Suite solutions

SAP, Oracle Corp., PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards, Best Software, Microsoft Business Solutions, GEAC Computer Corp., Intentia, SSA Global Technologies, IFS, Exact Software, MAPICS, Glovia, QAD, Epicor Software, Agilisys, Adonix, Scala Business Solutions, Lilly Software Associates, Cincom, SoftBrands Manufacturing, Ross Systems, SYSPRO, Ramco Systems, ProfitKey International, Made2Manage Systems, HarrisData, CMS Manufacturing Systems, Friedman Corp., ESI/Technologies ROI Systems, VAI, Relevant Business Systems

Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 7/1/2003 6:00:00 AM

1 SAP

Still king of the hill

For years, competitors have been trying to knock SAP out of the top position in the enterprise software market by labeling the vendor as a slow-moving behemoth whose systems are difficult to install and expensive to maintain.

So far, however, this tactic hasn't worked. In fact, not only has SAP maintained its status as king of the enterprise software hill, it claims to be gaining market share at a time when many vendors are struggling to survive.

"Amid predictions that many well-known enterprise software vendors will disappear within five years, we've grown our market share by 4 percent in each [of our last two fiscal quarters]," says Bill McDermott, CEO and president of SAP America.

By McDermott's count, SAP now owns 54 percent of the business software market, and is gaining ground because it has addressed concerns about its systems being too complex for all but the largest enterprises. "Fifty-eight percent of companies with less than $500 million in annual revenues are implementing our applications in less than four months," McDermott says. "The biggest challenge we have now is spreading the word that we don't just cater to large companies."

One reason for these fairly quick implementations, McDermott concedes, is users' preference for buying SAP modules rather than its entire application suite. "They want to do surgical strikes that solve specific business problems and produce a return-on-investment within 12 months," McDermott says of today's software buyer. But he also argues that such strategies wouldn't be possible if SAP had not restructured its products.

The big change has been adoption of a standards-based technology framework that lets customers pick and choose the SAP modules they wish to install at a given time. McDermott says users will have even greater freedom of choice as SAP continues the rollout of its Net Weaver platform. This platform will let companies merge third-party applications—including those already in use—with SAP applications, all through the use of Web services.

While offering users the freedom to choose the applications that meet their needs, McDermott says SAP believes the broad array of applications in the SAP portfolio will deter its customers from adopting products from too many other vendors. "We have the best products in the areas of CRM, PLM, SCM, and core ERP," he says. "But the beauty of the SAP story is that we don't bind customers to anything. We plug and play with other environments. That gives them the best of all worlds."

If users buy that argument, it also should keep SAP at, or near the top of, the enterprise software market for some time to come.

2 Oracle Corp.

Emerging supply chain momentum

At present, the major issue facing Oracle—and perhaps the biggest turning point ever for the enterprise software market—is whether Oracle can pull off its unsolicited bid to acquire PeopleSoft. The move was announced June 6, just four days after PeopleSoft announced an agreement to purchase J.D. Edwards.

All three vendors offer enterprise resources planning (ERP) and other enterprise applications, and while many experts doubt that Oracle's initial offer will win over PeopleSoft's shareholders, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is confident he can make the bid work. As of press time, the outcome remains unknown, though few experts would disagree with Ellison's contention that the enterprise software market is maturing rapidly.

One earlier sign of this maturity—and one that Oracle has been attempting to exploit—has been the sagging fortunes of the large "best-of-breed" supply chain management software vendors. According to Jonathan Colehower, an Oracle vice president, back in the first half of 2002, Oracle experienced a resurgence of interest in its supply chain capabilities as marketplace sentiment turned against best of breed.

The problem? "The best-of-breed players were struggling, and it was our chance to step forward and show some live customer references to generate credibility and awareness," he says. "Unfortunately, we didn't have as many references as we wanted or needed."

Things have changed. For its fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28, says Colehower, Oracle added 20 new references in the fulfillment area alone. The previous quarter, he says, it added 25 references for its sourcing and procurement applications. "Two years ago, we weren't seen as a supply chain player; now we are," he sums up.

In the process, Colehower says, Oracle has both broadened its supply chain software footprint, and added new vertical functions. The high-tech, industry-specific version of Oracle 11.5.9, for example, which was due for release in June, will include RosettaNet transaction set support, the ability to handle consignment inventory, and product life-cycle management functions.

The overall intention, he adds, has been to focus firmly on "meeting the needs of real companies with real silos, and real islands of automation that need to be integrated."

4 PeopleSoft

Shaking things up in manufacturing

PeopleSoft shook things up in the enterprise resources planning (ERP) market with the announcement in early June that it had reached an agreement to purchase J.D. Edwards, an ERP vendor with a large installed base in manufacturing. But well before this news hit, the fact is that PeopleSoft had already set it sights on a bigger manufacturing presence.

In April, Carol Ptak, the company's vice president of manufacturing industries, was busy interviewing prospective new hires, following up on company plans for increased strength in manufacturing. For Ptak, PeopleSoft's recently recruited manufacturing guru and a former president of APICS, it's yet another sign that PeopleSoft has finally got the manufacturing religion. "This company is now very serious about manufacturing," she insists.

The reason is simple. CEO Craig Conway earlier set the objective of being number two in the supply chain management space—second only to SAP—and gave his managers just two years to make the grade.

The results of the new focus are beginning to show. Back in April, when PeopleSoft announced its first-quarter results, Conway was critical of company performance in several areas, but singled out manufacturing as a bright spot in license sales. Notable manufacturing wins include food packer, Neil Jones Foods, and Belvedere International, a maker of health and beauty products.

PeopleSoft 8.8—due for release in June 2003—should build on this groundswell. The release not only incorporates better supply chain planning capability, says Ptak, but links it to other aspects of the suite, such as the business planning and budgeting aspects.

Of course, PeopleSoft still needs to complete the J.D. Edwards acquisition, and successfully fold the company in as a subsidiary, which is the stated goal. PeopleSoft also must contend with Oracle's unsolicited offer to buy PeopleSoft, which Conway has dubbed "atrociously bad behavior" and a "transparent attempt to disrupt the acquisition of J.D. Edwards." If the takeover bid fails—and many experts question its chances—then 2003 may end up being remembered as the year that PeopleSoft gained real clout in manufacturing.

