Manufacturing Business Technology

• An output crisis: Manufacturing lags all major economic sectors in growth
  
  Frank O Smith, senior contributing editor (fosmith@thewritinggroup.com), October 21, 2008
  
  
• Single-click solution: Partnership addresses need for real-time enterprise search
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, October 21, 2008
  
  
• MBT Blog-cerpt: How will your PLM vendor fare in the economic downturn?
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, October 21, 2008
  Product life-cycle management (PLM) as a tool for innovation during an economic downturn is an issue that’s been front and center for the last few weeks. Read why now.
  
  
• Visual KPI solution gains AT&T certification
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, October 20, 2008
  
  
• Discrete advisory: aPriori delivers “should cost” assessments to reduce product cost
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, October 17, 2008
  
  
• PLM trend: Product data for the masses
  
  Ed Miller, president, CIMdata Inc., October 17, 2008
  One of the major trends in the product life-cycle management (PLM) industry has been its expansion beyond engineering to users across the company and its extended enterprise. But an even broader expansion of PLM enables visibility of product data to others outside this corporate structure—even to consumers of the products.
  
  
• Smart product design: It’s getting easier to be green
  
  Hope Neal, contributing editor, October 17, 2008
    By making informed design decisions and using the right tools, manufacturers can take the necessary steps toward making greener—or more eco-friendly or sustainable—products. That's because many of the things considered in everyday good design decisions also are great sustainability design decisions.
  
• Protecting IP: Should an invention hold patent or trade-secret status? 
  
  Ted Barthel, Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C., October 17, 2008
  Your company has created a new innovation. Now you would like to protect this intellectual property (IP) asset and use it to create value for your business. Four types of IP protection exist: copyright, patent, trademarks, and trade secrets. But which type of protection is best for your IP asset? The answer is found in the type of protections provided by patents and trade secrets.
  
  
• Cradle to grave: IBM Consulting PLM offering makes for greener products, processes
  
  Jean Thilmany (thilmanyj@gmail.com), October 17, 2008
  The IBM Environmental Product Life-cycle Management (PLM) solution introduced in September is a consulting offering that calls upon IBM's own applications and expertise to ensure products are made to the environmental standards laid out by the client.
  
  
• New Answerthink alliance benefits SAP user base
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, October 16, 2008
  
  
• AssurX solution delivers centralized supplier quality management
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, October 16, 2008
  
  
• SAP extends global trade solutions with GRC offerings
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, October 16, 2008
  
  
• Vicious circle: Apologizing does NOT get to the root cause
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, October 15, 2008
  
  
• Tools to thrive: SAP invests in Crossgate to simplify business network integration
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, October 15, 2008
  
  
• Fast route to governance: Solution costs less than one full-time employee to enact outsourcing relationship management
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, October 15, 2008
  
  
• Standard concern: Lack of interoperability in wireless compromises industrial applications
  
  Syed Tauseef Ahmad, research analyst, Frost & Sullivan, Europe, October 15, 2008
  While the potential for wireless deployment in factory automation is high, adoption is plagued by various concerns surrounding wireless technology—not the least of which is a lack of interoperability. End-user concern is expected to hamper the adoption of wireless in the near future, although upcoming standards like SP100.11a and wireless HART will address this issue.
  
• Wonderware focuses on front-line innovation
  
  – David Greenfield, editorial director, Control Engineering, October 15, 2008
  
  
• Mastering data management: MDM strategies that solve real business problems
  
  Ravi Shankar, senior director of product marketing, Siperian Inc., October 14, 2008
  Manufacturers wishing to start a master data management (MDM) project may be unsure where and how to begin. Success or failure at the first step either defines or dooms the further evolution of the project. A cautious approach is recommended, starting with a single data type—such as customer—implementing MDM using a small footprint—such as registry style—or deploying MDM solely with a data warehouse to improve reporting.
  
• Electronic kanbans: Finding the next level of Lean improvement
  
  Joe Antal, Hitachi Consulting Director, Specialized Services, October 14, 2008
  Your lean organization is running like clockwork but improvements have slowed. The low-hanging fruit has been harvested. The good news is you have impressed senior management with stellar results. The bad news is they’ve come to expect it over and over again, and though you’ve lowered your score to world-class under-par golf using lean principles, taking off five strokes each year is harder and harder. What do you do next? Here’s one example of how technology can help you respond.
  
  
• Accelerating improvement: A fully integrated ERP suite inspires strategic thinking
  
  Malcolm Wheatley, senior contributing editor, October 14, 2008
  Back when Miniature Precision Components first looked at EnterpriseIQ, an enterprise platform from IQMS, the obvious attraction was the ability of the ERP system to link machines on the shop floor to applications at the enterprise level. But managers soon discovered that once EnterpriseIQ reached the shop floor, there were many more connectivity advantages to leverage.