As the complexity of global manufacturing processes has grown to meet unprecedented customer expectations, manufacturing business challenges have followed suit. Increasing (or maintaining) profitability, lowering risk, and improving customer responsiveness with disparate locations and systems dotting the globe has necessitated new technological solutions. One of the ways companies have been tackling these problems is by implementing Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) software.
MOM software can play a vital role in connecting shop-floor automation equipment and systems to the larger overall business reporting and transactional software that includes solutions like BI and ERP. Through the combined use of enterprise/business software and MOM software, companies are better able to evaluate and improve the full set of end-to-end business and manufacturing processes to create smoother and more optimized operations.
The market for MOM has grown and matured inside the past 5 to 10 years and today many organizations are implementing specific applications or comprehensive, integrated manufacturing operations solution suites. Based on briefings with top vendors in the MOM space, LNS Research recently released its MOM Solution Selection Guide, and each week, we’ll be highlighting the strengths and positioning of a different vendor.
This week, we’re covering ABB, a Swiss-based company that has traditionally been known as a major automation and energy management provider, but has also been operating in the MOM software space for over a decade.
ABB takes a turnkey industry solution approach to the market. Its MOM offerings include a set of cross-industry applications, as well as industry-specific solutions that utilize the core and cross-industry underpinnings. cpmPlus cross-industry applications include Manufacturing Execution System software, OEE, Alarm Management and Industrial Energy Management. cpmPlus features open connectivity and integration to business systems and third-party automation systems and equipment. It features a high-speed, high-performance historian called cpmPlus History, which is used to integrate hundreds of thousands of disparate data points and sources. In addition, ABB offers a smart client visualization and advanced process control (APC) capabilities.
The company’s strengths lie in the chemicals, oil & gas, paper/lumber/timber, food, mining, and utilities industries, with emerging capabilities in beverage and consumer durable goods. ABB’s offering includes an industrial energy management (IEM) application that is well-suited for optimizing costs around electric utility purchasing and co-generation strategies, as well as for managing general energy and water resources across a broad range of industries.
ABB’s go-forward strategy is to continue improving and harmonizing its cpmPlus platform and cross-industry applications. The company is also beginning to leverage more of the cross-industry application functionality resulting from its acquisition of Ventyx. Looking forward, LNS research would like to see the core cpmPlus platform and cross-industry applications evolve with agile, next-generation MOM integration and lightweight/modular ‘apps.’
For a more extensive overview of ABB and its capabilities, reference the LNS Research MOM Solution Selection Guide. It covers multiple dimensions of evaluation criteria, including:
Industries served, specific functionalities included within the MOM offering, company sizes served, geographies covered, technology delivery platforms and models, and time to solution value. The guide also breaks down ABB’s central attributes by total coverage areas, current strengths, and emerging strengths.
By reviewing the ABB analysis alongside the other 19 vendors covered, executives can look at MOM providers in a comparative context, and have everything they need to narrow down MOM software vendors to a potential shortlist for implementation consideration. Click below to access the solution selection guide and full comparative analysis of 20 top MOM software solution vendors.
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