7 J.D. Edwards

A slimmer package

After several years of selling multiple product lines on multiple platforms, J.D. Edwards has simplified the packaging of its broad array of business applications.

"Last year, we were ready to release a large set of new functionality, but first we decided to look at our overall packaging," says Les Wyatt, chief marketing officer. A primary reason for J.D. Edwards' introspection, Wyatt says, was research that proved business software users are more interested in finding solutions to specific business problems than in buying individual applications.

This internal review resulted in the release of J.D. Edwards 5—a single product set that replaces three large product suites.

Enterprise suite vendor PeopleSoft expressed its intent in early June to buy J.D. Edwards to create the world's second-largest seller of applications software to businesses. If that deal goes through, PeopleSoft will be gaining J.D. Edwards' new product line, including enterprise resources planning, supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship, and supplier relationship management applications—all of which can be linked with a business intelligence layer for analyzing corporate performance.

The modular makeup of J.D. Edwards 5 allows users to pick the applications they need to solve their own business problems. Wyatt says the integration platform is important as well, because it allows configuring those applications to support individual business processes. It also has forged closer links between the SCM applications that J.D. Edwards acquired from Numetrix.

"With the integration platform, we are creating a framework for doing all of your manufacturing planning—from demand management to production scheduling—in a common database," Wyatt says. J.D. Edwards also is committed to making its planning applications easier to use. The prime example is a new Demand Consensus application that allows people from various parts of the company to collaborate on the creation of forecasts.

Wyatt says this change is boosting sales of the SCM component within J.D. Edwards' core market of mid-size manufacturers. "Before Demand Consensus, the product set was more appropriate for larger companies," he says. "Now it can be sold more into our installed base, 65 percent of which are mid-market companies."

That should be an interesting point for PeopleSoft, which seeks through the acquisition to jump-start sales to mid-market businesses.

9 Best Software

Reorganization boosts small- to mid-market focus

More than 80,000 U.S. manufacturers use a Best Software product to help run their business—a figure that Best believes represents about 11 percent of all manufacturers in the country. The company, part of U.K. software giant The Sage Group, focuses on small- to mid-size enterprises, and according to David Butler, president of Best's Mid-Market division, this focus accounts for much of the company's success.

"Some of the so-called mid-market vendors are trying to be SAP for the midrange, but not us," Butler says. "We believe that a product for mid-size company should have the functionality that this market segment needs, and not the complexity that you'll find in a package designed for a Fortune 500."

New this year is a version of the Peachtree accounting software package for manufacturers with between one to 50 employees. Peachtree Complete Accounting with Manufacturing Industry Kit includes a detailed guide that shows users how to get the most from the software, as well as sample reports, chart-of-accounts, and other pre-established content. More important, customers can easily migrate up through the Best product line to MAS 90, recommended for "light" manufacturing and companies with up to 500 employees; or even to MAS 500 for heavier manufacturing requirements and up to 1,000 employees.

Functionality to support offshore operations has been added to the MAS suites, as well as expanded capabilities for engineering changes, co-products and by-products, and configuration. "Our customers are telling us that they are becoming more involved in offshore operations and offshore sourcing so we're responding to those requests," says Butler.

Best announced a strategic reorganization in April, aligning the company by market, customer size, and distribution channel. A new Small Business Division includes ACT! and Peachtree; while the Mid-Market Division supports the MAS suites, Abra, FAS, SalesLogix, and other core products. Another group handles mid-market channel programs, installed-base sales, and customer support.

14 Microsoft Business Solutions

A commitment to manufacturing

Over the past year, Microsoft Business Solutions has taken steps to prove it should be taken seriously as a supplier of enterprise software for mid-size manufacturers.

"We have a significantly larger commitment and focus on manufacturing," says Mike Frichol, general manager for manufacturing industry product management. "Historically, we didn't get a lot of recognition in the manufacturing market, even though we had good products for that sector. So we've concentrated on letting people know that we are a new company with much more than a limited presence in manufacturing."

Microsoft Business Solutions began with the acquisition of the former Great Plains Software, which started out selling accounting software to small businesses and then expanded into manufacturing.

Shortly after becoming part of Microsoft, the Business Solutions unit acquired Danish software vendor Navision, a move that went a long way toward establishing its identity in manufacturing. "With the products we got from Navision, we can scale the entire spectrum of the mid-market—from companies with $1 million to $800 million in annual revenues," Frichol says. "We go across industries and modes of manufacturing—from engineer-to-order, make-to-stock, or batch processing."

Now Frichol says Microsoft Business Solutions is developing its next-generation enterprise software suite built on the Microsoft .NET framework, to combine functionality from Great Plains, Navision, and other acquisitions.

Frichol says the next-generation suite will not be unveiled in a single large release, but each piece will be compatible with existing Microsoft Business Solutions products. The first of the next-generation products, for customer relationship management, was released early this year.

15 GEAC Computer Corp.

Renewal via System21 Aurora

Marry in haste; repent at leisure. In some ways, the saying applies to Geac's 1999 acquisition of enterprise resources planning (ERP) system vendor JBA International. Geac managers acknowledge that in the late 1990s, the code behind JBA's flagship System 21 suite grew unwieldy. But Geac stuck with the product, adding new functionality, nursing the customer base, and gradually winning new business. Along the way, the company has restructured, reduced its headcount, and taken the opportunity to rationalize the multiple code bases that evolved in the pursuit of industry-specific solutions.

"We've just closed the books on fiscal 2003, and expect our eighth straight quarter of profit," says Alastair Middleton, marketing director for System 21. "Two years of profit in a terrible IT business environment isn't bad going."

Maybe so, but last year analyst firm AMR Research greeted fiscal 2002's results with the observation that Geac derived more than 80 percent of its revenues from maintenance and services. Middleton is unapologetic. "We're seeing an enormous demand for services from our customers, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with serving your customer base very well," he says.

So this spring's launch of the latest version of the suite—dubbed System21 Aurora—marks something of a watershed. The most significant new version for years, says Middleton, it includes a raft of productivity-boosting improvements. Four years after acquiring System 21, this time Geac executives have no one to blame but themselves if Aurora doesn't light up the skies.

