Overview of SAP AIE

In this blog we are going to take a look at SAP AIE. AIE consists of multiple local instances of the component SAP Aii. This component is then connected to a component called SAP OER to collect data centrally from across a company’s enterprise and business partners. It can be used to query, manage, and monitor a company’s processes centrally. Aii stands for Auto ID Infrastructure and OER stands for Object Event Repository and is used for serialization.

Serialization can be defined as the process by which each product in the supply chain would be assigned a unique number. Serialization would enable one to identify the manufacturer, the kind of product, the integrity of the product, etc. from the unique number assigned to a product in a global supply chain scenario.

There are many benefits by serializing your product:

1. Your organization would able to take account of all the products that are being manufactured from your facility.
2. One can easily manhandle the operations associated with it. It can help you to maintain your brand in the market.
3. Drug counterfeiting and diversions are huge patient safety issues driving serialization globally. Organizations around the world have felt the need of serializing the product as a means to prevent counterfeiting and drug trafficking from happening in complex supply chain scenarios.
4. RSI helped develop a serialization solution for a retail grocer that allowed them to trace their food, ensuring food safety.

SAP OER is an EPCIS repository fully new and compliant with GS1/EPC global EPCIS Standards. It allows an EPCIS capturing application to insert EPCIS events in the repository to query SAP OER. Reports for business intelligence can then be produced. SAP OER also manages serial numbers and can distribute a unique serial number range to other applications. SAP OER is meant to be instantiated at the corporate level.

On its side, SAP Aii is an EPCIS Events Capturing Application. It allows to management of low level material like printers, RFID devices, or hand held scanners in order to interpret the input of low level devices and converts it to EPCIS events. It also manages serial numbers, requests of serial number ranges to SAP OER, and can distribute a range to other applications. SAP Aii is meant to be the edge interface at the plant level.

Many companies are implementing this system for their product traceability and serialization needs, especially since there are regulations for GS1 compliance. It has many aspects that can be beneficial to businesses; it’s also very customizable and works well with many lower level systems that plants have which make it a great solution.