MES Integration & Scalability

We connect any machine on the market. Not “most machines” – any: modern PLCs, twenty-year-old controllers, machines with no protocol at all. Our own automation engineers do the work, from the wiring and the gateway to the signal arriving in your dashboard, and we stay accountable for the whole chain.

Manufacturing system integration in both directions: down to the automation layer, and across to ERP, WMS, CMMS, QMS and BI. Then the same solution scales from one line to every plant in the group.

What is MES integration - and why does it decide the project?

MES integration is the work of connecting a manufacturing execution system to everything around it, and it runs in two directions at once. Downwards to the automation layer: PLCs, sensors, scales, HMIs and test rigs – the machines that actually know what happened. Sideways to the business systems: ERP, APS, WMS, CMMS, QMS and BI – the systems that plan the work and settle the numbers.

This is where MES projects are won and lost. The software demo always works. The schedule slips on the machine with no documentation, the PLC nobody has the password for, and the SAP interface that turns out to need a middleware licence nobody budgeted for. Integration is not a phase at the end of the project – in practice it è the project.

Accevo treats it that way. We employ the automation engineers, we install the hardware, and we own the interface to your ERP. One contract, one team, one party accountable when a signal stops arriving at 3 a.m.

OPC UA and DA, MQTT, Siemens S7 and S5, Allen-Bradley, GE Fanuc, B&R, Omron, Mitsubishi, Modbus TCP and RTU – plus custom OEM drivers.

Our own automation engineers do the protocol analysis, the wiring, the gateways and the signal validation. No partner network in between.

Once a model solution exists, each additional plant is a rollout rather than an implementation – as proven across the MOWI group.

Bormioli Pharma's largest Italian facility, connected end to end including all the automation work.

How we connect any machine on the market

Depending on the machine specification there are several ways in, and we will use whichever one works: Ethernet directly, a converter, a gateway, or a physical wire onto an I/O module. Where nothing standard exists, we develop the method. Full protocol detail lives on our IIoT machine connectivity page.

OPC UA, OPC DA & MQTT

The standard route where the machine or its SCADA already exposes structured data. Fastest to deploy and usually needs no new hardware at all.

Direct PLC integration

Siemens S7-300, S7-400, S7-1200 and S7-1500 over S7-TCP/IP with Put/Get access, plus Siemens S5, Allen-Bradley, GE Fanuc, B&R, Omron NJ/NX EtherNet/IP, Mitsubishi and Modbus TCP or RTU.

I/O modules on existing signals

Where a PLC will not give access, we read the existing D/0 to D/n signals directly through I/O modules – the method that connects the machines everyone else calls impossible.

Converters and gateways

RS-485, RS-232 and MPI converters bring serial and legacy equipment onto the machine network without touching the machine programme.

HMI files, web services & XML

HMI shared-file readouts, web service calls and XML client or server exchange, for equipment that publishes data but speaks no industrial protocol.

Custom OEM protocols

Checkweighers, vision systems, test rigs and specialist OEM equipment with proprietary interfaces – we develop the driver rather than dropping the machine from scope.

Our own automation team - which is why "any machine" is a promise, not a caveat

Most software vendors can only connect what their driver library already covers. We employ the automation engineers, so a machine outside the library is an engineering task rather than a change of scope.

In-house automation engineering

Protocol analysis from your machine documentation, PLC list preparation, communication testing and signal validation – by Accevo engineers who stay with the project through go-live and hypercare.

Hardware installed by us

Edge devices, field servers, gateways, sensors, counters and the wiring between them. We deliver, install and configure the physical layer – no separate hardware contractor to schedule around.

End-to-end accountability

One supplier from the PLC terminal to the dashboard on the wall, with machine and factory networks properly segregated and every source monitored.

When a signal stops arriving at 3 a.m., there is one number to call

The usual model is that a software vendor sells the licence and a local integrator connects the machines. It works until it does not – at which point you are chairing a meeting between two companies who each believe the problem belongs to the other, and paying for both. We removed that meeting from the project plan by employing the engineers ourselves.

One accountable team vs a subcontracted integration

Integration is the part of an MES project most often handed to a third party – and the part where ownership matters most, because every unexpected machine becomes a commercial negotiation rather than an engineering decision.

Accevo does the protocol analysis, installs the edge devices, runs the wiring, configures PLC access and validates every signal before go-live.

