Process Builder in DELMIA Apriso: How its key features increase your control of manufacturing processes at decreased cost

The growing complexity of distributed production and supply chain networks intensifies the need to streamline and expedite process changes while maintaining high product quality and brand consistency. The manufacturing industry’s need for efficient and agile process management tools has never been greater.

To alleviate these pain points, DELMIA Apriso, a leading Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) solution, offers a powerful capability called Process Builder to streamline process development, enhance data management, and optimize user interfaces (UI). 

What is Process Builder

Process Builder is an integral component of the DELMIA Apriso suite designed to facilitate the visual modeling and execution of business processes. It’s often used by highly qualified and well-trained specialists on the client’s team who leverage Process Builder to modify the Apriso-based solution themselves. These professionals can then create, modify, and manage processes through an intuitive graphical interface, thereby simplifying complex operations.

With Process Builder, deployment specialists can also execute SQL queries, visualize data using HTML supported by JavaScript and CSS or C# functions, and leverage a repository of business components and controls to develop robust and efficient workflows.

As the DELMIA Apriso suite’s core application, Process Builder offers many useful functionalities that can be used to accelerate the hands-on development process. Developers typically use Process Builder to:

• Create visual models of manufacturing flows, business processes, and other required workflows
• Build user interface logic, screen layouts, and backend data manipulations
• Develop custom business logic executed on user’s demand, as background jobs, or as part of an interface with external systems.

What are Process Builder’s key features

One of the standout advantages of DELMIA Apriso Process Builder is its ability to build screens and business logic that are easily configured and customized to manufacturers’ specific needs and requirements. This personalized approach to your manufacturing model and processes ensures that you can utilize Process Builder’s key features to maintain consistency and control across various functions, streamlining workflows from the shop floor to distribution networks. 

Visual modeling of business processes

Process Builder provides a visual interface that allows users to design and model their business processes graphically. You can drag and drop components to create workflows, making process design intuitive and straightforward. 

You can:

• Drag output from one function to another in the same step.
• Use Entity Explorer to drag output from one function to another in a different step, and the session variable will be created automatically.
• Leverage User Formula Editor to drag inputs or outputs and use them in your code.

Execution of SQL queries

One of the standout features of Process Builder is its ability to execute SQL queries retrieving data needed by the configured functionality. You can perform complex data operations without needing to switch between different tools, streamlining the workflow. This capability enables seamless integration with databases, allowing for efficient data retrieval, manipulation, and storage.

SQL Query Editor enables you to validate and manage SQL queries. The Editor executes SQL statements in the database and returns results. It can be also used to return lists or scalars. Additionally, with its built-in data validation functionality, SQL Query Editor provides an intuitive and straightforward way for you to validate relevant data by checking the SQL query when no rows or multiple rows are returned. Keep in mind, however, that you must not use SQL Query Editor to execute INSERTs or UPDATEs.

Data manipulation with JavaScript or C# functions

Process Builder supports custom business logic development using JavaScript or C# functions. This flexibility enables you to tailor processes to meet specific business requirements, providing a high degree of customization. Whether it’s performing calculations, transforming data, or integrating with third-party systems, the ability to use custom code enhances the tool’s versatility.

User Formula Editor supports in-memory calculations and enables you to manipulate custom data in C# or JavaScript. If needed, you can also use the Editor’s Options tab to enable additional APIs.

To further facilitate data manipulation, User Formula Editor comprises the following namespaces by default: System.Collections.Generics, System.Linq, System.Text.RegularExpressions, System.XML. Additionally, keep in mind that operations requiring file, database, network and other input or output access are not permitted. 

Repository of business components and controls

Process Builder includes a comprehensive repository of pre-built business components responsible for background logic and business controls responsible for UI, which you can use to expedite the development process. They cover a wide range of functionalities, enabling efficient and smooth process development and deployment. 

The repository of Process Builder’s business components is part of the standard DELMIA Apriso platform, which means that they are available to you without extensive customizations or advanced configurations of both the tool and solution. At the same time, while not commonly used, Process Builder also allows for the creation of custom business components.

Process Builder also provides a vast selection of pre-built business controls. However, while there are still business controls that continue to be used for Apriso customizations, it's currently more common to use an HTML and JavaScript editor for linking external libraries. You can use these business controls to facilitate collaboration between IT and manufacturing teams and improve user experience (UX), which results in increased productivity and efficiency of your production processes.

Some of the business controls that Process Builder comprises include:

• Authentication
• Browse attachment
• Chart visualization
• Checklist
• Gauge
• Link attachment
• Quality defect
• Safety instruction
• View attachment
• Work instruction
• Selection grid

Manufacturing-aware BPM

DELMIA Apriso solution for manufacturing operations management (MOM) provides a complete view of production processes by utilizing a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Through SOA, Apriso integrates with your existing enterprise applications, like Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions, while interfacing with the shop-floor equipment.

