Best-of-breed lives: Preactor expands global customer base
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 10/16/2007 6:00:00 AM
Though their numbers have dwindled in recent years, best-of-breed supply chain management software vendors can still thrive by offering solutions that manufacturers can apply to specific business problems.
A recent list of customers signed by Preactor International, a specialist in production planning and scheduling applications, underscores this trend. This month alone, Preactor has inked deals with:
• Arcon d.o.o, the largest steel manufacturing company in Slovenia;
• Twinings Tea, a 300-year-old U.K.-based tea manufacturer;
• G. O. Carslon, a U.S.-based speciality stainless steel, copper, and nickel alloy product producer; and
• Goodyear Brazil, a tire manufacturer.
“As the market for advanced planning and scheduling [APS] systems matures, global companies are increasingly looking for global providers they can trust to deliver APS solutions that can be customized for their specific needs and then rolled out to multiple sites supported and trained by local experts in their own language,” explains Preactor CEO Mike Novels. “With more than 10,000 installations at least in 2,000 companies across 64 countries, Preactor International is in a unique position to offer this.”
Last month, Preactor entered a partnership that it expects will help customers complement Preactor's detailed production planning and scheduling applications with solutions aimed at more strategic objectives.
The alliance with DynaSys, which offers demand forecasting and supply chain planning solutions, allows Preactor to offer DynaSys solutions to any customers needing that functionality. DynaSys will have the same freedom to offer Preactor solutions to its customers.
“The flexibility and power of Preactor’s tools enable them to be seamlessly integrated into both our existing and future products,” says Patrick Bourgeois, sales and marketing director at DynaSys. “Both solutions also are easily integrated with a wide range of ERP systems. We can now therefore offer our customers a complete solution for planning and controlling production flows, at a strategic, tactical, or operational level.”