Integration subcontracted out:

Software vendor and integrator each certain the fault is on the other side
Machines quietly dropped from scope because "that PLC is not supported"
Change requests priced separately by two companies, twice
Nobody accountable end to end when a data source goes silent

Integration delivered end to end:

One contract and one team, from physical wiring to the number on the dashboard
Any machine on the market connected - if no protocol exists, we add the hardware
Protocol analysis, signal validation and communication testing before go-live
Our automation engineers on site, not a partner network you have never met

ERP integration and master data

MES ERP integration is where the shop floor stops being an island. Orders and master data flow down, confirmed production flows back, and both sides finally agree on what was made.

ERP: SAP, Microsoft, Infor, Oracle

SAP MES integration via RFC or web services, plus standard connectors for the other major platforms. Orders, BOMs, routings, materials and employee data in; confirmations, consumption, scrap and quality results back.

APS, WMS, CMMS, QMS, BMS, HR

Order sequences from pianificazione, stock movements to and from the warehouse, work orders into manutenzione, deviations into qualità, shift patterns from HR.

Data warehouse, lake and BI

A clean copy of production data delivered into Snowflake or your own warehouse, consumable by Power BI, Dataiku and whatever your group standardises on – one definition, every plant.

Interface methods that exist in reality

REST and SOAP web services, SAP RFC, intermediate databases, and XML, CSV or flat-file exchange where that is what the other side speaks. AI sits on top of the same clean data.

Architecture built to scale from one line to a global group

Scalability is an architecture decision made before the first line goes live, not a migration you run later. The same code and the same data model run on-premise, in the cloud or hybrid.

Edge collection with buffering

Data collected at the edge on a field server, buffered through network or server interruptions and synchronised with correct timestamps when the link returns. No lost production history.

Cloud, on-premise o ibrido

Azure, AWS, Google Cloud and Alibaba Cloud, or your own servers, or both – with multi-tenant hosting and a separate database schema per factory. Produzione in cloud.

Modern microservices, segregated networks

TypeScript, React, Node.js, Java, Docker and NATS on AKS with PostgreSQL and SQL. OT and IT networks kept separate, with VPN, SD-WAN, firewalling and ISO/IEC 27001 certified controls.

The Accevo deployment model

Accevo defines steps for each implementation. We conduct a predictable plan to meet customer’s expectation. Everything technical is assessed before a line of configuration is written – and the automation assessment in particular is done from your documentation and your real PLC list, rather than discovered on site in month four.

Factory team creation, project introduction, scope definition, systems integration plan, automation assessment against your PLC list, and the IT environment – architecture, network, VPN, servers and edge devices.

Industrial network and cloud or server preparation, edge device and sensor installation, PLC configuration, then machine connection with communication tests and data acquisition validation.

AOS server configuration, MVP, then OEE, MES and customisations delivered in two-week sprints – followed by documentation, SIT, UAT, go live and hypercare.

MOWI: one model solution, rolled out across the group

The clearest proof that scalability is an architecture decision rather than a slogan. Accevo prepared a single OEE model solution for all factories in the MOWI group, and each additional plant became a rollout rather than an implementation.

Model solution first

One solution for the whole group – prepared by a dedicated Accevo team for the global MOWI project, covering the common scope across every factory.

Factories chosen deliberately – the model sites were selected to span different processes and different levels of digital maturity, so the model would survive contact with all of them.

A Center of Excellence inside MOWI – the customer owns the standard, which is what stops a group rollout becoming twelve local variants.

Rollout, at MOWI’s pace

Roughly two months per factory – because the model solution already exists, each new site is configuration and local connection work rather than a fresh project.

MOWI sets the pace and the scope – the group decides the rollout sequence and freely selects which lines are included at each site.

Local machine acquisition – Accevo handles the connectivity and local customisation at each plant, whatever equipment is standing there.

Predictable, and extensible

Fixed price – a global price list and a purchase order covering all lines gave MOWI a stable, predictable budget for the entire programme.

Scalable scope – from the same OEE platform the group can add quality controls, traceability, paperless, energy monitoring, production scheduling and maintenance.

One platform underneath – every module added later reuses the machine connections made during the OEE rollout.

Send us your PLC list. We will tell you what we can read.

The fastest way to test any integration claim is to test it against your own equipment. Send us the PLC list, the machine documentation and a description of the systems you run, and we will come back with the connection method for each asset, the signals we can read today, and where hardware is needed.

