Which Sepasoft MES module for which plant need: OEE, lot trace, recipes, SPC, batch and ERP links

Sepasoft, Inc. makes a set of MES modules that install on Ignition, the platform from Inductive Automation, and each module answers a different plant question: OEE Downtime for stops and OEE, Track & Trace for lot tracing, Settings & Changeover for machine recipes, SPC for quality sampling, Batch Procedure for ISA-88 batches, and Business Connector, Web Services and the Interface for SAP ERP for links to other systems. They all sit on the same Production module and production model, so a plant can start with the one module that answers its most pressing question and add others later.

What every module needs

All Sepasoft MES modules require Ignition, and Sepasoft's module overview says the Production module is always installed with the others. The Production module carries the shared MES functions: the MES Equipment Manager for the production equipment model, the MES Object Editor for materials, segments and operations, the MES Schedule View and MES Work Order Table, analysis components, a changelog viewer, a value editor for correcting captured data, and e-Signature, which Sepasoft currently integrates with Batch Procedure only.

Three practical requirements come before any module:

• A database. The MES modules create and maintain their own schemas; the plant provides the database, which can be any database Ignition supports. On Microsoft SQL Server, READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT must be on, otherwise the Production module does not start, and the MES database connection needs at least 24 connections.
• Matching versions. Sepasoft built MES 4.0 to work only with Ignition 8.3. Systems on 3.81.9 or later move to 4.0 without changes to databases, scripts or equipment models; 3.81.0 to 3.81.8 must first go to the latest 3.81; MES 1.0, 2.0, 3.79 and 3.80 are end of life and cannot be upgraded directly. Feature notes in the documentation are given per version line, for example 3.81.13 SP3 and 4.83.3 SP3.
• A client type. Most modules have components for both Ignition clients. Perspective runs in web browsers on PCs, tablets and phones; Vision is a desktop application. Inductive Automation recommends Perspective for almost all new projects.

A site licence covers unlimited lines, machines and users at that site. Redundant, development and test licences are sold as add-ons for every module.

From plant question to module

Stops and OEE: OEE Downtime

OEE Downtime records equipment modes and states, downtime events with their reasons, counts and OEE per run, shift or period. States come from an integer per line or cell, usually a PLC tag, though any source that writes an Ignition tag will do, including an operator entry screen; detection modes such as Initial Cell or Key Reason decide which machine caused a line stop, and operators can add reasons and notes. The PLC side, counters and a tag mapping for ControlLogix and CompactLogix lines are covered in OEE Downtime on Ignition with Allen-Bradley PLCs.

Lot tracing and recall: Track & Trace

Track & Trace follows material from raw materials to finished goods, including consumables and by-products, and Sepasoft describes it as aligned with ISA-95. Its features page lists lot genealogy with the lot numbers of consumed materials, serial numbers for items and sub-assemblies, work orders, WIP and on-hand inventory, and a trace graph for viewing results. Storage Zone and Storage Unit items model where material is kept, and lot handling rules govern whether material is stored as single, random or blended lots. Trace components accept a typed value or a barcode scan. Lots, genealogy and scan points are covered in Track & Trace: lot tracking and genealogy on Ignition.

Recipes, setpoints and changeover: Settings & Changeover

Settings & Changeover manages machine setpoint recipes for whole lines or single machines. Recipe values can be strings, integers or floats, held in memory tags or PLC OPC tags, and the module checks that a recipe load to the PLC succeeded. A change made in a master recipe flows down to its sub-recipes, and values set in a sub-recipe stay as they are. The variance log records where a live machine value differs from the loaded recipe, also when someone changed it on the HMI and not through a recipe, with a threshold per value. Each recipe change is logged with who, when, the old value and, if required, a reason, and roles limit who may change which values.

For an Allen-Bradley line the question is which setpoints live in the PLC and which on the HMI today, and who is allowed to change them.

Quality sampling and control charts: SPC

In SPC a sample definition sets the attributes to measure, the control limits, the signals to check and where the sample is taken, which is the Location item of the production model. Samples can be scheduled automatically from production conditions or entered by hand. The module tracks which samples are coming up, due or late, can remind people by e-mail, SMS or a flashing indicator, and can stop production when a sample is overdue. Sepasoft lists the common variable and attribute charts (X-bar with R or S, individuals, p, np, c, u) plus Pareto, histogram, box plot, process capability and process performance, and data from PLCs over OPC, lab instruments, serial and USB devices, files, web services and other databases.

