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Line- and plant-level software implications

While GS1’s Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) protocol standardizes the way serialization data is transmitted between trading partners, there is no such standard for communicating between a company’s internal serialization solution and its Manufacturing Execution System (MES), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems such as SAP, and ERP modules that handle serial number management (such as Aii in the case of SAP). And therein lies the rub.

It’s not uncommon for companies that have performed pilot testing in the last two to three years to have focused mainly on testing serial number management—getting the numbers from Aii, for example, applying them to the packages, and sending back commissioning information.

But now that serialization is becoming a “real” concern in life sciences, the realization is dawning that it needs to be integrated into all the major business platforms in an automated, not a manual, fashion. Many IT staffs are trying to figure out how their MES and enterprise systems will connect with the serialization solution beyond the serial number itself. A lot of infrastructure decisions—file structures, platforms, how to move data—need to be thought out ahead of time, rather than on the fly.

Integrations at the enterprise
As mentioned above, companies have typically focused on integration with Aii (in the case of SAP), or equivalent serial number management components of the ERP system. That’s just one piece of the integration puzzle, and the only piece that people typically focus on during pilot testing.

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