Manufacturing Business Technology

• U.S. steel industry undergoing revolutionary change; health on the horizon
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  The message coming out of the well-attended Congressional Steel Caucus Field Hearing in Pittsburgh this past summer was the long-term strategic importance of a strong North American manufacturing base and the role the steel industry can play in that endeavor. David S. Sutherland, chairman of Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), testified that the industry is...
  
• Customer satisfaction bodes well for some; means trouble for others
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  Apple Computer and Gateway saw solid gains in the annual report on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), conducted by the University of Michigan and released in August. Apple led in the PC category with an 81-percent rating—a 2.8-percent gain over the previous year—but Gateway, in third behind Dell, saw a 7.
  
• Top CEO concerns vary globally
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  CEOs of Asian companies are more likely to be concerned with people issues—such as stimulating innovation and acquiring top talent—than their U.S. and European counterparts, who are concerned most with top-line growth as economies recover. Conversely, only among U.S. executives does vigilance regarding ethics issues rank anywhere in the top 10 job concerns.
  
• Why PeopleSoft needs IBM's WebSphere
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  PeopleSoft surprised industry observers with its September announcement that IBM WebSphere would be the standard integration platform for PeopleSoft applications. But this plan follows PeopleSoft's history of buying rather than building to stay competitive. The most obvious example of this strategy was PeopleSoft's 2003 acquisition of J.
  
• IBM program yields prototype results, works students chops
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  Troubleshooting software in situ often proves challenging because of the difficulty of pinpointing whether hardware, software, or networking is to blame. A new prototype tool developed by IBM summer interns could simplify fault detection and may even eliminate some finger-pointing. Code-named Symbiosis, the tool is the product of Extreme Blue, a 12-week IBM program that brings MB...
  
• IBM unveils DB2 for small business; Microsoft, Oracle say: "We're not impressed"
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  The corporate database market historically has had two distinct tiers: one in which Oracle and IBMbattle for the business of large enterprises, and a second one where Microsoft scoops up most of the sales from small and medium-size businesses. Recently, however, the top-tier players have been making a concerted effort to capture more business at the lower end of the market.
  
• ACT system gets Microsoft-centric facelift for the corporate IT arena
  
  by Tony Baer, senior contributing editor, November 1, 2004
  Best Software has released a new version of ACT, its popular single-user contact management program, to support small teams and workgroups. The upgrade has a new architecture built around the Microsoft SQL Server database, using Microsoft .NET technology. With the new relational database support, ACT 2005 can store more contact records, track contacts by company, and provide differ...
  
• COO apologizes to customers; outlines new "open" product strategy
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  In a rare moment of candor for a technology vendor, Sun Microsystems' COO, Jonathon Schwartz, recently conceded that the company should have done a better job listening to its customers over the past several years. "You told us to stop being an isolated island and that you wanted interoperability," Schwartz told customers who joined a group of analysts on Wall Street for a mid-Se...
  
• IT vendors could see growth spurt
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  Conditions appear ripe for a mini-boom in corporate IT spending, according to Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass. A majority of 195 North American CIOs polled by Forrester in Q2 2004 sensed a "very strong business climate" and expressed optimism about the chances of IT budgets expanding in 2005.
  
• Siemens bucks conventional wisdom by planning—and executing—large-scale IT project
  
  by Jim Fulcher, contributing editor, November 1, 2004
  In recent years, it's been conventional wisdom that embarking on a large-scale IT project is the sure road to disaster. But Siemens Energy & Automation has proven that conventional wisdom isn't always correct. The Alpharetta, Ga.-based division of Siemens AG is rolling along quite nicely on a project that calls for replacing 14 legacy systems with a single ERP platform that wil...
  
• In Brief
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  
  
• New Goldratt-fashioned approach saves project time, money
  
  by Tony Baer, senior contributing editor, November 1, 2004
  Countering the notion that most projects arrive late and over budget, customers of project management solution vendor Realization Technologiessay they can deliver projects on time—and faster. Testimonials delivered at Realization's first user conference—convened in the fall by the six-year-old company—credit a methodology developed by scheduling guru Dr.
  
• In Brief
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  
  
• A cornucopia of current concerns
  
  by Kevin Parker, editorial director, November 1, 2004
  The November issue of MSI comes to you at a busy time of the year, as managers bear down so as to show project progress prior to the holiday season's arrival. This sense of urgency extends to IT and software vendors—and to the magazine's editors themselves—coming out of a busy show season.
  
• Fits and starts toward a single standard means measuring wattage "differently"
  
  by Malcolm Wheatley, senior contributing editor, November 1, 2004
  In March, data encoding standards for the RFID tag were finally ratified. Now insiders say protocols for transmission of data between tag and RFID reader should be agreed upon by year's end. EPCglobal—the successor body to the Auto-ID Center, and a joint venture between America's Uniform Code Council and Europe's EAN International—is spearheading the work.
  
• Seeing clear path to benefit, the RFID mandates roll in
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  A Web poll released in September by Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., cites better inventory management as the key benefit of RFID by 29.2 percent of the nearly 500 respondents. "Successful companies recognize the importance of better inventory management," says David Sommer, VP of electronic commerce for CompTIA.
  
• New management at Pelion Systems sees "Lean" opportunity
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  The big problem with lean manufacturing programs is sustainability. According to Dick Slansky, an analyst with Dedham, Mass.-based ARC Advisory Group, there was a lot of interest in lean manufacturing in the late 1980s and early '90s—especially in the automotive industry—but only a few programs survived.
  
• Evaluating turns
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  Inventory turns vary across and within industries. For example, retailers typically have turns in the range of 10 to 14. Capital equipment manufacturers' turns are much lower—in the range of two to three. The PC industry has one of the highest turns, since it builds not to forecast, but only against actual orders.
  
• Not yet clear how EU food regulations will impact American producers
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  Beginning January 1, 2005, Europe's food manufacturers and animal feedstock producers must comply with new traceability legislation. Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 requires they produce on-demand information about sources and destinations of the products they sell. In other words, they need to know where every batch of every raw ingredient came from, into which products they were i...
  
• Chrysler embarks on "most advanced supplier colocation project"
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  The Chrysler Group announced in August that it will build a new $900-million plant in Toledo, Ohio, for a new generation of vehicles, and that roughly a third of the cost will be carried by three suppliers that will colocate within the plant's footprint to manage and operate body, paint, and chassis operations.