What Is ISA-95 (IEC 62264)?
Also known as: ISA95, IEC 62264, ANSI/ISA-95, Purdue model
Definition
ISA-95 (also IEC 62264) is the international standard that defines how enterprise systems such as ERP exchange information with manufacturing operations systems such as MES and plant control systems, using common models for equipment, material, personnel and activities.
ISA-95 (IEC 62264) Explained
ISA-95 organizes a plant into levels. Level 0 is the physical process, level 1 is sensing and actuation, level 2 is supervisory control (PLC, SCADA), level 3 is manufacturing operations management (MES, scheduling, quality, maintenance), and level 4 is business planning and logistics (ERP). The standard focuses on the boundary between levels 3 and 4.
It defines object models for resources (personnel, equipment, physical assets, material), the activities of operations management (production, maintenance, quality and inventory operations), and the information that flows between them, such as production schedules, production performance and capability. The B2MML XML schema from MESA implements these models for message exchange.
In practice, ISA-95 is a shared vocabulary. When an ERP such as Infor LN or SyteLine publishes a production order and an MES returns production performance (quantities, times, consumed lots), the data structures often follow ISA-95 concepts even when the message format is a vendor REST or BOD payload. Do not confuse it with the Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture used in industrial network security, which uses similar level numbering.
Why It Matters
- It gives ERP, MES and automation teams a common language, which reduces integration scoping disputes.
- A standards-based interface makes it easier to swap an MES or ERP later without redoing every mapping.
- It clarifies which system owns which data, avoiding two systems both trying to schedule the same work center.
- Defining the equipment and material hierarchy up front makes downstream analytics and AI over plant data far more reliable.
In Practice
A plant integrating an MES with its ERP lists the messages needed: production order release (ERP to MES), production performance (MES to ERP), material lot consumption (MES to ERP) and item master updates (ERP to MES). Mapping each to ISA-95 object names before building any code makes the design review shorter, because every party recognizes terms like production request and production response.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the ISA-95 levels?
Level 0 is the physical process, 1 is sensing and actuation, 2 is monitoring and supervisory control, 3 is manufacturing operations management such as MES, and 4 is business planning such as ERP.
Is ISA-95 required?
No. It is a guideline, not a regulation. Many plants follow it loosely as a design reference, and vendors claim varying degrees of alignment.
What is B2MML?
Business To Manufacturing Markup Language is an XML implementation of the ISA-95 data models, maintained by MESA International, used to exchange schedules and performance data between ERP and MES.
Related Terms
Manufacturing Execution System (MES)
A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is software that tracks, controls and documents production on the shop floor in real time, from releasing a work order to recording what was actually made, by whom, on which machine and with which materials.
Middleware
Middleware is software that sits between applications and handles the communication, transformation, routing, and reliability concerns of moving data between them, so that the applications themselves do not need to know about each other directly.
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is the computer-to-computer exchange of business documents such as purchase orders, invoices, and shipping notices between trading partners in a standardized structured format, without human intervention.
Work Order
A work order is the ERP document that authorizes production of a defined quantity of an item by a due date. It snapshots the bill of materials and routing, drives material issues and labor reporting, and collects actual cost for the job.
Shop Floor Data Collection (SFDC)
Shop floor data collection (SFDC) is the capture of actual production data, such as operator labor time, quantities completed, scrap, machine run time and material usage, directly from the factory floor into the ERP or MES, ideally at the moment work happens.
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