16 Intentia

Building on Java-based suite

Intentia scored a first a few years back when it released a Java-based version of Movex, its extended enterprise suite, says Linus Parker, president of the Swedish company's Americas operation. While other enterprise software vendors are now adopting Java, Parker says Intentia released its second-generation Java suite last year, and continues to build on the architecture.

This year, says Parker, a portal called Movex Workplace will be added to Movex. In addition to serving as a user interface and portal, Workplace offers 4,000 preconfigured workflows plus versatility to create other workflows. "All customers can get data just using a browser—no 'local' software at all," says Parker.

Intentia is counting on more use of Web services technology to easily connect with third-party products that are Web services-enabled. "We've done some tests on how long it takes to integrate with these third-party products, and it's just a matter of one or two hours to get two disparate systems talking," Parker says. "Previously, it would have taken a day or two to write the integration."

Parker believes that Web services will appeal to the mid-market companies Intentia targets because it lowers integration costs.

Intentia's current year is off to a decent start, with license orders up 74 percent during the first quarter over the same period last year, including 27 new customers, says Parker. Additionally, sales in North America, which Parkers calls "a strategic growth market for us," now tally 20 percent of global revenue.

18 SSA Global Technologies

Able acquisition strategy fuels growth

Just a few years ago, what is now SSA Global Technologies (SSA GT)was written off as one more vendor that could cut the mustard in the enterprise resources planning (ERP) software market. But investments and acquisitions have done much to revive its size and stature as an enterprise applications vendor focused on manufacturers.

In early 2002, SSA GT acquired the ERP and supply chain management products of interBiz, and toward the end of the year, snatched up ERP vendor Infinium. Then in early June 2003, General Atlantic Partners and Cerberus Capital Management—SSA GT's investors—reached an agreement to buy enterprise software vendor Baan from Invensys, and plan to make it part of SSA GT. The combined company expects to have annual revenues of approximately $600 million.

Through it all, SSA GT managers say the company is focused on fundamentals. "We have a product strategy, we're adding functionality, and we're adding value," says Graeme Cooksley, an executive vice president. The past year saw major releases for the BPCS suite, the company's flagship suite, as well as the PRMS ERP suite.

"Customer retention has been good, and customers also are coming back onto maintenance," Cooksley says. Pre-Baan, SSA GT added more than 4,300 customers through acquisitions last year, pushing its client base to more than 10,000 worldwide.

While the company gets roughly 50 percent of sales via maintenance, it's investing about 15 percent of revenues into research and development. Between development and acquisition, the company expects to continue to add new capabilities in areas such as procurement and supply chain management.

19 IFS

Component path to vertical strength

For years, the cornerstone of enterprise suite vendor IFS's strategy has revolved around its component-based architecture and vertical market focus. "We're executing on that same clear strategy," says Michael Hallen, president and CEO. "Our commitment to a component-based architecture hasn't changed. It's part of our identity and a key ingredient in being able to deliver deep vertical industry functionality.

"Without a component-based approach, vendors often end up creating different products for different verticals," Hallen continues. "With our approach, we can cost-effectively support multiple industry verticals without having different product lines. However, we have strengthened our vertical industry organizations with additional resources, including senior managers with strong industry experience."

Components, says Hallen, help users easily update their enterprise suites. "It's a lot like an airliner in one regard," Hallen says. "On a plane, you're constantly upgrading wheels and engines and wings to something better and more efficient. That's how manufacturers should view business applications. Our component technology eliminates big-bang implementations and the need for major upgrades."

When the company delivered IFS Applications 2003, it made sure there were plenty of new functions to plug in. Among the offerings was a new three-tiered lifecycle management, or "3LM," capability. "The 3LM solution goes beyond life-cycle management, providing integration of customers, products, and resources throughout their life cycles," Hallen says."

The ability to roll out components supports what IFS calls Packaged for Payback. Says Hallen, "With components, you can go live early and get those improved bottom-line benefits and new market opportunity results faster."

24 Exact Software

Tying things together, for itself and users

This has been a busy year for Exact Software, with acquisitions, new U.S. offices, and new products. Last summer's acquisition of Kewill's enterprise resources planning (ERP) software business unit added the MAX, JobBOSS, and Alliance/MFG suites to Exact's ERP line-up. September saw the launch of e-Synergy, a business process management (BPM) solution, and early in 2003, Exact announced availability of its Macola ES ERP suite.

With the Kewill acquisition, Exact Software opened several regional offices for local sales and support for all Exact products for the West Coast and Midwest; as well as New York, Florida, and Texas. In North America, Exact now boasts more than 11,000 customer sites.

The e-Synergy solution automates document, customer, and project management; workflow; financial consolidation and roll-up, and a supplier/partner portal. The Web-based system can be synchronized with third-party ERP solutions. "This is a truly integrated workflow and BPM tool that allows our customers to manage by exception," says James P. Kent, Jr., an Exact Software vice president.

A feature called Macola Event Manager builds in native BPM capability to the Macola ES suite. "With Macola Event Manager, for example, if a company has been receiving monthly orders from a customer and that customer failed to place the usual order, you'd want somebody to be notified," Kent says. "Event Manager does that."

Exact reports that there are more than 50 sites in North America running e-Synergy. This adoption of BPM will lead to new efficiencies for enterprises, Exact believes. "ERP typically touches only about 25 percent of an organization," Kent says. "Tools like those found in e-Synergy can extend that, bringing more employees into the process and tying them more closely to the company's business goals."

27 MAPICS

Building world-class manufacturers

With the February 2003 acquisition of Frontstep, MAPICS is a big software company, with revenues of more than $200 million. Even so, the basics haven't really changed, says Dick Cook, president and CEO.

"We're still a customer-focused organization that strives to help customers in select verticals become world-class manufacturers," Cook says. "Technocrats may agree or disagree with our technology vision or product strategy. But for us, the most important measure of success is our ability to deliver bottom-line results."

Customers also are looking for a stable vendor. "Size does matter," Cook says. "The acquisition of Frontstep puts us near the top among vendors that focus on the mid-size manufacturing market. Customers feel better knowing they're dealing with a company big enough to invest in new solutions and provide world-class support and service, and big enough that they're confident we're going to be around."

