SAP acquires Lighthammer to improve plant-floor/enterprise connectivity

To enhance connectivity between the plant floor and the enterprise, SAP AG reports that it's acquiring Lighthammer Software Development Corp., a privately held supplier of enterprise manufacturing intelligence and collaborative manufacturing software. The deal was announced at ARC Advisory Group's recent Performance-Driven Manufacturing Forum.

By Staff July 1, 2005

To enhance connectivity between the plant floor and the enterprise, SAP AG reports that it’s acquiring Lighthammer Software Development Corp., a privately held supplier of enterprise manufacturing intelligence and collaborative manufacturing software. The deal was announced at ARC Advisory Group’s recent Performance-Driven Manufacturing Forum.

SAP states that buying Lighthammer will improve manufacturing performance with faster time-to-value for SAP’s more than 12,000 users. Lighthammer’s Collaborative Manufacturing Suite (CMS) will be delivered as a SAP xApps composite application on the SAP NetWeaver platform.

“Acquiring Lighthammer supports SAP’s strategy of enabling adaptive business networks (ABNs) for our customers,” says Nils Herzberg, SVP for SAP’s Manufacturing Industry Solutions product and technology group (PTG). “Essential to enabling the ABN is bridging the disconnect between the shop-floor and the enterprise through what SAP refers to as adaptive manufacturing, which is the ability of a manufacturer to profitably replenish the supply chain, while dynamically adapting to unpredictable change. The SAP Lighthammer combination exemplifies the ABN vision.”

SAP adds that the acquisition supports the company’s commitment to offering an ISA-95 enabled manufacturing solution that further reduces the complexity of building custom connections to shop-floor systems, and accelerates time-to-value for users.