xMII Study

Hi All,

I am trying to collect some notes on Shop floor integration to SAP ERP System. Some forum members said it is better to post this msg here. I would like to get feedbacks from the industry which would be highly valuable.

1) How are the <b>connections</b> ( <i>can we generalize them..? if the list of protocols are large</i> ) made in xMII from the devices (PLC, Robotic arms, Valves..etc)!?!

(pls let me know what should a device vendor implement to make an xMII connection if he does not have an MES system )

2) What kind of interface does all / most of the MES offer for the xMII ?

3) Is there any standard that xMII would like to follow for interfacing devices which cannot support OPCxxx standards..or what should the gateway provide xMII for a consistent data exchange ?.

We are currently involved in an evaluation phase of an interface for shop floor and the ERP system and I am trying to do some ground work on it. Any help would be highly appreciated.

cheers

Domnic