The Frontstep acquisition also provided MAPICS with a boost with products. "Today, we have solutions on both leading platforms—Microsoft and IBM," Cook says. "With SyteLine 7.0 [Frontstep's flagship suite], we now have a very robust application built on a .NET architecture. The big news on the iSeries side is that we're delivering Java-based, Web-enabled versions of our applications.

"The other headline is that we're taking the best from each company to create advanced applications that readily connect to various enterprise system packages," Cook continues. "These strategic extensions—such as customer management, Web portals, and e-Business applications—will be shared by both backbones."

In spring 2003, the company released MAPICS Field Service & Support, a new module based on the company's plant maintenance solution. After that, Cook's not saying, but look for more solutions that help customers operate at peak efficiency, exceed customer expectations, and gain market share. Those are the three pillars of world-class manufacturers—MAPICS style.

28 Glovia

Breaking suite into components

With a long history in the enterprise resources planning (ERP) market, Glovia has more than 900 customers, and according to president and CEO Dennis Michalis, its suite covers nearly every area of extended ERP. But Glovia—which is a Fujitsu subsidiary—doesn't try to be all things to all manufacturers, he adds.

"We're focused on the most nitty-gritty sectors," says Michalis—i.e., engineer-to-order, make-to-order, and "high-volume" manufacturers in electronic components, consumer electronics, and automotive.

Michalis says the Glovia.com suite is broad, with applications for customer relationship management and supplier management.

The suite does have product life-cycle management functionality in its engineering module, including a centralized repository for all product-related data. The core production management portion of the suite features a capability called "Seiban" that is said to streamline the planning and control for specific products, models, and sequenced production.

Michalis says Glovia's suite functions well either as a corporate backbone system, or as a solution that executes operations and planning at the plant or unit level. Glovia offers integration adapters to link with other enterprise or legacy systems. "We are the backbone in some instances, sometimes we're the execution, sometimes we're side-by-side," he says. "We're in every combination possible."

Going forward, Glovia will be able to offer functions as individual components. "We're going through componentization now," says Michalis. "We have a behemoth of a suite, with Java wrappers around all of the process components. We're smashing ERP into components."

29 QAD

Supporting faster, leaner response

Everyone remembers Aesop's fable about the slow-but-steady tortoise that beat the speedy hare. Pam Lopker, QAD's chairman and president, surely does, but she's not buying it. In fact, she's betting that the next generation of manufacturing leaders will all belong to the hare family.

"Today, we're all about delivering speedy supply chain execution," Lopker explains. "Currently, it takes six weeks for demand information and requirements to flow across the enterprise. That's not good enough. Lean manufacturing and just-in-time processes can't wait overnight or until next week for a material requirements planning system or optimizer to figure out what to make and where. We believe we can shorten this process to six hours."

In support of this direction, QAD spent $40 million developing a connectivity-laden version of its enterprise suite—MFG/PRO eB2—released in September 2002. "The future is all about connectivity," Lopker says. "If you're not connected, and you're sending faxes and e-mails every hour to keep track of your business, then you're not going to be successful over the long term."

QAD has embraced industry standards to ensure that MFG/PRO eB2 interoperates easily with other applications. QAD also bolstered its commitment to lean manufacturing practices with functionality designed to promote rapid response to customer orders, kanban, mixed-mode manufacturing, and flexible flow order scheduling and management.

More recently, the company has focused on its solutions for supply management and visualization.

"What we're delivering now in a very comprehensive solution for managing the factory based on kanban, loop sizes, etc," Lopker says. "By hooking together our supply and production visualization products and replenishment capabilities, we're automating much of the delivery process."

34 Epicor Software

Common path for .NET

Epicor Software no longer offers five different product families on three different technology platforms to its 6,000-plus mid-market manufacturing customers. "Our new product strategy, called Sonoma, calls for a common platform that has one layer of business logic and multiple user interfaces that sit on top," says Rick Borg, senior vice president and general manager of the manufacturing solutions group. "Now, truly, one product can meet the requirements of $2-million to $500-million-plus manufacturers as they grow and evolve."

This new product strategy was announced in November 2002, but behind the scenes Epicor had been aggressively moving in that direction for some time. The company first delivered on the new roadmap with the announcements that its Vista 6.0 and Vantage 6.0 enterprise systems now share a common platform—with user interfaces and workflows tailored to the markets they serve.

Now the development team is working hard to hit the next big deadline: March 2004. That's when Epicor debuts Sonoma 1.0. "It's important to note that in no way are we discontinuing any of our other products," Borg says. "The path to Sonoma is an evolutionary path. When we deliver Sonoma 1.0, I expect it to offer functionality that's equivalent to, or a superset of, the functionality in the next releases of the Vista and Vantage products. By release 2.0, I expect the functionality of Sonoma will be equal to, or a superset of, anything customers have in place."

Another ingredient of the roadmap is the adoption of Microsoft .NET technologies. "Perhaps the key benefit is that, using Web services, organizations can coordinate and integrate information across disparate systems—even when they are not all Epicor solutions," Borg says.

36 Agilisys

Vertical market specialist

Slow and steady just isn't part of the Agilisys playbook under Ken Walters, president of the enterprise solutions provider.

Actually, slow and steady hasn't been part of the Agilisys playbook since the company (formerly SCT's process manufacturing software division) became an independent organization in mid-2002. Just six months later, Agilisys announced the acquisition of BRAIN, a German enterprise resources planning (ERP) vendor.

Market watchers wondered why Agilisys, a long-time process industry specialist, wanted BRAIN, an automotive industry specialist. "The Agilisys vision has always been to focus on key markets," Walters explains. "It ensures that when our people walk into a customer site, they have strong product knowledge and understand the customer's business.

"Our strategy is that we're the vertical enterprise experts," Walters continues. "Today, the only difference is that in addition to our traditional focus on process markets, we also focus on automotive, apparel, and retail."

Meanwhile, Agilisys is identifying product synergies. "We have a robust Demand Planning solution that had its genesis in the process market, but is industry-agnostic," Walters says. "We've sold that solution to some big-name customers outside of process. The product has strong team forecasting capabilities."

