Werum to Establish a Common Manufacturing Platform for ERP and MES Applications

Compliant Manufacturing is the Foundation for Pharmaceutical Companies: Werum to Establish a Common Manufacturing Platform for ERP and MES Applications

Werum’s PAS-X basic system achieves “Powered by SAP NetWeaver®” status, enables integration of business applications and manufacturing processes to achieve compliance and operational excellence

Lueneburg, Germany, April 11, 2007 – Werum Software & Systems today announced it is striving to establish a common platform for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) applications tailored for the pharmaceutical industry. This common platform will integrate business and manufacturing processes to achieve operational excellence. The initial step in this integration process has already been done: Werum has achieved “Powered by SAP NetWeaver®” status for its MES PAS-X basic system, module PAS-CAPA version 1.0. In the next steps, Werum is going to advance the technical integration.

Pharmaceutical companies utilizing the mySAP™ ERP application and the SAP® xApp™ for Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP xMII) composite application can leverage Werum’s PAS-X basic system, a leading MES application, to simultaneously meet regulatory requirements and increase operational performance by building a compliant shop-floor manufacturing and electronic batch records (EBR) infrastructure.

To achieve Powered by SAP NetWeaver qualification, Werum has demonstrated that PAS-X basic system can be successfully deployed on a J2EE-based deployment of the SAP NetWeaver Application Server Release 6.40 and is accessible via the SAP NetWeaver Portal. This deployment has been tested and certified by the SAP Integration and Certification Center.

“Now that PAS-X has achieved Powered by SAP NetWeaver status, leading companies are planning to take advantage of it in many ways, such as its ability to access and use plant-wide information from remote locations or the ability to control all aspects of a manufacturing step from a single user interface,” said Hartmut Krome, Chairman of Executive Board at Werum. “These features and capabilities go far beyond what is currently available today in the industry.”

Streamlined Integration with SAP xMII for Strong Operational Support
Faced with weaker drug pipelines, eroding profits and significant competition from generic companies, pharmaceutical executives are looking for new ways to meet today’s complex manufacturing challenges of compliance, efficiency and flexibility. While most organizations have deployed SAP solutions to manage their worldwide business networks, many anticipated benefits cannot be realized until manufacturing operations are seamlessly integrated into the supply chain. To address these challenges, Werum is working to integrate solutions into a common manufacturing platform for ERP & MES that eliminates design-integration aspects in favour of business-configuration elements. This platform provides smooth and reliable information exchange between the business and manufacturing layers by enabling production visibility at the business layer and transparent synchronization across both layers. Werum intends to leverage and align its solutions around the SAP xMII application into a manufacturing standard for operational excellence in the life sciences industry.

“Compliant manufacturing is the foundation for pharmaceutical companies executing a comprehensive manufacturing strategy,” said Jim Sabogal, Vice President of Life Sciences Industry Solutions for SAP. “SAP’s extensive product investments and industry partnerships across the pharmaceutical industry emphasize our commitment to helping our customers transform their manufacturing operations from a market necessity to a business opportunity. Werum’s qualification of PAS-X basic system, module PAS-CAPA as Powered by SAP NetWeaver is a key demonstration of this strategy. It provides our customers assurance that their manufacturing execution systems will smoothly integrate with their existing enterprise infrastructure and support near-term operational enhancements during project initiatives."

Benefits of Streamlined Integration
By deploying their integration approach on SAP xMII, customers using solutions from SAP and Werum will greatly benefit by significantly reducing project deployment costs while relying on a scaleable architecture capable of addressing their most demanding business needs. By deploying a standard integrated solution, organizations can now consider the strategic deployment of MES across all their plants, thereby reducing project complexity, lowering infrastructure maintenance costs, reaching time to benefits much faster, and lowering deployment risks significantly. Customers will be able to take advantage of Werum’s life science expertise acquired during the last 20 years in the form of standard built-in best practices and advanced dialogs to significantly reduce production lead times and inventory levels.

Collaborative Customer Roadmaps for operational excellence strategy
MES is now a mission-critical application for all pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies. The combination of an integrated manufacturing platform with a pre-configured and validation-ready MES product makes it easy for customers to adapt and deploy leading-edge technology, while at the same time realizing the benefits of a product that is reliable and a leader in the market. A key element of this relationship is the reliance on SAP xMII to concurrently drive the vertical integration of manufacturing processes into the business application layer (top-floor to shop-floor integration), and the horizontal integration of MES within the supply chain of the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. SAP xMII and SAP NetWeaver provide complete support for J2EE technology adopted by both organizations many years ago. This guarantees ease of integration, rapid functionality enhancements and reliable support.

SAP, SAP NetWeaver, mySAP, xApp and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.

About Werum

Werum Software & Systems (www.werum.com) is a leading supplier of Manufacturing Execution Systems for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry worldwide. Twelve of the world's top 20 pharmaceutical companies use Werum's product suite PAS-X to run their manufacturing business. Outstanding PAS-X features are the functions ensuring compliance and boosting performance. The modular system suite includes components for Production Planning and Scheduling, Master Batch Record Management, Electronic Batch Recording, Weighing and Dispensing, Material Flow Control and Tracking, Equipment Integration, Warehouse Management, Quality Management, and Performance Management based on KPI Analysis. Werum’s solutions and services range from software consulting, creation of functional specifications, and software development to turn-key delivery of integrated and validated Manufacturing Execution Systems. Founded in 1969, the IT company employs more than 290 people in its headquarters in Lueneburg, Northern Germany, the regional offices in West and Southwest Germany, and the subsidiary in Parsippany, New Jersey, USA.

Werum Software & Systems, Tel. USA +1 (973) 644-4000, Tel. Europe +49 (0)4131 8900-0, Press Contact: Volker Mensing, mensing@werum.com

This release was published on openPR.