SAP Digital Manufacturing (DM): the Hybrid Approach of Cloud and Edge Computing to Boost Manufacturing Performance

SAP DM (Digital Manufacturing) is an integrated SAP solution that connects top-floor business systems to shop-floor equipment to provide global visibility across all plants. Tightly integrated with SAP S/4 HANA or SAP ERP, it makes the most of Cloud and Edge for superior performance.

In this blog, we deep dive into this kind of hybrid architecture to highlight today’s SAP DM competitive edge.

Cloud and Edge Computing enhances the role of traditional MES (Manufacturing Execution System) in Industry 4.0: real-time data collection at the edge, cloud resource allocation flexibility, more accurate analytics from artificial intelligence and machine learning bring great advantages in terms of visibility on operations, transparency, reliability of insights and ability to make timely decisions to respond to market changes.

This hybrid architecture composed of cloud and edge computing helps factories to keep pace with innovation, becoming smarter. With SAP DM manufacturing organizations can exploit the MES to execute processes at a superior level; data collection is precise and companies gain full group and cross-departmental visibility. The result is an integrated solution that guarantees productivity, customer satisfaction, and return on investment.

Today hybrid architecture is competitive
The Edge in digital manufacturing allows us to connect, process, store, and analyze data, supporting production processes close to the data source. Thus, the decision-making process becomes faster.

Solutions with hybrid architecture made up of cloud and edge computing give a competitive advantage in plant monitoring, waste management, production cycle recording, increased energy efficiency, and improvement of sustainability parameters.

The cloud with hybrid architecture represents an effective solution for having visibility on different plants and single operations and machinery: with SAP DM manufacturers can quickly acquire all the data where it is generated, monitor production and accelerate decisions. Additional services such as advanced insights, machine learning, or big data analysis add value.

How to realize the benefits of SAP DM
The great benefit brought by digital manufacturing based on the edge cloud is the ability to meet market demand more punctually, manage the extreme variability of products, improve customer satisfaction, and maintain productivity, margins, and quality levels.

But what does the DM solution look like in companies that have so far been used to managing their systems on-prem? What are the mission-critical tasks to bring to edge computing now? What are the challenges to overcome to realize the benefits of the hybrid cloud approach?

I know that in an on-prem environment, it’s not easy to go beyond reticences, but our proven experience shows that DM is a flexible, more sustainable, and secure solution that enhances the visibility of the plants. With Digital Manufacturing companies can achieve maximum flexibility: on the one hand, they can use what they need only when needed, and, on the other hand, they can take advantage of a product that can be customized depending on need.

Interested in seeing SAP DM in action? 

FGA Informatica – With more than 20 years of experience in manufacturing, FGA Informatica helps companies digitally transform through manufacturing SAP solutions (SAP ME, SAP MII, SAP DM), offering an excellent customer experience.

Industry 4.0 – FGA Informatica joins Syscons Group: Read the press release