Plataine and SAP Join Forces to Facilitate Dynamic Scheduling

Plataine’s software blends the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) with AI, and the company has signed an agreement with SAP to integrate Plataine's IIoT and AI-based software for digital manufacturing with the SAP Manufacturing Execution solution (SAP ME). Plataine positions its software as providing discrete manufacturers with a digital assistant collecting data from sensors in real-time, the AI alerting and informing customers of operational issues, and making recommendations to optimize processes.

Manufacturers are increasingly looking to unite information regarding their operational activities. SAP ME focuses on providing discrete manufacturers with a system of records regarding production levels, process performance, and data for traceability. Plataine can augment this data so that the customer not only has a record of what happened, but also has recommendations regarding what should happen next.

Founded in 2013, Plataine is a private firm with offices in the United States and Shanghai, plus an R&D facility in Israel. They work with clients in the aerospace & defense, automotive, wind/energy, and heavy equipment sectors; notable clients include Airbus, Boeing, GE, Siemens, and Renault F1. The combination of Plataine’s sensors and AI enables customers to track their operations and receive alerts and recommendations concerning work orders, time-sensitive material, and equipment. Frontline workers need data that is comprehensive, readily available, and supports decision making succinctly. Plataine stands out because its dashboards and insights can be viewed on desktops, laptops, tablets, as well as smartphones and smart watches.

In terms of tracking operations, customers can perform condition based monitoring and predictive maintenance on their equipment. The AI can perform root cause analysis on occasions where problems have been identified: for example, examining any correlations between the machines, tools, raw materials, shift patterns, production schedules, and the issue identified.

The visibility provided by the sensors and AI helps customers keep track of tools, efficiency levels, product quality, and the overall performance of the production line. By integrating with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and offering a supply chain management solution, Plataine delivers a digital thread that helps customers reduce the cost of poor quality and handle audits by improving traceability and quality control. In addition, the solution enables dynamic scheduling as customers are able to adjust production lines as new work orders and rush orders are received.

While many manufacturers and industrial firms track the condition of their materials manually, Plataine’s alerting capabilities also pertain to the condition of material: e.g., composites that the customer has in stock. Plataine can track the location, condition, and status of materials with the algorithms assigning material for work orders so that the materials are utilized when in optimal condition, reducing scrap rates and improving margins.

Plataine will be working with SAP via the SAP PartnerEdge program which enables partners to build, market, and sell software applications on top of the platforms from SAP. As a result of participating the program, the integration of Plataine’s software with SAP ME is now available from SAP store, the company’s marketplace of more than 1,800 solutions.

The agreement between Plataine and SAP supports manufacturers’ need for a digital thread covering data collection, machine learning, and execution. Furthermore, the integration will appeal to both enterprise and SMB customers who often don’t have the personnel available to amalgamate data from different systems to create a digital thread. For SAP ME customers, the agreement is an opportunity to quickly incorporate recommendations for the production line to their SAP application.

The sophistication of the machine learning means that instead of focusing on simple tasks for proofs of concept, Plataine can engage in solving critical tasks that hadn’t been previously attempted, such as scheduling the optimal time for using individual composites.

The agreement with SAP isn’t the only way Plataine is raising its profile. Siemens Digital Industries Software is another partner and Plataine integrates with the Siemens manufacturing operations management (MOM) solution, Opcenter. Plataine also partners with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and CTC GmbH (an Airbus Company), and is also a part of the UK National Composites Centre (NCC) (more information is available in IN-5854).

As projects fall down if composites used are not in peak condition, Plataine’s expertise in helping customers monitor and schedule the use of composites means that the firm occupies an important niche as product lifecycle management (PLM) software assists the product creation process and MES/MOM assists with how the production line will operate.