Manufacturing Business Technology - November 1, 2007

The leadership at Mercury Marine knows all about balancing seemingly contradictory forces. For one, the manufacturer of boats and marine engines, a $2.3-billion division of Brunswick Corp. headquartered in Fond du Lac, Wisc., must balance conflicting customer desires—for power on the one hand and fuel economy on the other—in the engines it delivers.

• Applications and Services
• LSI says supply chain complexity isn't always worth it
• Pet products maker knows the rules for systematic compliance labeling
• Is the globally integrated enterprise a realistic goal for most manufacturers?
• Supply chains respond to scandals with product-tracking strategies

• Business Performance
• Intelligent devices receive ISA-standardized support
• Plant managers check out time-series data for close-up analysis
• The SAK puts the clutch on business-critical communication using Neverfail exchange
• Cooper Bussmann “invisions” a solution to pinpoint open circuits, minimize downtime
• Automated survey gets an attitude adjustment, revealing customer satisfaction levels
• Win in the flat world: Apply lean principles across the IT organization

• Columnists
• Kevin Parker: Autodesk as the un-PLM company
• Julie Fraser: Commercial tools boost partner connection in the value network
• Erik Keller: Resistance to the Web's new realm is futile
• Sidney Hill, Jr.: Software industry mergers are no longer big deals
• David Caruso: SMB ERP projects a different view from the CEO's office

• Integration and Infrastructure
• IT Library lets us all speak the same language; read from the same page
• SaaS tool puts the hammer down on spreadsheet workarounds
• Rich Web applications support a business case in the SOA adoption era
• Network security appliance protects plant operations from malware
• Online-obtained drugs may be hazardous to health
• SharePoint plays central role in Microsoft's continuing plant-floor dominance

• Supplement
• MESA Supplement
• International Paint adds EMI to its production IT palette
• Emerging software model immerses manufacturing in the global enterprise
• MESA 2.0 supports execs, managers pushing for innovative IT in plant operations
• Survey says metrics that matter aren't always measured
• Wyeth Pharmaceuticals takes paper out of batch processes; puts MES in
• Rockwell Automation ups the ante with global process transformation

• Views From the Front
• PLM forges link between OEMs, contract manufacturers
• More IT work being done from home
• SAP brings midmarket offering to the SaaS party
• Experience monitoring boosts IT systems productivity
• Research and partnerships signal further evolution of electronic invoicing
• Price management need not be the art of the obscure
• How to get the most value from e-procurement tools