Manufacturing Business Technology

• MEP restructuring proposed
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  The second report of a two-year assessment of the federal Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program outlines how best to restructure a program aimed at aiding competitiveness of small manufacturers. This report on MEP, released in May, was the focus of a series of seven industry roundtable meetings over the summer to gather public comment.
  
• Flexible pricing produces quick solution for CNT, possible lesson for software vendors
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  Software vendors still wondering why sales are stagnating despite the signs pointing to a recovering economy might want to consider what recently transpired at CNT, a Minneapolis-based supplier of storage networking systems. The engineering department wanted to revamp its mostly manual change order process, but it couldn't afford any of the well-known product life-cycle managemen...
  
• BI tool converts into business process engine
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  It has taken some time, but business intelligence (BI) software has become a mainstream business tool. The first step in this direction was simplifying BI packages for most workers to create their own reports rather than relying on programmers or designated "power users." Now, companies are using BI to support business processes.
  
• Three IT outsourcing models, none complete
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  A study by Boston-based AMR Research says few companies are getting the expected benefits from turning their IT operations over to outside contractors. The study, which included a survey of 220 companies using outsourcing services, found that less than a third were satisfied with the savings.
  
• Are the right people maintaining your Web site?
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  As an IT consultant, Jason LaFollette has helped many companies create Web sites. He also found most companies ill equipped to maintain their sites once his initial work was done. "In most cases, the process of updating a Web site is a pretty tangled mess," says LaFollette, a project manager with Tallan, a Glastonbury, Conn.
  
• Flexibility may trump security fears
  
  by Staff, September 1, 2004
  The hosted applications model eliminates expenditures on servers, software licenses, and other upfront IT costs. But the ability to quickly flex the number of users may be the model's biggest draw. This benefit is cited as one reason Lam Research Corp., a manufacturer of semiconductor fabrication equipment, was drawn to an "On-Demand" hosted product life-cycle management (PLM) of...
  
• Workforce growth tied to specific skills
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  Career prospects for IT professionals may be improving, according to a recent study by people3, a subsidiary of Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner. Of the 153 IT organizations that responded to inquiries about their hiring plans, 62 percent said they expected to add some IT staff over the next 12 months.
  
• In brief
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  
  
• Mobile maintenance gets boost from new architectures
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  Mobile applications for plant-floor tasks such as equipment maintenance aren't new, but advances in vendor architecture are making them simpler to bring to market, according to at least one vendor. Enterprise asset management (EAM) software vendor Datastream Systems says Java programming that follows a service-oriented architecture (SOA) is the foundation for its latest set of mo...
  
• But we love Google!
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  Internet search engines are invaluable research tools, but can be frustrating when they return volumes of irrelevant results along with a few useful ones. GlobalSpec has introduced The Engineering Web—the first in what may be a wave of content-specific Internet search engines—for product, system, or process design engineers.
  
• Components purchasing meets risk management
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  Whether it's tissue or pig iron, an unexpected rise in commodity prices can either be passed onto angry end users or chip away at profits. Procurement risk management (PRM) seeks to balance demand, futures pricing, contracts, and the inventory that can buffer commodity swings by means of transparent processes.
  
• Integration, not functionality, of maintenance system matters most
  
  By Jim Fulcher, contributing editor, September 1, 2004
  "We would like our plants to run at around 90-percent efficiency," says Ara Chakrabarti, CIO at Portola Packaging, a San Jose, Calif.-based producer of plastic closures and containers used in the food & beverage industry. "To improve plant and machine performance to that extent, we need plant intelligence acquired using a maintenance management system.
  
• ERP vendors tout simpler, hybrid approaches
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  Lean manufacturing seeks build-to-demand using value-stream mapping and creation of level-pull executed via Kanban. But setting it up requires significant time and diligence, and isn't always the best route, says ERP vendor Lilly Software Associates. Vendors support lean philosophies, but also embrace hybrid approaches.
  
• To drive sustainable quality improvement, lean embraces Six Sigma
  
  By Roberto Michel, contributing editor, September 1, 2004
  The tie between lean and Six Sigma is found in lean tenets such as error proofing. But manufacturers readily mix the two approaches, and see them as complementary. Jeff Woods, a Six Sigma master black belt and manager of materials at GE Consumer & Industrial's Appliance Park manufacturing facility in Louisville, Ky, says, "We've practiced Six Sigma for many years, and, in the...
  
• PeopleSoft injects JCIT-based lean into EnterpriseOne
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  Enterprise suite vendor PeopleSoft shook up the lean manufacturing software market last fall when it purchased software assets from lean manufacturing education firm JCIT International. Now PeopleSoft is on the second round of integration of lean functionality. The acquired functionality was integrated with PeopleSoft's EnterpriseOne Manufacturing suite starting with release 8.
  
• Brooks sees lean, TPM as MES opportunities
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  In the semiconductor industry, Brooks Automation is one of the biggest suppliers of factory automation systems. But Brooks also wants to be known as a provider of manufacturing execution system (MES) software capable of supporting lean manufacturing in multiple verticals. Joe Bellini, senior VP of Brooks' Software Systems Group, says Factoryworks3, Brooks' MES, has the analytics and...
  
• Remade MESA holds annual conference
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  Expect an exchange of ideas on manufacturing excellence at the Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) International conference, to be held September 13-16 at the Indian Lakes Resort near Chicago. "The conference will reflect our evolution toward a more end-user focused organization by showcasing a range of best practices, end-user presentations, and challenging ideas,...
  
• Vendors address line design, visual instructions for lean
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  "ERP vendors tend to focus on Kanban, but how many focus on lean design and performance?" asks Adil Dalal, president of Pinnacle Process Solutions International, a startup software and services company that offers line design tools. Traditionally, lean manufacturers undertake value-stream mapping exercises, stopwatch timing of work tasks, and use spreadsheets to capture informat...
  
• Senators get competitiveness primer from software execs
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  U.S. senators sat down with more than a dozen software executives at the Business Software Alliance's (BSA) eighth annual CEO Forum in Washington in June to discuss top industry concerns and suggest priorities. Joining growing ranks of varied science and technology interests, the executives called for renewed emphasis on education to strengthen the country's competitive hand in a...
  
• Correction:
  
  By the editors, September 1, 2004
  The Top 100 Software vendors listing that appeared in the July issue of MSI included an incorrect 2003 revenue figure for business intelligence vendor Business Objects, San Jose, Calif. The correct revenue figure is $560.8 million. Net license fees were $275.3 million. Also, enterprise vendor Adonix is today headquartered in Sewickley, Pa.