Basel, CH – December 2016
Shop-Floor Applications in Disassembly
SAP Meat Management by msg is an SAP ERP add-on for the meat industry that enables industry-specific processes to be mapped within individual companies. What may not be apparent at first glance is that the numerous shop-floor applications in various areas are an essential component of SAP Meat Management by msg. The Meat Management solution also ensures that devices can be integrated with these applications, as we have reported in previous articles (here, here and here)
In this article, we will take a closer look at the Meat Management shop-floor applications used most frequently in disassembly.
For the various customers who use Meat Management, disassembly contains a wide range of implementations that have been included partly on the basis of customer-specific processes and partly in consideration of the infrastructure. Meat Management users range from customers with highly automated disassembly processes to those who record the majority of their process data manually.
Some customers use disassembly applications as early as in the slaughtering area. Using disassembly process entry applications, livestock are recorded as input and slaughter by-products and warm carcasses as output.
As described in detail in a previous newsletter, some of our customers plan primal cutting using stock removal orders that guarantee an optimized disassembly sequence: Animals are conveyed to the primal cutting entry point in an automated process; as soon as the hooks with the halves arrive at the Meat Management terminal, the actual weights at the primal cutting entry point are automatically posted to the disassembly orders.
Depending on the degree of automation and the infrastructure in the plant, the outbound from primal cutting and the inbound into deboning can optionally be recorded. Thanks to the Disassembly functionality, disassembly orders can be created and posted for various areas in the plant (slaughtering, cooling, primal cutting, deboning, etc.). The use of selection criteria and authorizations ensures that only the correct orders can be processed at the corresponding terminal.
Output from deboning can also be automated or executed manually via Meat Management Disassembly Process Entry.
SAP Meat Management by msg offers two different shop-floor technologies that include features such as standardized applications for disassembly process entry:
- Device Gateway Applet (DGA) programming is based on Microsoft .NET (and the Softproviding Framework)
- Remote Application Framework (RAF) is developed in ABAP
For both inbound and outbound data recording, the corresponding order is first selected manually or automatically, followed by the material numbers for subsequent posting. Inbound and outbound data can also be recorded at the cut level. This is especially useful when several cuts contain the same input or output material and the yield must be considered separately.
The RAF standard application for disassembly process data acquisition is shown in the following illustrations. The standard application can be modified at any time by a Meat Management consultant or by the customer themselves in order to meet company-specific requirements.
By opting to use the Softproviding shop-floor applications, customers can benefit from added value across the entire line, while existing MES systems can be integrated with ease.
If this article has piqued your interest, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Stephan Kronbichler (Business Development) for further information. The best way to do this is via e-mail or telephone on +41 (0)61 508 21 42.