Manufacturing Business Technology

• Managed services: RedTail Solutions EDI-enables Microsoft Dynamics GP
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 12, 2009
  
  
• Open Source Project: Free resources for people who lead change
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 11, 2009
  
  
• Newfound pessimism: CFOs say customer demand is main financial obstacle for midsize industrial manufacturers
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 11, 2009
  Prime Advantage says its first Group CFO Survey, which polled financial execs from U.S.-based manufacturers in 25 industries, reveals that the credit crunch isn’t affecting these companies as much as customer demand and the ability to forecast.
  
  
• Another dimension: Descartes buys Scancode; adds 500-plus members to global logistics network
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 11, 2009
  
  
• Data explosion: The IT department has a long way to go to achieve green
  
  Frank O Smith, senior contributing editor (fosmith@thewritinggroup.com), March 10, 2009
  Explosive growth in data center capacity to handle the flood of electronic transactions has the EPA projecting data center energy consumption will nearly double by 2011 from 2006 levels. In addition to elevated carbon footprints, this significant increase in power consumption raises the risk of power failures and limited availability.
  
• EDI outtakes: Brown-Forman chooses Crossgate B2B services for streamlined e-invoicing
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 10, 2009
  Brown-Forman, which sells its 35 wine and spirits brands in more than 135 countries, soon realized it had a steadily increasing backlog of EDI project requests, with each transaction requiring multiple weeks of internal effort. It found a way to decrease the complexity by outsourcing the EDI processes to B2B specialist Crossgate.
  
• Forget layoffs: Mine information to save jobs, gain competitiveness
  
  Brett Holland, president, Akoya, March 10, 2009
  It’s time manufacturers realize the potential in their information and understand that their own people are the key to unlocking it. Using Competitive Banding analysis, manufacturers directly tie component features to pricing and sourcing information to determine the drivers of competitiveness across all of their products.
  
• Help on the way: NAM skills certification system to help new and transitioning workers prepare for good jobs
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 6, 2009
  The National Association of Manufacturers is endorsing a revolutionary new approach to certification and credentials that will "help workers succeed in high-quality, middle class jobs."
  
  
• Web-enabled workflow: Synergy solution simplifies collaboration in smaller organizations
  
  By Hope Neal, contributing editor, March 6, 2009
  Collaboration technology isn’t just for big companies anymore. Today it’s just as important—and readily accessible—to small and midsize businesses.
  
• Get connected: Software AG unveils first social BPM platform
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 6, 2009
  With AlignSpace, Software AG says it is launching the largest social network for business process management (BPM) professionals. The network will be available as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering with functionality for social networking, collaborative process discovery and modeling, and a marketplace for system integrators, consultants, and application developers.
  
  
• A new day: Infor interface personalizes information delivery in process manufacturing enterprises
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 6, 2009
  Infor MyDay for Infor ERP Adage lets users across all levels of business access reports and function-specific content to diagnose business situations and determine the “why”—not just the “what”—of business operations. Process manufacturers can use Infor MyDay to deliver real-time information, graphic representations of KPIs, and predefined reports. And it’s all presented in a personalized format.
  
• SAP partner: InfoLogix forms global SCE & and mobility solutions group
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 4, 2009
  InfoLogix is extending capabilities offered to Global 2000 and midmarket enterprises running SAP enterprise systems with mobility solutions and a proprietary platform for delivering wireless data to handheld devices.
  
  
• Distributed control: Honeywell scales Experion for small and midsize market
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 4, 2009
  In a departure from its normal mode of serving primarily the largest manufacturing companies, Honeywell offers a new version of its Experion Process Knowledge System specifically for small and midsize companies.
  
• Get more: Acsis offers efficiency assessment program and shipment execution technology
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 3, 2009
  A new supply chain execution solution paired with an efficiency assessment program, as offered by Acsis, seeks to aid manufacturers in dealing with the down economy and rapidly shifting business conditions.
  
  
• Picture this: New SCADA platform supports larger, global networks
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 3, 2009
  Wonderware says the latest release of its supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) platform responds to the growing need to manage production operations across large-scale, distributed global networks.
  
• Complete connectivity: Vendors offer more options for linking plant- and enterprise-level systems
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 3, 2009
  Manufacturing execs seeking to view real-time production data through an ERP system interface now have two new options—one from SaaS-enabled ERP vendor Plex Systems, and one from communications software specialist Kepware—for making that connection.
  
• Bold goals: Authentic sustainability is more than green marketing
  
  Frank O Smith, senior contributing editor (fosmith@thewritinggroup.com), March 3, 2009
  Part of the problem with the many contradictions in sustainability findings is there’s no clear business definition for what constitutes authentic sustainability. That's why Boston-based AMR Research has articulated a model to help companies move along the maturity curve from mere regulatory compliance to strategic sustainability.  
  
  
• Virtually useful: Video-gaming technology powers next-generation HMI
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 2, 2009
  The video-gaming industry just may be where the most innovative software is being written. That would explain why Invensys Process Systems has borrowed video-gaming technology to create its next-generation human machine interface (HMI).
  
• MÖBIUS plus SCC: Partnership for multi-echelon inventory solution will benefit from European SCM expertise
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 2, 2009
  
  
• What’s it to ‘ya? How a survey can set customer and employee expectations
  
  By James Martin, chairman and CEO, Inquisite, March 2, 2009
  Have you ever used one of those “How was our service?” questionnaires to register a complaint, then never heard back from the organization that sent it? When it comes to enterprise feedback management (EFM), this is a cardinal sin. EFM centralizes the collection, analysis, and distribution of customer and employee feedback to make good decisions and respond accordingly.