML and SAP-compatible web services.

• Loosely-Coupled - NLINK handles all of the mapping, routing, transformation and business logic needed to bridge the functional gap between the plant-floor application and the SAP system. No matter what version of SAP the end customer is using. The plant-floor application and SAP are loosely-coupled providing the most flexible and adaptable interface possible.

• Broad Technical Solution - NLINK's support of SAP integration is not simply limited to B2MML. NLINK can connect to SAP in a multitude of ways including BAPI's, RFCs., IDOCs, BDCs and via its Query capability. Successful plant-floor integration is not about forcing a one-size-fits-all solution on the end customer; it's about being flexible and agile and applying the most appropriate integration technology to the problem at hand. If that's B2MML then we have you covered but if it's not then NLINK still has the solution.

• Easy to Find Skill Set - NLINK allows business users and IT staff alike to design, build and deploy interfaces between systems. No programming knowledge or in-depth information technology skill set is required to successfully complete an SAP integration project, on-time and within budget. Experience has shown us that most new users become productive almost immediately upon successful completion of initial NLINK Training.

• Small Footprint - NLINK installs in minutes and once installed, allows rapid-prototyping of integration interfaces. NLINK is configuration-based so changes to existing interfaces can be made quickly and easily. NLINK's small footprint still delivers an enterprise class integration solution that is reliable, scalable, flexible and manageable.

• Deep SAP Experience - Junot Systems is a long standing SAP ISV Partner and we have full-time on-staff SAP functional and technical experts with years of SAP integration experience.

• B2MML Experience - Junot Systems specializes in plant-floor to SAP integration and has significant B2MML project experience. Our in-house functional and technical experts have already helped several of our technology partners support standards-based B2MML to SAP integration in their plant-floor applications.

• Cost-Effective - NLINK is component-based. NLINK CoNNectors, eXtenders and Modules can be mixed and matched to create the optimal integration solution. NLINK customers pay only for the components that they actually use. Over time, as the integration project evolves, incremental costs are added only when significant new functionality is required.

NLINK’s Rapid Application Integration approach enables all manufacturing organizations, no matter their size, to quickly and easily create, connect, and manage integration solutions that liberate all of their information assets - with or without B2MML.

For more information please see the SAP Integration with B2MML White Paper in the White Papers area of the web site.

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