Agilisys has enhanced its enterprise and supply chain offerings. It also introduced an application for managing collaborative workflows and partnerships called Applied Relationship Technology. "We've provided a new platform so that customers can engage external partners without having to re-architect their workflows," Walters says.

Finally, in keeping with the company's non-complacent nature, don't be surprised if Agilisys acquires new products and technologies that support its vertical market strategy and growth plans.

46 Adonix

Growing vendor adds process suite

French enterprise software vendor Adonix is making inroads globally with its enterprise resources planning (ERP) suite for the mid-market, and this past year, expanded with an offering for process industries. The vendor's ADONIX X3 ERP suite for discrete and mixed-mode manufacturers has been Web-based since 2000, and supports both UNIX and Microsoft platforms.

The new product—ADONIX X3 Process—is partly the result of Adonix's 2002 acquisition of the CIMPRO business of MAI Systems. According to Alexandre Attal, CEO of Adonix North America, the company realized that CIMPRO's strengths could be combined with X3's functionality, thus providing a suite that supports the complex formula management and other unique requirements of process industries.

Also last year, Adonix enhanced its fixed asset management functionality by acquiring ABEL Group. It's all part of 25-year-old Adonix's policy to reinvest 20 percent of its revenue into product expansion and development.

Part of that effort, says Attal, is to support Microsoft .NET technologies, although the vendor also is partnering with IBM for its WebSphere Express infrastructure environment for small and medium-size businesses. The rationale, says Attal, is, "We are trying to leverage our technology with both the Microsoft and IBM infrastructure directions because we believe that, long term, those will be the two infrastructures that will be the IT backbone for much of our marketplace."

Adonix's revenue grew from $45 million in 2001 to $80 million last year, thanks in part to the acquisitions. But, says Attal reports, "organic" growth alone was about 20 percent, and the company now has 700 X3 customers.

52 Scala Business Solutions

Serving the "two" mid-markets

Enterprise resources planning (ERP) system vendor Scala Business Solutions is not simply mid-market-focused; rather, it sees two mid-markets: mid-size units of large corporations, and independent mid-sized enterprises. According to David Topping, a senior vice president with Scala, the company is targeting both these segments, and believes it has the collaborative functionality these segments are looking for.

In May 2002, Scala launched version 2.1 of its iScala suite, described as being "built from the inside out" to enable direct connection for systems collaboration. Since its release, more than 200 customers have migrated to iScala 2.1, says Topping, "primarily because they wanted this connectivity not just to exchange information but to actually do business automatically."

Each of the two mid-market sectors represents about 50 percent of Scala's business, which last year approached $74 million worldwide. The U.S. market, where Scala's customers tend to be divisions of larger entities, is growing, says Topping.

There are slight variations in the needs of the two mid-market types, says Topping. The corporate divisions, have urgent connectivity needs such as processing multinational invoices, using integrated warehouse systems, or triggering automatic purchases and sales.

The next iScala release will have several enhancements of interest to manufacturers, including an asset management module, skills and training applications, improved product traceability, and enhanced service management. And, says Topping, significantly improved customer relationship management (CRM) through Scala's partnership with CRM vendor Ascent.

55 Lilly Software Associates

Vertical advance meets commonsense roots

Change can be good for an enterprise resources planning (ERP) vendor, especially if you stick with the core philosophy that brought success in the first place, says Scott Rich, a vice president with Lilly Software Associates. The company, one of the first enterprise software vendors to leverage the PC platform, has in recent years expanded on its small- to mid-market roots.

Today, says Rich, Lilly Software's VISUAL Enterprise suite is scaling up to handle "true" mid-market companies that might pull in several hundred million in annual sales. To appeal to this segment, Lilly Software has continued to update the technology behind its suite, using .NET programming for new development, and has added more vertical industry capabilities.

Target verticals include automotive, consumer goods, industrial equipment, medical devices, and tools, fixtures, molds, and dies. In addition, Lilly offers a suite for job shops, a supply chain execution suite, and an aerospace & defense edition with extensive project management functions.

"Every company believes it's unique, and each vertical industry has its challenges," says Rich. "Those unique business processes need to be handled by the company's enterprise system without having to go through massive customizations."

But Lilly Software isn't forgetting its roots in improving core production operations, says Rich. The vendor was one of the first to eschew traditional material planning concepts in favor of a scheduling tool that concurrently addresses material and capacity issues. During the 1990s, the company also expanded its quality management capabilities. The latest efforts aimed at production management revolve around VISUAL DBR [Drum-Buffer-Rope], an application inspired by the Theory of Constraints philosophy. Lilly Software is offering short-stint services packages to help manufacturers use DBR to excel at bottleneck management.

International sales climbed 60 percent last year, and the company landed 267 new customers. While Rich says several factors drove this growth, including vertical industry appeal, much of the success ties back to the vendor's core approach. Says Rich, "We are still a very practical company, with execution-oriented solutions that target results. That hasn't changed."

56 Cincom

Configuration and ERP for complex products

Cincom's history in the enterprise resources planning (ERP) software market goes back about 25 years, well before the term "ERP" was coined. This long track record, contends Jerry Miller, president of Cincom Manufacturing Business Solutions unit and a corporate vice president, allows Cincom "to package knowledge" into its ERP solution, which targets complex product manufacturers.

Cincom added Web-based capabilities to its Control suite over the last few years, and bolstered its tools for sales configuration. An interactive selling application called Knowledge Builder features a configurator designed for rapid implementation and quick payback, says Miller.

Another key Cincom product is Environ, its enterprise application integration (EAI) solution, which Miller says comes with the ERP and interactive selling systems to facilitate enterprise integration and business process management.

Knowledge Builder represents the higher-growth side of the business, Miller reports, although enterprise management system revenue remains five times greater in volume. In fact, Cincom continues to land customers for Control in industries including heavy machinery, and aerospace & defense. "2000, 2001, and 2002 have been some of the most successful years in Cincom's history," says Miller. "Once the economy turns around, I think there will be a lot of pent-up demand out there. Over the next two to three years, [you're] going to see a return to the enterprise management side."

