Milking production goes agile

Dairy products maker Arla Foods in Denmark is going for full plant to business system integration using SAP NetWeaver and Wonderware supervisory control software and services. Key objectives are to improve manufacturing agility and cut costs, and Arla says it’s being done in an ISA S95 XML standards-based environment, using parent company Invensys’ ArchestrA network architecture. Wonderware is working with SAP “The integration of business and manufacturing systems has strategic importance for Arla in supporting the challenges the business is facing in terms of optimising production performance, as well as fulfilling foods safety regulatory requirements,” says Arne Svendsen, Arla’s production IT manager. “This integration is a key point for a complete, internal supply chain, which includes the transfer of detailed production schedules to the shopfloor, as well as the seamless collection of key production figures… It is a must to have a clear path on integrating business and manufacturing, not least when new facilities become part of the family due to mergers and acquisitions.” He believes that using open standards and connectors from SAP and Wonderware will “dramatically reduce the costs of business-to-manufacturing integration as well as reducing the time to implement.”