Hewlett Packard Enterprise Express App Platform – Manufacturing

Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) Express App Platform – Manufacturing simplifies application deployment in manufacturing plants and unifies the operation of legacy and smart-factory applications. It is an on-premises solution that is integrated with Cloud28+ and allows manufacturers to accelerate digital factory transformation while avoiding disruption of their ongoing operation.

Digitising manufacturing processes brings many benefits including operational savings, improved flexibility and new revenue streams, but traditional applications are often complex and difficult to modernise. Conversely, applications hosted in the cloud can drive digital innovation, but also lead to data protection, cost and latency issues. By hosting both old and new applications on one single platform in factory premises, the platform eases the transformation and reduces the need for separate hosting of legacy and bespoke applications.

It allows customers to deploy applications from the Cloud28+ catalogue with only six clicks via a seamlessly automated process. Based on hyperconverged infrastructure HPE SimpliVity 380, the platform features the Express App Platform Intelligent Agent which securely downloads selected applications from the Cloud28+ catalogue and leverages Docker container technology managed by Kubernetes to automatically deploy the application in the Express App Platform environment on the factory floor. Infrastructure automation software, HPE OneView, automates the provisioning and management of the required compute, storage and fabric resources. During operation, built-in backup and disaster recovery ensures data integrity and availability.

The platform is optimised to host applications that support a factory and its productions lines, including manufacturing operations management (MOM) applications like manufacturing execution systems or advanced planning and scheduling, as well as IoT applications. Running those applications directly on the factory floor allows manufacturers to better integrate operations management with machine control systems to leverage IoT sensor-data intelligence for agile automation of production processes.