To further extend Apriso’s MOM capabilities, Process Builder is built with a native Business Process Management (BPM) framework that can be tailored to your manufacturing model. Consequently, this manufacturing-aware BPM incorporates a unified data model, allowing for easier and faster definition, standardization, and execution of warehouse, quality, and production processes. 

What are the benefits of using Process Builder

DELMIA Apriso Process Builder is designed to meet the needs of globally distributed, multisite manufacturers, offering built-in support for multiple languages, time zones, regional suppliers, and other global factors. Process Builder enables you to manage operations across geographies while maintaining consistency and compliance with local regulations. Whether you operate in a single country or across continents, Process Builder offers many benefits that help you stay agile and responsive in your industry.

Greater collaboration between manufacturing and IT

Process Builder fosters stronger collaboration between manufacturing and IT teams, breaking down silos and promoting joint efforts in process optimization. By providing the ability to modify business logic and user interface without customization or programming, the tool enables both departments to work together seamlessly. This collaboration ensures that both operational and technical perspectives are considered, leading to increased productivity and shorter time to market.

Continuous improvement through manufacturing methodologies

Process Builder plays an important role in supporting and enforcing continuous improvement initiatives like Lean and Six Sigma. With its powerful features for process standardization, monitoring, and management, the tool effectively helps you implement these methodologies across your manufacturing environment.

Whether it’s reducing downtime, improving quality, or enhancing inventory management, Process Builder helps enforce the principles of Six Sigma and Lean by allowing for the configuration of its functionalities to support these methodologies effectively. This robust tool empowers you to build an MOM solution that supports continuous improvement initiatives, ensuring that best practices are consistently applied and maintained.  

Better control of process lifecycle management

Process Builder helps enhance control over process lifecycle management, from creation through to monitoring and improvement. Its features allow for centralized governance and version control, enabling you to manage processes more effectively and ensure that changes are consistently applied across all locations. This ability to quickly revise, redeploy, and optimize processes leads to greater operational agility, ensuring flexibility in adapting to changing requirements and market demands.  

Enhanced data management and analysis

Process Builder makes the data management process easy and intuitive, helping you better and more accurately analyze key information. With this enhanced data management capability, you can successfully improve product tracking to optimize your production operations. For example, you can easily check if the selected product is in a specified location. If not, the system will return an error with the relevant message, and if so, it will display the product description. 

Improved UI and UX

Process Builder’s ability to integrate with modern web technologies based on HTML5 allows for the creation of intuitive and user-friendly interfaces. These interfaces enhance UX, making it easier for shop-floor operators and end-users to interact with your production processes. Ultimately, Process Builder’s optimized, instinctive, and convenient UI leads to higher user satisfaction and improved adoption rates.

Customizable and reusable business logic

The flexibility to incorporate custom business logic ensures that DELMIA Apriso’s Process Builder can meet your individual manufacturing model and diverse business needs. With this capability, you can create reusable components, templates, and operations that execute validations and business logic even without UI. This reusability reduces redundancy and enhances the scalability of your process management workflows, increasing the standardization of business logic across different projects, teams, and locations.

Integration with DELMIA Apriso’s Advanced Determinations 

Process Builder seamlessly integrates with DELMIA Apriso’s Advanced Determinations feature, which we extensively covered in our two technical texts:

1. Advanced Determinations in DELMIA Apriso: Why they are important for you
2. Advanced Determinations in DELMIA Apriso: How you will benefit in seven ways

This integration enables process authors to embed determination logic directly into their workflows, ensuring that data-driven decisions are part of your manufacturing processes.

By incorporating Advanced Determinations, you improve decision-making within your workflows, achieving more precise and efficient process management. The seamless integration with Process Builder means that Advanced Determinations can be effortlessly incorporated into existing workflows to enhance overall productivity across the shop floor.

No dependency on external programming environments

DELMIA Apriso’s native BPM process-based architecture for manufacturing operations management provides innovative tools to streamline your IT infrastructure. By utilizing a unified, process-driven framework, you can eliminate redundant applications and establish workflows that integrate production, warehouse, and quality.

With Process Builder, your IT expenses can be further reduced. The tool helps lower costs with its user-friendly design, eliminating the dependency on third-party programming environments. Processes can be quickly deployed, delivering immediate benefits without the need to retest your whole IT system.

Capitalize on Process Builder’s key features to maximize DELMIA Apriso’s potential

Process Builder is one of the key components of DELMIA Apriso’s MOM solution. As an essential part of the Apriso suite, this key capability is leveraged across diverse industries, including medical devices, automotive, industrial machinery and equipment, aerospace and defense, packaging, and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).

The tool is designed to help you maximize DELMIA Apriso’s potential by providing comprehensive functionalities that streamline production workflows, improve product lifecycle management, enhance data manipulation, boost use experience, and increase operational agility.

Additionally, the seamless integration of Advanced Determinations further enhances the tool's functionality, embedding data-driven decisions directly into workflows to help you digitalize and standardize processes across projects, teams, and manufacturing sites.