Dear all,
Currently I am participating in the collaboration project "IMAGINE -
Innovative End-to-End Management of Dynamic Manufacturing Networks",
that
resides under the theme "Virtual Factories and Enterprises" as part
of the
FP7 Programme of the EU.
The goal of this project is to enable SME Manufacturing Enterprises
in the
EU market space to shorten the time-to-market of their product by
assisting
manufacturing customers in forming partnerships with suppliers and a
better
exchange of information and data throughout the lifecycle of the
partnership.
During methodology studies it is envisioned that exchange of
information
and data entails 4 interlocking areas, namely:
1. Partner blueprints - All static information (and data) re
organization and human entities, including connection mechanisms
(addresses
and such) of the participating organization
2. Manufacture blueprints - All static information (and data) re
products (e.g. pricing, QoS re delivery, mBOM's, eBOM's and such)
3. End-2-End blueprints - All dynamic information (and data) re
inputs
and output of the process segments, in customer to supplier
end-2-end
processes while manufacturing the goods (but also including process
definitions in BPEL, BPMN and xPDL)
4. QA blueprints - All information (and data) relating to
maintaining
the QoS requirements of the organization and
establishing/enhancing trust
between (potential) partners (encompassing org. certification,
e.g. ISO
9000, but also product certification, and more)
All to be facilitated through established Open Standards and
Technolgies.
In the methodology studies it was also envisioned that, while initial
profiling should start by registering company and lead contact
persons and
their mechanisms in a portal solution (currently intended OS product:
Liferay, part of the envisioned IMAGINE platform), as soon as the
connection mechanisms regarding service adapters are setup and verified
systems like CRM, Manufacturing, ProjectMgt and Warehousing connect
through
the IMAGINE platform (mainly OS ESB like Servicemix - while providing
dashboard functionalities in the portal for participants that are
not (yet)
at the highest level of maturity regarding partnering - e.g.
uploading data
through spreadsheets and info via PDF and such).
As this project still has a lifespan of approx 2 years left and system
integration has no started yet, it is my belief that OFBiz could be
in the
front runner position and create a name in the EU market space
regarding
Open Source ERP in general and Manufacturing in particular combined
with
info and data exchange through ESBs. Which is a huge opportunity for
us.
Thinking of the possibilites I foresee following use-cases (amongst
others)
to be applicable:
- When the initial registration of the company has been realized
and the
connection mechanism regarding the ESB connectivity has been
setup and
verified the information relating the Partner blueprint is
provided by
means of the data available/maintained in the Party component
- When potential suppliers are identified through the search
capabilities in the portal the data contained there (Party data
et all)
is
pulled/delivered into the SCM (through the ESB)
- When potential customers are identified through the seach
capabilities
in the portal the data contained thee is pulled/delivered into
the CRM
(through the ESB)
- When potential suppliers are initially contacted and a
connection is
being negotiated more data is pullled from and/or delivered to
Product
Catalog and Manufacturing (through the ESB)
- When an agreement is concluded this is also pulled/delivered in
the
system of the participant(s)
- When proces segments are started, executed and concluded
information
(date) thereabout are pulled/delivered into the ERP system of the
customer
(also through the ESB) and send to the portal for dashboarding
purpopes.
Unfortunately I am not that well experienced in Manufacturing,
establishing
ESB integration for OFBiz and delivering data from one system (like
OFBiz)
through a third party ESB to another system (like OFBiz) and thus I am
wondering about possible difficulties regarding this.
What do you think possible technical issues are given current state of
OFBiz?
I appreciate and value your thoughts/input on this.
Regards,
Pierre
