Manufacturing Business Technology

• Outsourcing isn't just for Fortune 1000
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  "Our experience shows that outsourcing can help drive the growth strategy of mid-market manufacturers, and for every Fortune 1000 company there are 229 mid-sized ones, generating a total of $6 trillion per year," says Joe Costello, chairman and CEO, think3, a provider of design and development solutions.
  
• Feds look to greater use of enterprise systems
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  Driven by management mandates for system consolidation at the Department of Homeland Security and Administration, the federal market for ERP products and services will hit $7.7 billion in 2009, a 37 percent increase over 2004 fiscal year spending of $5.6 billion, according to a report from INPUT, a provider of government market intelligence.
  
• New industry group hopes to reduce failed projects
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  A 2003 report from the Standish Group, a West Yarmouth, Mass., IT research and consulting firm, found that 95 percent of application integration projects either fail to meet expected schedules, exceed planned budgets, or simply do not meet stated business goals. Such dismal numbers prompted the formation of the Enterprise Integration Application Industry Consortium, or EAIIC.
  
• Oracle acquires Collaxa, jumping on bandwagon
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  Oracle Corp. has acquired Collaxa, a four-year-old start-up company based in Redwood Shores, Calif. The reason? Collaxa's BPEL Server technology, which supports the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) specification. Jointly developed by vendors—including SAP, IBM, Siebel, and BEA Systems—BPEL allows companies to turn business processes into 'services' tha...
  
• SAP aims at early stage product definition with composite app
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  The initial stages of product development require the melding of both ideas and data sources. This is the kind of creative environment that enterprise suite vendor SAP says its new xApp for product definition, xPD, is well suited for. The solution—built on SAP's Netweaver integration and services-based architecture technology—already is seeing use from some SAP custom...
  
• Up and running
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  France-based Eolane Group, an electronics manufacturer, will use Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd.'s eMPower products and services, including eMPower Assembly & Test Suite to accelerate Eolane new product introduction, provide an environment compatible with its principal OEM partners, and facilitate replacement of manual systems and in-house software solutions.
  
• The many faces of corporate governance
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  A handful of survey findings present a mixed picture regarding the current status of corporate governance, given recent, highly publicized corporate malfeasance trials and stricter federal regulatory requirements. An analysis of 120 companies in the S&P 500 done by RateFinancials, a New York City-based independent financial research firm, reveals that "obfuscating financial ...
  
• In brief
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  
  
• Companies expand in more ways than one
  
  By Staff, September 1, 2004
  Companies grow, whether through partnerships, new product lines, or mergers and acquisitions. When UGS, the provider of product life-cycle management solutions, isn't busy releasing new versions of its E-factory human simulation and ergonomics analysis software and E-factory plant layout and material handling solutions, it's creating partnerships both nationally and globally.
  
• NAM posts weekly trade information service
  
  Staff, August 1, 2004
  Intensifying rancorous debate—both corporate and political—over the impact of international trade relations has prompted the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to launch a weekly information service posting, called Trade Facts, on its Web site. The service, says NAM, is offered for the edification of lawmakers, the media, and the general public on trade issues ...
  
• IBM builds alliances
  
  Staff, August 1, 2004
  IBM's 2004 release of Tivoli Security Compliance Manager is at the center of an alliance of business partners looking to automate tasks associated with managing, retaining, and securing business information—ranging from documents to e-mail and instant messages—to meet varied compliance mandates.
  
• NVIDIA deployed core ERP, then took aim at its extended supply chain
  
  Staff, August 1, 2004
  Joe Sura knows about the value of ERP software, and the challenges of implementing it quickly. Back in 2000, Sura—VP of Information Technology with high-tech manufacturer NVIDIA—helped deploy a Tier 1 ERP system in just over five months. But Sura also knows that deployment was only the first phase of achieving what the Santa Clara, Calif.
  
• Optimization engine works to competitive advantage for truckload carrier
  
  Jim Fulcher, contributing editor, August 1, 2004
  While a gallon of unleaded gasoline is going for more than $2 throughout much of the U.S, Allan Kitterman sees an opportunity for significant savings. As director of purchasing and fuel at Indianapolis-based Celadon Trucking, Kitterman knows saving pennies adds up in the long haul. "If we can save a penny a gallon on diesel fuel, we can save $300,000 annually," he says.
  
• ERP necessary but insufficient for world-class finance
  
  Staff, August 1, 2004
  An ERP package has little significance for achieving world-class finance performance, according to research last quarter by The Hackett Group, an Atlanta-based business advisory firm. Functionality is so similar between systems that companies are better served focusing their attention on business process improvement and configuring the system of choice to support best practices.
  
• Serial entrepreneurs bring varied backgrounds to growing vendors
  
  Staff, August 1, 2004
  If the rap against the new breed of senior management at software vendors today is that they're too often number crunchers—i.e., removed from the actual product being developed—then clearly Dan Ross and Ron Verni don't fit the bill. They started in the software trenches and continue at the helm of software companies today.
  
• Larger profit margins of pharmaceutical industry driven by marketing, not R&D
  
  Staff, August 1, 2004
  Editor's note: Taken from The Truth About the Drug Companies by Maria Angell, The New York Review, July 15, 2004
  
• XML gains popularity as industrial communications standard
  
  Staff, August 1, 2004
  XML (eXtensible markup language) is becoming the most popular protocol for sending data across industrial Ethernet networks, according to a recent report by Venture Development Corp. (VDC), a Natick, Mass.-based research firm. Users are opting for XML over other protocols in both wired and wireless environments.
  
• Microsoft launches campaign to stave off Linux threat
  
  Staff, August 1, 2004
  Whether fair or not, Microsoft has a reputation for devouring would-be competitors, which is why some industry observers might find it strange that Microsoft has been relatively quiet about the potential threat Linux poses to its dominant position in the operating systems market. But it would be a mistake to take Microsoft's relative silence about Linux as a sign that this softwa...
  
• Apps-support overhaul nets efficiency gains for contract manufacturer
  
  Roberto Michel, contributing editor, August 1, 2004
  PEMSTAR's roster of packaged applications reads like a "Who's who" list of enterprise software for manufacturers: MAPICS for ERP, Agile Software for product record management, Datasweep for production management, and i2 Technologies for planning and sourcing optimization. With the power of those applications, however, also comes the complexity of supporting users spread acr...
  
• Former paper industry exchange seeks new customers
  
  Staff, August 1, 2004
  While most technology suppliers now see the dot-com craze as little more than a bad memory, Liaison Technologies views it as the launchpad for what it expects to be an extremely lucrative business. Previously known as ForestExpress, Liaison was formed in 2000 as a trading exchange for paper products manufacturers.