Manufacturing Business Technology

• Exact Software touts productivity boost from "manage by exception"
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  At its first conference bringing together users of its five ERP systems, Exact Software had a message that might seem startling at first: ERP isn't the competitive advantage that it used to be. By that, the acquisitive Dutch vendor wasn't knocking ERP, but rather touting new software such as its e-Synergy package.
  
• Security solutions begin to trickle, but deluge is near
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  To deal with the threat to plant-floor operations from malicious hackers or cyber terrorists, experts recommend companies build tools for risk assessment, impact evaluation, and standardized responses. They say it's important to separate operations from business systems, maintain firewalls, and close remote-access options.
  
• Plant automation, IT dead center in cyber terrorism concerns
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  Until recently, it's been a truism—when it came to the subject of plant-floor security—that the greatest threat was internal, in the form of disgruntled employees or bona fide accidents. But according to researcher Eric Byres of British Columbia Institute of Technology, in the last several years, that's changed.
  
• Understand costs before outsourcing
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  "Companies have been infected with a kind of herd mentality when it comes to moving operations to China," says Jeoff Burris, principal with Plymouth, Mich.-based Advanced Purchasing Dynamics and an expert on automotive-industry procurement practices. "If you have a real understanding of your cost structures and cost drivers, you may find that it's not necessary.
  
• Saying nothing too late has its costs
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  Craig Conway might still be CEO of PeopleSoft if the policy regarding questions about Oracle's hostile takeover attempt that was in place at the PeopleSoft user conference this past September had been adopted sooner. The PeopleSoft board dismissed Conway roughly a week after the user conference, partly because he apparently made false public statements to financial analysts last...
  
• The fruitful joining of unlike minds
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  To some, pairing software vendor Wonderware and automation vendor Foxboro under the Invensys Group umbrella makes for an "odd couple." Wonderware, at least in its infancy, was known for over-the-top marketing aimed at maverick process engineers. Foxboro has been the epitome of the white-shirt-and-tie, engineering-driven company.
  
• Market pressures dictate vendor strategies
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  With corporations remaining careful about IT spending, major technology vendors keep adjusting their business models in hopes of opening new revenue streams. Two recent examples involve IBM and Sun Microsystems. In IBM's case, the idea is to attract more potential customers by offering "open" technology solutions.
  
• Supply chain, printer vendors gear up for RFID's Gen 2 electronic product code
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  One of the most awaited standards in the RFID market wasn't finalized in time for September's Frontline Solutions Conference & Expo, but that didn't stop vendors from announcing partnerships aimed at simpler compliance with retailers' RFID mandates. The show—held September 13-15 at Chicago's Navy Pier—preceded finalization of Gen 2 electronic product code (EPC) spec...
  
• Lighthammer strikes commanding pose at user conference
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  Greg Gorbach of Dedham, Mass.-based ARC Advisory Group says Lighthammer is "doing a lot of things right." This was abundantly evident at the collaborative manufacturing software vendor's second user conference, held mid-September in Philadelphia. There, 200 attendees—twice last year's number—heard presentations from customers Dow Corning, Whirlpool, Colgate, and Proct...
  
• Auto-Tech display shows promise for future of collaborative commerce
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) has proven it's possible to have instant, reliable communication between disparate business applications. The group has been experimenting with methods of linking business applications as part of a project called the Inventory Visibility and Interoperability (IV&I) initiative.
  
• SSA Global outlines growth strategy
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  Three years and 12 profitable quarters since taking over the remains of a bankrupt predecessor, SSA Global's fall user conference convened on an up note. With an IPO pending, company officials were coy about financial details for the midmarket ERP vendor that currently rates a distant fourth in overall revenues, but were highly vocal about product plans.
  
• Microsoft patch management a top-level plant-floor concern
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  At the security forum held at the recent ISA Expo 2004, one attendee asked, "DCS and SCADA vendors [using Microsoft technology] issue patches only several weeks after Microsoft has done so. Is there anything that can be done to speed up this process?" In an interview at ISA that same day, Don Richardson, director, Manufacturing Industry Unit, Microsoft, responded as follows: "This ...
  
• Alliances, funding, acquisitions .... solutions
  
  by Staff, November 1, 2004
  Aspen Technology and Microsoft will integrate AspenTech's aspenONE solutions for enterprise operations management—or EOM—with Microsoft's SharePoint Portal Server, BizTalk Server, SQL Server Analysis Services, and SQL Server Reporting Services. AspenTech calls EOM an emerging technology that bridges the gap between corporate financial, historical, and transactional (E...
  
• Adexa gives a gift that keeps on giving
  
  By Staff, October 1, 2004
  After The Revere Group, a Deerfield, Ill.-based consulting firm, recommended Adexa in a software evaluation it performed for a chemical company, supply chain planning vendor Adexa wanted to thank Revere for its support, but didn't know how. John Caltagirone, a VP with The Revere Group, recommended that the vendor give a gift to his alma mater, and Adexa quickly agreed.
  
• Can product life-cycle management boast direct tie to lean?
  
  By Staff, October 1, 2004
  Product life-cycle management (PLM) vendors such as Aras Corp. don't just want to be known for helping enterprises manage what they make, but also how those products get made. Evidence of this, says Paul Gilmartin, an Aras VP, is found in the vendor's packaged solution for lean manufacturing.
  
• Tools capture unstructured service data
  
  By Staff, October 1, 2004
  For most manufacturers, closing the loop on product quality for items that have left the plant is labor-intensive. To analyze even a representative sampling of customer comments—in the form of phone conversations, letters, or e-mails—employees usually must read and tally the data to get an idea of whether the available products are making customers happy.
  
• Manufacturing prosperity: it's just around the corner
  
  By Staff, October 1, 2004
  The Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) used the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago in September as a forum to deliver its views that North American manufacturing is on the cusp of a boom unprecedented in the last 25 years, due to several critical factors converging over the next 12 months.
  
• Move to GTIN standard challenges the masses
  
  By Staff, October 1, 2004
  By January 1, 2005, American retailers and consumer product goods (CPG) manufacturers are supposed to be Sunrise 2005-compliant—meaning capable of reading and writing bar codes conforming to the new Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) standard. This replaces the eight-digit uniform product code (UPC) format, which has been common in North America for 30 years, with a 14-digit b...
  
• National Institute opens "world's most stringently engineered laboratory"
  
  By Staff, October 1, 2004
  The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) formally opened its new $235-million advanced measurement laboratory in Gaithersburg, Md. this summer—"One of the most significant milestones in the nearly 100-year history" of the Institute, according to an official statement.
  
• China economy hurts Mexico manufacturing employment
  
  By Staff, October 1, 2004
  Mexican President Vincente Fox came to the U.S. this past summer in an attempt to bolster trade relations between the two NAFTA partners. The loss of manufacturing jobs in Mexico as U.S-based companies shutter "maquiladora" facilities—cross-border assembly plants—and shift production to China is of grave concern to Fox.