Batch: Batch Procedure

Sepasoft says Batch Procedure was developed with the ISA-88 batch control and ISA-106 procedure automation standards. It runs only on Perspective, on Ignition 8.1 and later, and is installed together with the Document Management and Production modules. It uses the Process Cell and Unit items of the production model. A recipe is a sequence of phases: built-in phases (timers, documents, e-Signature templates), custom phases, and equipment phases that exchange parameters with the PLC through Ignition tags. Sepasoft licenses it per server, with unlimited units on a licensed server subject to server capacity. The comparison with FactoryTalk Batch is in Batch Procedure on Ignition vs FactoryTalk Batch.

ERP, SAP and web services

• Business Connector is a visual sequence builder: an integration is drawn as a chart of action blocks, with branches, loops and error handling, and run by a BPEL engine. A sequence starts on a schedule, a tag change, a web service call or a script. Its mapping tool converts data from business systems into MES data such as schedules and material definitions for OEE Downtime, Settings & Changeover and Track & Trace, and it uses B2MML, an XML form of the ISA-95 object models.
• Interface for SAP ERP extends Business Connector with SAP action blocks. It connects to on-premises SAP over RFC, can call BAPIs and remote-enabled function modules, and supports synchronous, transactional and queued RFC. Sepasoft's documentation says it must be installed and configured to use Business Connector with SAP.
• Web Services consumes and provides REST and SOAP services. As a provider, the Ignition gateway answers queries from other systems and generates the WSDL for SOAP; consumers support Basic, Digest and NTLM authentication, providers authenticate against Ignition user sources, and traffic can use SSL.

We recommend listing each message with its direction and its trigger (an order released in ERP, a run finished on the line, a lot consumed) before choosing between them.

Several sites: MES Enterprise

MES Enterprise aggregates OEE, Track & Trace, Settings & Changeover, SPC and Batch Procedure data from several facilities, distributes materials, equipment, schedules and work instructions to the site servers and keeps MES configuration in sync, over the Ignition Gateway Network. Sepasoft's pricing page lists an MES Enterprise Central Server licence for the enterprise server, used together with at least one site-level module. Its knowledge base describes two ways to license the sites under it: each site server carries its own site licence, or a master licence on the enterprise server sets how many sites the enterprise may have and the site servers take their rights from it. Which model fits is decided with Sepasoft when the system is sized.

How the modules work together

The modules share one production model and the MES objects held by the Production module; Sepasoft notes that OEE Downtime uses the same object model as Track & Trace. In practice:

• Sepasoft describes one product selection in Settings & Changeover doing several jobs when the other modules are installed: the recipe values go to the machines, OEE tracking starts, SPC samples are collected and traceability is recorded.
• MES Counters, the counts that feed OEE, can also be the quantity source of material process segments in MES Management.
• Live Analysis can calculate over the period of the currently active recipe, which needs a Settings & Changeover licence.

Sepasoft also warns that a rename in the production model makes a new item and leaves the recorded data with the old one. Since every module uses the same model, agree its names once, before the first module goes live.

Starting with one line

TDL's MES on Ignition page describes a common first step: OEE Downtime on one line, with Track & Trace, Settings & Changeover or SPC added when needed. The MES article covers that path and the questions to settle before buying, including master data and licence scope. Specific to the Sepasoft modules, prepare:

• The production model. Enterprise, site, area, line and cell names, agreed before the first run.
• PLC signals per module. States and counts for OEE Downtime, setpoint tags for Settings & Changeover, phase interfaces for Batch Procedure, and which of them already exist.
• The database and the Ignition version, which decide the MES version line.

TDL's role

TDL Industrial Automation is a Sepasoft MES Certified Integrator and an Ignition Certified Integrator. TDL's work on these functions so far is on Rockwell Automation platforms: FactoryTalk Batch and PlantPAx batch and recipe control, recipe editors and automatic size change on packing lines, barcode, vision and checkweigher checks, and machine alarm words mapped to a plant's production system. Where a plant uses or chooses Sepasoft modules, TDL connects them to the line PLCs; the Ignition integrator page describes the platform side.