News about SAP Digital Manufacturing

Eagerly awaited and now live since May: Release 25.05. of SAP Digital Manufacturing (DM), the cloud-based Manufacturing Execution System (MES) from SAP. It is packed with new functions. But which are the most interesting? Reading through the full 44 pages of SAP's description of the range of functions is quite time-consuming. But it's only fun for real enthusiasts. It's a good thing that there are such people at T.CON. We spoke to our SAP DM expert Daniel Madl about his personal release highlights for manufacturing companies.

Daniel, the 25.05 release enhancement has been in production environments since the end of May. How important is it for SAP DM?

The release sets visible accents in the evolution of SAP DM towards an even more integrated and context-sensitive MES. Looking at its scope, it quickly becomes clear that this is more than just a technical update. 25.05 is undoubtedly a functional upgrade that pays tribute to both the realities of production and the strategic SAP roadmap. Particularly noteworthy are the practical improvements in materials management and the targeted promotion of end-to-end supply chain integration.

Let's talk about your highlights. In which functions do these improvements specifically come to light and what are they characterized by?

I like the high practical relevance of 25.05. One example shows that SAP is taking the suggestions of partners such as T.CON and end users seriously. The new "Sequence" column, which has been added to the article list, is very useful. The column shows the assembly sequence of the parts list components. In discussions with customers, particularly those from the area-based production sector, my colleagues and I were repeatedly reminded that the different dimensions of a roll (e.g. paper, metal, non-woven) are often only recorded in the characteristics. From now on, users can post the goods receipt for different items of the same material number at - even for by-products and co-products.

In the recent past, SAP SE has attached great importance to the topic of artificial intelligence. Does the release have anything new to offer?

Absolutely! With 25.05, generative AI is gaining further weight in SAP Digital Manufacturing. Joule, the generative AI co-pilot from SAP, allows us to access product documentation. The whole thing happens in "dialog". In other words, you simply ask Joule a question in your own words and Joule then searches through the product documentation to find the answer. Meanwhile, a summary is created in the background. This is then presented to the questioner by Joule as an answer, together with the three best search results. Anyone who then requires additional information can select the title link of the respective result and obtain further information in the SAP Help Portal.

What other highlights do you think the release extension has to offer?

In my opinion, the topic of "SFC-based dispatching", i.e. lot-size-based production planning, is very promising. According to SAP, the function is intended to ensure more detailed and flexible scheduling by allowing production managers to work on the basis of individual production lots (SCF) instead of production orders or operations, as was previously the case. As a result, production volumes can be scheduled more flexibly on production machines and it is possible to react more flexibly to unforeseen problems in production.
 

Daniel, is there "one more thing" for you? You mentioned custom plug-ins in the previous interview.

Indeed, a really exciting thing with great added value in day-to-day work with SAP DM! The custom plug-ins you mentioned are function modules. POD stands for "production order design". Custom plug-ins are an important building block for implementing different customer requirements. These plug-ins can now be integrated into the production process designs, allowing customer requirements to be implemented in an even more tailored way. Someone says again that public cloud solutions cannot be customized (laughs).


Daniel, thank you for the entertaining and informative interview.

Thank you, always a pleasure. It was a lot of fun.

Daniel Madl is Consultant Manufacturing Execution at T.CON and an expert in SAP

Contact: Daniel.madl@team-con.de