57 SoftBrands Manufacturing

DemandStream suite draws interest

SoftBrands Manufacturing runs its "software factory" in much the same manner that many of its customers handle production operations. "We do our design and engineering here in the West, the development and maintenance work is done offshore in China and India, and the product comes back here for quality assurance, final assembly, and release," explains company president Randy Tofteland. "Much of manufacturing is moving that way, and we believe it's an advantage for us that we understand the dynamics and the requirements of doing business with an extended supply chain that includes offshore production resources."

Tofteland believes SoftBrands is in step with another key trend: lean. The company's DemandStream suite is for lean operations, including support for kanbans and outsourced processes. "It's nice to have a product that pulls prospects in," Tofteland says.

DemandStream, adds Tofteland, is "adaptive," meaning companies can preserve their enterprise resources planning (ERP) investments. "It's not a replacement for existing ERP systems." Tofteland says.

Meanwhile, SoftBrands Manufacturing continues to maintain a strong presence in the ERP world with its Fourth Shift and "evolution" products. Enhanced Web-based support for Fourth Shift customers now includes a monitored customer message board where users can ask questions, share advice, and exchange business knowledge on a 24x7 basis, as well as WebTutors—30- to 90-minute prerecorded WebEx training sessions that are available for download.

At the corporate level, the company completed a reorganization that cleared any after-effects of the scandals and SEC investigations that led to the formation of SoftBrands in the first place. In December 2002, SoftBrands Inc. announced a new $20-million round of financing that put the company on a firm financial footing with working capital and a war chest to continue strategic acquisitions—a stated strategy for the company.

59 Ross Systems

Executing well leads to financial renaissance

Talk about financial performance these days and most software company executives mumble something about the recession taking its toll and getting positioned for an eventual turnaround. Not so with Pat Tinley, chairman and CEO at enterprise resources planning (ERP) vendor Ross Systems.

"By a number of measures, Ross is one of the best-performing companies in the industry," he says. "In fiscal year 2002 [which ended June 30, 2002] we grew software license revenues by 25 percent. In the ERP sector, nobody else had that kind of organic license revenue growth."

In part, the company reported six consecutive quarters of license revenue growth and nine consecutive quarters of profitability, which Tinley says is a competitive asset in today's market where "prospects want to make sure they're buying from a company that's going to be viable over the long term."

This strong performance isn't the result of a dramatic change of focus. "The key is that we have a strong process industry focus and we're executing well," Tinley says. "When you've got the right product, a focused business strategy, highly successful customers, and a tenured group of executives, then things come together."

Ross has continued to add focused functionality to its iRenaissance enterprise suite. Last November, the company announced iRenaissance Validator for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. "iRenaissance Validator provides manufacturers with a blueprint that helps them get through the stringent Food and Drug Administration validation process," Tinley says.

Ross also announced new customer management and supply chain management products during the last year, and last December, introduced Internet Application Framework, a Microsoft .NET-based platform for simplified deployment, maintenance, and integration. Next up, look for enhancements in areas such as promotions management for food & beverage manufacturers, and recall management for life sciences.

60 SYSPRO

Emerging .NET poster child

A contemporary new SYSPRO logo and the global re-branding are visible signs that big things are happening at this provider of enterprise resources planning (ERP) and supply chain management software.

But the real news isn't about the marketing sizzle—it's about the steak. "We're substantially extending the enterprise in a number of critical functional areas," says SYSPRO USA President Brian Stein. "Manufacturers are looking for a fully integrated system that provides built-in functionality to manage their supply chains—from customers to suppliers. That's what we're delivering with SYSPRO 6.0 [formerly IMPACT Encore] to include ERP, advanced planning and scheduling, customer relationship management, business analytics, and e-commerce solutions."

Highlights of the 6.0 release, which debuted in the third quarter of 2002, includes a new document flow management tool. "The document flow manager is an embedded, collaborative commerce engine that utilizes the Microsoft .NET framework," Stein says. "Now transactions can be consumed and transmitted from disparate systems and the Web automatically without intervention. The tool 'consumes' the order, sends an acknowledgement via e-mail, advises the operator of the new order, and makes the appropriate database adjustments behind the scenes."

SYSPRO also is delivering new functionality for its key verticals: equipment manufacturers, plastics, automotive, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, metal fabrication, food, and stock-shape suppliers.

Being long on functionality, however, doesn't mean being behind on technology. "We're changing the way we do business by making ourselves much more Microsoft-centric," Stein says. "At one recent conference, we were referred to by Microsoft as the poster child of its .NET initiative. This technology opens the door to easily integrating and extending the SYSPRO solution with other best-of-breed products."

Ramco Systems

Adaptable suite aims for "next practices"

Though Ramco Systems closed its fiscal year March 31 with revenues down, it is optimistic about the future, given the completion of its next-generation enterprise management package, Ramco iEnterprise Series 4. The suite has caught the eye of analysts for its innovative platform architecture, branded Ramco VirtualWorks.

VirtualWorks is a business process model-based development and delivery infrastructure that serves as the foundation for the Ramco iEnterprise suite of prepackaged components for discrete and process manufacturing. A recent AMR Research report stated that the "the application framework approach distinguishes Ramco Systems," and also noted the company displays patience, conviction, and vision.

Mike Taylor, president and CEO of Ramco Systems' North American operations, was brought on in March to spearhead the product launch and North American market rejuvenation for the India-based vendor. Taylor points out that a University of Michigan study placed Ramco's speed in developing Web-based enterprise applications in the top 1 percentile, and, he adds, development prowess translates into speed for end users.

The adaptability of the foundation and suite, says Taylor, supports "next practices," or those business practices that provide distinctive competitive advantage over current "best practices" commonly used by a particular industry. Says Taylor, "Our ideal clients have unique requirements and typically are going through change, and we offer them an assembled solution."

Three sites are implementing the new solution, and the company is working with 25 other new sites preparing for implementation. Boeing, for instance, is using VirtualWorks to help engineer its new Enterprise One hanger and maintenance repair solution.

66 ProfitKey International

Blends MES with ERP; eyes internal shift

Enterprise resources planning (ERP) system vendor ProfitKey International has expanded its offerings in several ways over the last few years, including building out its manufacturing execution system (MES) capabilities. But as part of a holding company, ProfitKey is looking forward to getting closer with sister company Foresight Software.

