IT and OT services project

ACTEGA Schmid Rhyner AG, Adliswil, new ERP interface based on SQL server

As one of the leading specialists in industrial automation of process plants, Penta-Electric has comprehensive experience in a wide range of industries – in Switzerland as well as abroad. This also includes work in the chemical industry. We’ll gladly accept any challenge head-on with our extensive expertise and experience, and prove to you that perfection is achievable.

Project description

The company ACTEGA Schmid Rhyner produces ultraviolet (UV) curable paints, and has a special enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that integrates the company laboratory. Paint formulas successfully tested in the laboratory are incorporated directly into the production system. This Dibac ERP system is being migrated to the newest version, thereby changing the interface for data exchange with the production system. In this project, the existing electronic file-based interface needed to be replaced with a new interface driven by a database in the Microsoft SQL server.

The requirements specified by ACTEGA Schmid Rhyner AG

The new link to the ERP system should utilize the advantages of the SQL server interface but also retain all system functions available to date. There should be no change to the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) control system, so the SCADA operator can continue working with the same functionality. In this process, the ERP will transmit orders with individual formulas, with checkback reporting on the quantities of materials consumed.

The following requirements were defined:

  • Creating orders via three database tables
  • Checkback reporting via a database table
  • Possible means of transmitting batch corrections to the ERP

The custom-tailored solution from Penta-Electric

Penta Electric developed WinCC scripts that pick and compile information originating from the ERP system, and condition it for processing in the SCADA system. Other developed scripts read the information from the SCADA system and condition it for the ERP.
In this process, the logic of the scripts does not take place in the script runtime, which would tie up SCADA system resources, but rather in SQL queries executed from the scripts.

The benefits for ACTEGA Schmid Rhyner AG

  • A modern ERP system can be introduced that does not require any changes in the handling and operation of production

  • Since the system basis is now database-driven, the SCADA system can respond more flexibly to adjustments in the ERP

  • The new technology eases the burden on the SCADA system WinCC, thereby improving its performance

The challenge for Penta-Electric

A way had to be found to replicate, in SQL queries, the functionality of the electronic file-based interface used up to then, and thereby simultaneously adjust to the requirements of the new ERP system. All data implementation had to take place in the background, invisible to the operator.

The project in figures

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Contact person

Manuel Stächelin
Teamleader IT- and OT- services