If a machine turns out to need something unusual, that is our engineering problem to solve – not a line item you discover in month four.

Book a connectivity workshop ➜

Contatto con il nostro esperto

Sebastian Perz, Esperto di software industriale

Incontro online di 60 minutiti con uno specialista dedicato che presenta un sistema top di un settore simile
Modellazione dal vivo del vostro processo produttivo
Preventivo dopo l'incontro

Domande frequenti

MES integration and scalability, explained

Che cos’è l’integrazione MES?

L'integrazione MES consiste nel collegare un sistema di esecuzione della produzione (MES) ai sistemi circostanti: verso il basso, a PLC, sensori e macchine nel livello di automazione, e lateralmente a ERP, APS, WMS, CMMS, QMS e BI nel livello aziendale. Di solito rappresenta la parte più ampia e rischiosa di un progetto MES.

È davvero possibile collegare qualsiasi dispositivo?

Sì, perché ci avvaliamo dei nostri ingegneri specializzati in automazione, anziché affidarci esclusivamente a una libreria di driver. Se una macchina utilizza un protocollo standard, lo utilizziamo; in caso contrario, ricorriamo a convertitori, gateway o moduli I/O collegati ai segnali esistenti; se l’apparecchiatura è proprietaria, sviluppiamo noi stessi il driver. Nessuna macchina viene esclusa dal nostro ambito di intervento.

Quali protocolli e PLC supportate?

OPC UA, OPC DA e MQTT come standard, oltre all’integrazione diretta con Siemens S7-300, S7-400, S7-1200 e S7-1500 (S7-TCP/IP con accesso Put/Get), Siemens S5, Allen-Bradley, GE Fanuc, B&R, Omron NJ/NX EtherNet/IP, Mitsubishi e Modbus TCP o RTU. Inoltre, lettura di file condivisi HMI, servizi web, client/server XML e protocolli OEM personalizzati.

Come funziona l'integrazione tra MES ed ERP con SAP?

Tramite SAP RFC o servizi web, in modo bidirezionale. Gli ordini di produzione, le distinte base, i cicli di lavorazione, i materiali e i dati relativi ai dipendenti vengono inseriti nel MES; le quantità confermate, i consumi, gli scarti, i tempi di fermo e i risultati relativi alla qualità vengono ritrasmessi a SAP. Sono supportati database intermedi e interfacce di file laddove risultino più adatti all’infrastruttura.

È necessaria una licenza separata per l'integratore o per il middleware?

Non per quanto riguarda il livello hardware: gli ingegneri di Accevo si occupano personalmente di questo aspetto, compresa l’installazione dell’hardware e il cablaggio. Per quanto riguarda l’ERP, lavoriamo con qualsiasi soluzione già in uso nel vostro ambiente, compreso il middleware come MuleSoft, ove presente, ma non vi chiediamo di acquistarne uno.

Accevo può essere eseguito nel cloud, in locale o in entrambe le modalità?

Tutte e tre. La stessa piattaforma funziona su Azure, AWS, Google Cloud o Alibaba Cloud, sui propri server o in modalità ibrida, con i dati raccolti in locale ed elaborati a livello centrale. L'hosting multi-tenant garantisce uno schema di database separato per ogni stabilimento.

Cosa succede ai dati se la connessione si interrompe?

Il server Edge Field memorizza temporaneamente i valori raccolti per un periodo configurato e li sincronizza con i timestamp corretti non appena la connessione viene ripristinata. Lo stato della connessione viene monitorato per ciascuna fonte, in modo che un’interruzione sia visibile e non passi inosservata.

In quanto tempo potete estendere l'implementazione ad altri stabilimenti?

Una volta definita una soluzione modello, occorrono circa due mesi per ogni stabilimento, come dimostrato in tutto il gruppo MOWI. La soluzione standardizzata copre l’ambito comune; l’acquisto e la personalizzazione delle macchine a livello locale vengono gestiti per ogni sito, mentre un listino prezzi globale garantisce la prevedibilità del budget del programma.

Il sistema è sufficientemente sicuro per la nostra politica IT?

Le reti delle macchine e degli stabilimenti sono separate; l'accesso è autenticato e crittografato, mentre l'hosting si avvale di VPN, SD-WAN, firewall, sicurezza dei container e registrazione centralizzata dei log. Accevo è in possesso della certificazione ISO/IEC 27001; copie dei certificati e documentazione di audit sono disponibili ai fini della qualificazione dei fornitori.

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