"Combined" is the proper term, not merged nor acquired, says ProfitKey President Joe DiZazzo, since both are already owned by Platinum Equity. The actual joining of the two companies will be completed by next year, he adds.

The move is complementary, says DiZazzo, since ProfitKey's enterprise suite—called Rapid Response Manufacturing (RRM)—is tailored for small- to medium-size discrete manufacturers, while Foresight's ERP system targets larger mid-market manufacturers. RRM users can choose to migrate to the Foresight system, or stay with RRM. Another appeal of the combination, says DiZazzo, is that Foresight offers a warehouse management system that is being evaluated for integration with ProfitKey's MES—called Rapid MES, for a collaborative fulfillment solution that would extend from the plant floor to the warehouse.

Ken Hayes, a ProfitKey vice president, says that ProfitKey customers have made real strides in "integrating the MES philosophy and technology into our ERP solution in real time." Some customers, he reports, have ERP and MES up and running, "including paperless dispatching and travelers, all documentation online, and flat panels [computers] out on the production line. They are achieving paperless execution, plus front office, real-time visibility—completely seamless and integrated."

71 Made2Manage Systems

Partners in success

The formula for long-term success in the software business isn't all that complicated, says Dave Wortman, CEO at Made2Manage Systems, a provider of enterprise solutions. "Partner in the success of your customers," he advises. "Small and mid-size manufacturers and distributors face tremendous pressures to reduce costs, streamline operations, and develop a competitive edge.

"These are challenging times, but we believe there is a good opportunity in this market for companies that deliver a strong return for their customers," Wortman continues. "Our focus is to deliver applications that allow our customers to be more efficient, provide the services necessary to achieve that result, and constantly look for solutions that provide value."

Made2Manage delivered on that commitment with announcements in the areas of supply chain management (SCM), field service, and warehouse management. "The SCM enhancements deserve significant attention because nothing is more important to our customers than their ability to synchronize demand with the capacity to meet that demand, and in the most cost-effective way possible," Wortman says.

M2M SCM 5.01, released in March 2003, offers new planning and scheduling capabilities based on the Theory of Constraints.

Last fall, the company introduced new partner-facing portal functions. "We deploy electronic data interchange [EDI] capabilities on an XML [eXtensible markup language] platform," Wortman says. "This gives smaller manufacturers the ability to communicate with their upstream supply chain partners while reducing the cost that EDI traditionally requires."

In March, M2M Field Service 5.2, including more than 40 customer-driven enhancements, was released. Via a partnership with Infoscan Software Systems, Made2Manage announced a new warehouse management solution in January.

On June 5, Made2Manage announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of venture capital firm Battery Ventures for approximately $30 million cash. The move includes taking Made2Manage private, and is positioned as strengthening the company for long-term success.

78 HarrisData

Adds CRM and Web-based functions

HarrisData, an enterprise resources planning (ERP) software provider to small- to mid-market manufacturers, embraces Internet technology. But the company remains a no-nonsense vendor committed to proven technologies like IBM's iSeries platform. As Harris

Data President Lane Nelson explains, the company is delivering on Web technology because users want it.

"We're on a path to enable our customers to view, access, and process any information in the entire ERP suite through any standard Web browser," says Nelson. "We had given some 'flavor' of that to customers last year, but now provided our biggest adoption in our latest version, HD 4.1.

"We saw our customers upgrade at a pace more than double any upgrade that we've ever released," Nelson continues. "They ordered it faster and implemented it faster. They wanted to get at that browser-based functionality." The Web functionality can be outward-facing, Nelson says, so that a manufacturer's suppliers can easily check all appropriate data, including current plant inventories.

Late last year, HarrisData introduced Contact Management, which delivers customer relationship management functionality. With Contact Management, Nelson explains, users click across information-laden areas like orders and shipments, transactions, and events—or "what traditionally would have been called modules"—to support customer interactions. "If you put it all together in one browser-based [operation], what you really have is customer relationship management plus ERP," he says.

What's next? Nelson's answer, not surprisingly, is, "Turn the entire [ERP suite] into this browser interface."

79 CMS Manufacturing Systems

No ERP downturn here

Amidst the gloomy enterprise resources planning (ERP) market, it's nice to hear CMS Manufacturing Systems reporting positive results. "We're coming off our strongest sales performance ever," says President Rudy Joss. "Overall, this may not be a good environment for many vendors, but we're doing well in our automotive, OEM, consumer packaged goods, and assembly-type markets. There's a lot of pent-up demand because many systems are old and need to be replaced."

One reason for the company's success is the flurry of enhancements to the company's flagship CMS/400 suite. Last December, the company introduced CMS Production Analysis Toolkit, which helps identify problem areas, trace material usage, and analyze trends.

In January, the company released Internet Connectivity Server, which allows users to securely access data from the ERP solution via Internet dial-up connections. "To go with that, we also released Easy e-Business Suite 2.1," Joss says. "This allows manufacturers to take orders and send requirements to suppliers via the Internet."

Late this year, the company will deliver EVENTware, a new offering based on Microsoft .NET technology. "EVENTware is unique in that it is a true event-based business software solution," Joss says. "It can run either on an IBM iSeries or it can run on a Microsoft NT server. This will be offered primarily outside our core markets, where it can be easily tailored to fit niche requirements."

Also new is a monthly leasing program for the flagship suite in which the fees build equity in the suite if converted to a purchase arrangement. Says Joss, "The low upfront costs of this program change the dynamics for manufacturers trying to shift expenses to their operating budgets."

81 Friedman Corp.

Focus on slashing order-cycle time

Helping manufacturers achieve return-on-investment is one thing, says Craig Yamauchi, president and CEO of enterprise resources planning (ERP) system vendor Friedman Corp., but actually helping them compress their cycle times is another. Yamauchi contends that Friedman, with its long history of pairing configuration with ERP, is able to pull off this latter trick.

Friedman's market includes high-volume custom furniture makers; manufacturers for the building industry (cabinets, doors, windows, and window covering); and capital equipment manufacturers. "Our goal is to dramatically shorten manufacturing lead time for all industries that manufacture custom products," Yamauchi says.

