Manufacturing Business Technology - June 1, 2007

Crystal balls may be the stuff of myth, but for Tim Rey, leader of the data mining and modeling group at Midland, Mich.-based Dow Chemical, assessing the future is serious business. “We sell into practically every global market,” says Rey. “It pays for us to monitor macroeconomic forces.

• Applications and Services
• Solutions buyers kick the tires of the software-as-a-service model
• ERP is needed to sustain the gains of lean programs
• Unilever expert cites financial flexibility as sales & operations planning aim
• Collaborative Design
• SpaceClaim 3D solution leverages Microsoft technology to empower product development novices

• Business Performance
• Internet-based EDI may be reliable and less expensive, but not necessarily easier
• Best Practices
• Specialists share transformation models with tech providers, industry peers
• Device Relationship Management
• “New-gen” remote management takes customer experience to new level
• Enterprise-Class Integration
• B2B integration platform makes linking partners' systems as easy as connecting the dots
• Supplier Search
• Autodesk partnership with GlobalSpec extends component search to design teams

• Columnists
• Back Talk
• Sidney Hill, Jr.: Who's ready for Enterprise 2.0?
• In Perspective
• Erik Keller: Is it time to get SaaSy?
• Simon Jacobson: Move quality from “afterthought” to “part of the process”
• Cindy Jutras: Lean principles: integrated business processes, or “random acts of Lean?”
• Up Front
• Kevin Parker: Confidence as an attribute of good management

• Integration and Infrastructure
• SaaS, Google, and Salesforce.com
• Reaping long-term value from SOA requires a certain level of governance
• Enterprise Search
• Traditional technology vendors want to pushGoogle out of the workplace
• Network Advances
• Acceleration appliance vendors targeting specific verticals, functional areas
• Software Testing
• Worksoft expands functional testing tools to SAP systems users
• Structured Information
• Object-oriented databases the next wave in complex data management

• Special Report
• Oracle and Manufacturing
• Oracle takes on the plant floor

• Views From the Front
• Microsoft orchestrates an enterprise-ready BizTalk RFID platform
• Briefly...
• Corporate
• Emerson lauded for wireless innovation
• Globalization Strategies
• U.S. manufacturers failing to maximize returns from investments in emerging markets
• Information Technology
• Verano makes it clear what it does
• Lean Manufacturing
• Pelion Systems + JCIT = DemandPoint, and the road to lean efficiencies
• Open Networking
• Rockwell/Cisco reference architectures result in best practices for EtherNet/IP
• Operations
• Oracle sets its sights on “enterprise PLM”
• RFID Infrastructure
• Savi pushes the envelope for worldwide wireless
• Server Virtualization
• For Windows/Linux interoperability, Novell, Microsoft operating systems now share the same space
• Service As Strategy
• Service skills seen as the next competitive differentiator for best-in-class companies