ISA-95, you need to do two mappings. Without it, you only have to do one, but then you may have maintenance problems,” Bullotta says.

The number of variations in the standard seem likely to grow in the short term. That’s because the manufacturing technologies covered by the document are expanding. The standard has been used primarily in food production, packaging and other batch processes, but now it’s moving into discrete manufacturing.

“The standard is broadening its usability into discrete manufacturing sectors like automotive, aerospace and electronic printed circuit boards. We can broaden the appeal, and it makes our model content much richer,” says SP95 chair Unger, also the principal manufacturing consultant at integrator Stone Technologies Inc., in
Chesterfield, Mo.

That change comes as the Automotive Industry Action Group is working with the committee, providing insight into that industry’s needs. At the same time, petroleum industry groups are also joining in the effort, adding continuous manufacturing to the mix.

Improved tools

This broadened effort will benefit from a recent gift from IBM Corp.,
Armonk, N.Y.

These tools may also help move the standard forward. Some users would like it to take a broader approach. As globalization continues, the need for terminology that addresses enterprises instead of individual facilities is growing. “One of the biggest challenges for ISA-95 is to get outside the singular plant view,” says Siemens’ Steidinger.

As ISA-95 broadens its coverage, developers are also making sure it meshes well with other standards. The standard’s development committee is one of the members of the Manufacturing Interoperability Guideline Working Group, which includes the Machinery Information Management Open Systems Alliance (MIMOSA), Open Applications Group, the OPC Foundation, and WBF (previously World Batch Forum).

Members of the Working Group aim to make sure that when one of these standards talks to another, there’s a good chance that they will offer some compatibility. They also hope that their joint effort will lead to the creation of tools that help integrators and users build systems that include components that use the broad technologies covered by these standards.

Members note that the collaboration with other groups should provide substantial benefits for all parties. “This has made vendors and standards people extend themselves outside their comfort zones. The industry is better off because of that,” says Jay Jeffreys, marketing director for   Third Party Programs at Wonderware, a
Lake Forest , Calif., automation software provider.

However, the interoperability between various standards won’t happen overnight. There are solid legacy programs, and each of these standards and implementations all have incompatibilities within the guidance of these standards. Providing links between standards is daunting task. The obstacles aren’t technical, they’re organizations, cultures and people,” Bullotta says.           

For more information, search keyword “ ISA-95”  at www.automationworld.com.