In recent years, Friedman has used Java technology and IBM's WebSphere application server to add Internet capabilities to Frontier. Another major development focus for the vendor has been to ensure effective data synchronization between its configuration software and ERP data.

The company has successfully deployed more than 1,500 licenses of its PowerBids sales and quotation management system, which is directly integrated with Frontier. This reduces manufacturer lead times as much as 50 percent, Yamauchi claims, by enabling automated and accurate quote generation for customized products, thus avoiding lengthy manual quote generation and review processes.

The flow of configured product information—from common components into accurate quotes and work orders—is critical in Friedman's market. As Yamauchi puts it, "Information has truly become the key capital asset of all organizations, regardless of the economic challenges they face."

82 ESI/Technologies

Batch/hybrid enhancements to Oracle-based suite

Sometimes you find opportunity during slower economic times. That's how ESI/Technologies is evolving the capabilities of its eMIS enterprise system for the mid-market.

The suite has long targeted discrete verticals across multiple modes of manufacturing—including make-to-order, make-to-stock, and repetitive—but recently, says Ralph Proulx, ESI's executive vice president, the company leveraged work with its installed base to add batch-process functionality.

"Re-examining our base lets us better address those companies that are hybrid discrete/process manufacturers," says Proulx. "It gives us the ability to expand our focus."

A prime example of this is Williams Advanced Materials, a manufacturer that processes and recycles gold and other precious metals. In Williams' case, additional dimension and item attribute codes were added to eMIS's inventory control module. These and other functions are now part of the standard suite. "Co-development advances the product, and leads us into some areas we might not have pursued on our own," Proulx says.

ESI remains committed to using Oracle's database and development tools, including Oracle's Designer and Developer toolsets that support both Web and client/server environment. According to Proulx, this Oracle foundation for the suite remains a major differentiator for the offering.

84 ROI Systems

Best software sales revenue ever

Focused on manufacturing. Focused on the midrange. Focused on customer service. That's the three-part formula ROI Systems followed to keep growing amidst an industry slump.

"Our approach to sales is simple," says CEO Paul Merlo. "We look at our clients and see what they've achieved. There are many vendors with a lot of features and functions in their product and a lot of the products look alike. We view outstanding service as the differentiator."

In support of that, ROI Systems points to its highly integrated sales and implementation process, called KnowledgePath. "This provides customers with a continuous flow through the process and it allows us to do a much better job by having the implementation organization involved from the start," Merlo says.

The product they're implementing is MANAGE 2000, an enterprise resources planning suite for medium-size manufacturers with all the expected strategic extensions, including customer relationship management, supply chain management, supplier relationship management, and e-Business.

The next release, slated for fourth-quarter 2003, features a Microsoft .NET framework, integrated business intelligence to provide better access to information, enhanced capabilities for managing prospect/client relationships, and a beefed-up Web portal that simplifies system access for casual users.

Over the years, ROI has taken a conservative tack and that suits its customers just fine. "Manufacturers are looking for a one-stop shop for all their requirements," Merlo says. "They don't want to have to mix and match components to get what they're after. They've been burned before, so they're taking a hard look at the quality and types of services the vendor offers in support of the implementation process and ongoing use of the software. And they're looking for vendor financial stability. ROI Systems is known for this at a level few software suppliers can match."

So don't look for any changes in the company focus—on manufacturing, on the midrange, and on customer service.

88 VAI

iSeries-focused vendor notches milestone

Enterprise resources planning (ERP) software vendor Vormittag Associates Inc. (VAI) marked its 25th year in business last December with good growth in new business during 2002, adding over 50 new customers in the small- to mid-size manufacturing/distribution market. VAI proceeded to start off 2003 by shipping a major new release of its System 2000 product family.

VAI is an IBM Premiere Solution Partner whose products support IBM's iSeries platform. The vendor offers multiple editions of its suite, including System 2000 for Manufacturing, System 2000 for Metals, and System 2000 for the Web. Starting out in wholesale distribution, VAI has actively cultivated a manufacturing presence, and its customer base is now roughly evenly split between the two.

"Our manufacturing business is increasingly important to us," says Bob Vormittag, president. "We have evolved the product to include all the functionality— from capacity planning, to MRP [material requirements planning] and quality—to compete aggressively in that market."

The release announced in January adds warehouse management, customer management, and enhanced retail point-of-sale, manufacturing, quality, and purchasing applications. Traditionally strong in the Northeast, the company is opening new offices in Illinois and California. The company also has a minor international presence in Canada, the Caribbean, and Europe.

"We're focusing on integrating more desktop functions like e-mail and scheduling with the enterprise, to offer the best of both words," Vormittag says. "We offer the scalability, stability, and security of iSeries with the productivity of office products like Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook."

90 Relevant Business Systems

Market focus and new intelligence tool

Relevant Business Systems has carved a niche for itself in the enterprise resources planning (ERP) system market by consistently focusing on areas with high entry thresholds. It's been able to do so with systems that are broad, deep, and easy to deploy.

INFIMACS II, Relevant's flagship ERP suite, addresses the requirements of large aerospace and defense companies, maintenance and repair operations, and contract manufacturers. For instance, in aerospace, the suite boasts features that are crucial to managing long production cycles for low-volume, high-cost items such as fighter aircraft prototypes.

But Relevant isn't forgetting about small- and mid-size discrete manufacturers either, says CEO Patrick Garrehy. "Our strategy is to make it possible for any size manufacturer to use our software," he says. As an operation grows over the years, we have the functionality to remain the system of choice."

To that end, Relevant was busy this past year with several initiatives, including the recent introduction of Value Pack, an entry-level repackaging of core functionality for small- to mid-size aviation repair centers and maintenance facilities. It also delivered Business Wizard, a template-based business intelligence, query, and reporting tool; and launched its Microsoft .NET development initiative, with release of its first functions scheduled for this summer.

Relevant won an important contract this past year with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. Lockheed licensed Relevant's new Illustrative Parts Breakdown (IPB) package. IPB is a graphical service repair solution that joins text with illustrated instructions for detailed service procedures.