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If you are interested in connecting OPC field devices to SAP R/3 or mySAP you should visit Junot Systems' NLINK OPC to SAP Solution web site.
The NLINK OPC Solution for SAP allows manufacturers to perform back-office analysis and reporting by combining plant control and SAP business data or perform automatic measurement recording, reporting, analysis and notifications to facilitate Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), Operating Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) or to enable compliance with the US FDA's 21 CFR
Part 11 rule for electronic record keeping. End users can define measurement
points based on upon control system tags, and create automatic notifications
within SAP from sets of user-filtered process control alarms and events.
BACKGROUND
The NLINK OPC Solution for SAP solves the problem of how to exchange information between SAP and plant floor systems. Synchronization of these systems has been important for some time but previous approaches have had many drawbacks:
They weren’t built upon open standards like OPC. They had to be implemented via custom coding. They were implemented as simplistic point-to-point interfaces. They were expensive to migrate when upgraded to support new releases of SAP. They were not SAP certified. They were not reliable, scalable, flexible or manageable.
These many drawbacks meant that integration between plant floor devices and SAP was either not attempted at all or implemented and maintained at an unacceptably high cost.
Despite the lack of any available cost-effective solutions, recipes, bill-of-materials, production orders, schedules, procedures, and specifications still need to be passed from SAP to production management systems. Production conditions and events, materials actually used, product quality measurements, and maintenance information collected in operations still have to be passed to SAP in order to improve enterprise planning, operations documentation, and reconciliation. If this exchange of data is performed manually, and not automated, it is a slow, costly and error prone process.
Now more than ever, companies need to know in real-time exactly what is happening in production so that they can minimize the impact of exceptions and plan accordingly. The NLINK OPC Solution for SAP allows them to do this quickly, easily and more cost-effectively than was previously possible.
FUNCTIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
The NLINK OPC Solution for SAP provides significant advantages over alternative approaches:
Fast to Implement, Easy to Change. - The NLINK OPC Solution for SAP requires no custom coding to integrate plant level data with SAP. The solution is customized to meet the particular needs of the deployment via a Graphical User Interface and all configuration is simplified and accelerated through the use of Wizards.
Field Proven - The NLINK technology has been awarded several patents and is a mature, field-proven integration product deployed throughout the world since 1998. It is a reliable, scalable, flexible and manageable enterprise class addition to any IT infrastructure.
Risk-Free - Junot Systems does not just provide its patented integration technology, it also provides its customers direct access to its staff of SAP functional experts to help collect, refine and validate project requirements. When necessary, these functional experts make use of Junot’s in-house SAP systems to provide whatever consulting support that may be needed.
Future Proof - Junot Systems guarantees to keep the installed OPC to SAP integration solution upgraded to take advantage of any new NLINK product features and to keep the installed NLINK solution compatible with any new SAP releases or upgrades so long as a valid NLINK support and maintenance contract is in-place.
SAP Certified - NLINK is SAP Certified for Advanced Data Collection (CA-ADC) and Application Link Enabling Interface (CA-ALE). Additionally, NLINK has been awarded both the Certified for SAP NetWeaver® and the Powered by SAP NetWeaver designations.
Reliable - The NLINK OPC Solution for SAP provides built-in critical transactional support not seen in other approaches, including:
Store and Forward - When the SAP system becomes unavailable, the NLINK OPC Solution for SAP stores messages locally and then automatically submits them once, and only once, in the correct order to the SAP system when connectivity is re-established. Automatic Failover - If the NLINK OPC Solution for SAP computer becomes unavailable, or has failed due to hardware or operating system software problems, an optional backup system can be configured to handle its workload until the failed system is brought back online.
Scalable - The NLINK OPC Solution for SAP provides unparalleled performance and scalability through a number of features, including:
Replication - Use replication to reduce unnecessary round-trip requests to the back end SAP system, improving overall system response time, reducing network traffic and system load. Validation - All OPC transactions support centralized validation prior to posting to the SAP system. Many potential errors can be caught prior to posting, reducing the load on the back end ERP. Multi-Threading - The NLINK OPC Solution is fully multi-threaded. It is able to efficiently handle many requests from many plant level devices simultaneous and process them concurrently. Memory Resident - NLINK’s patented technology uses an extremely powerful and flexible memory-resident database to allow efficient and timely data processing.
Flexible - The NLINK OPC Solution for SAP offers complete flexibility straight out of the box:
Expandable - Unlike other approaches, the NLINK OPC Solution for SAP is a full Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) product. It can be expanded to include connections to legacy systems, best of breed applications, the Internet, and more. Business Rules - The NLINK OPC Solution for SAP provides more than just message delivery. It allows the user to build business logic into any transaction. Business logic is easily configured and changed for evolving business requirements, without programming. Data Combination - The NLINK OPC Solution for SAP lets you easily combine and manipulate data from multiple sources and supports long running transactions. Scheduler - In addition to processing transactions in an event-driven manner, transactions can also be batched or scheduled to be posted to SAP periodically.
ENVIRONMENT
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CoNNectors, eXtenders, the NLINK Server and NLINK Modules are components of a total environment for delivering process integration within and between companies. The NLINK product suite has been independently certified on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista as a pre-requisite for continued inclusion in the Microsoft Certified Partner Program. As you would expect, NLINK operates equally well on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. |
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REQUEST AN NLINK DEMO
There`s really only so much information you can absorb by reading about an enterprise software product suite like NLINK. At some point you need to see the software in action and that`s what the NLINK Demo is all about. Click here to register.
NLINK PRESENTATION VIDEOS
If you are interested in learning more about the NLINK product suite but are not yet ready to schedule an interactive WebEx demo of the NLINK Product Suite but you would like to see some NLINK presentation videos click here to register.
SALES AND PRICING INFORMATION
For sales and pricing information regarding the NLINK Product Suite please contact: .
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
For more information regarding the technical details of the NLINK product solutions please contact: .
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