PLM software keeps circuit maker on a growth curve

Emulex, a Costa Mesa, Calif.-based maker of circuitry for storage networking equipment, appears to have found something nearly all manufacturers covet: a software solution that grows along with the business.

Emulex first adopted the product life-cycle management (PLM) package from Agile Software in 2000 as a central platform for managing product-related data. In 2004, after acquiring another company, Emulex discovered it could use the Agile package to share product information and collaborate on projects across multiple sites, while also allowing each site to maintain its own business processes. Last year, with the release Agile 9.2, Emulex was able to include its supply chain partners in this collaborative loop.

“Our partners now have direct access to any changes we are making to the product, and they are actually participating in orders by responding with information like quantities on hand for products we are looking to change,” says Emulex VP Howard Ross. “Our users around the world can take the information they need out of Agile right away without installing any software.”

The upgrade to Agile 9.2 now enables Emulex to set new security levels to protect proprietary information. It also makes it easier to bring new employees—or newly acquired businesses—into the fold, Ross says.

“Each [upgrade of the Agile system] has resulted in us looking at our processes and determining how the system could enhance them,” Ross concludes.