Manufacturing Business Technology

• Optimum speed: HP application modernization promises a clear path for legacy system upgrades
  
  , May 29, 2008
  Hewlett-Packard says it now has a way of letting companies see the right path to take when it comes to updating legacy systems. If the methodology works as promised, it could spur a cycle of companies supercharging aging applications that still perform critical business functions—albeit at albeit at less-than-optimum speeds.
  
  
• No limits: Portuguese textile maker links MES, APS, readying plant-floor finite scheduling for growth
  
  Malcolm Wheatley, senior contributing editor, Ribeirão, Portugal, May 29, 2008
  Look closely at textile finishing manufacturer Aquacolor and you’ll see what some regard as the future of plant-floor operations: an advanced planning & scheduling (APS) and a manufacturing execution system (MES) working in close harmony. It’s a transformation that took the company some years to achieve, but which now is yielding undoubted benefits.
  
• SaaS by the numbers: On-demand software continues to gain ground in business deployments
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 28, 2008
  More current business management application deployments are run in-house on traditional installed licenses, but with new implementations, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is gaining ground, reports Scottsdale, Ariz.-based In-Stat.
  
• Mobile partnership: RFID ramps up to "Context-Aware" applications
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 28, 2008
  Cisco Systems and RFID specialist OATSystems announce a solutions partnership that will reduce the time to deploy RFID solutions by integrating flexible, standards-based applications more tightly with existing business processes.
  
  
• Operations approach: Manufacturing-centric WMS fosters agility; drives Lean initiatives
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 28, 2008
  Leveraging a wealth of manufacturing operations knowledge, Apriso's new warehouse management system (WMS) offers an innovative approach to supply chain execution from a manufacturer’s perspective.
  
• Product safety: Manufacturers feel the heat over emerging market sourcing
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 28, 2008
  A new executive survey from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu reveals exactly why safety, product quality, and environmental standards are getting a lot more attention from manufacturing senior management and investors.
  
• Supply chain summary: Recall legislation lacks consensus for best approach
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 28, 2008
  Supply chain execution specialist RedPrairie Corp. recently put forth results of its 2008 survey of industry leaders on the impact of legislation regarding recalls as recently proposed by U.S. Congress.
  
  
• Aerospace supplier sets up Lean initiative using Infor ERP
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 28, 2008
  New enterprise software will enable aerospace manufacturer Esterline to create production efficiencies and keep pace with global expansion.
  
• Apatar partners with MySQL AB for open-source data integration
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 28, 2008
  A new alliance facilitates integration of MySQL-based solutions databases, CRM/ERP applications, flat files, RSS feeds, and top Web 2.0 destinations.
  
• Green computing: IBM introduces new energy management software
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 26, 2008
  IBM has announced new software designed to help customers address the growing need to maximize energy efficiency and reduce costs associated with power and cooling. This latest version of IBM Tivoli Monitoring 
  is part of IBM's Project Big Green initiative in which IBM has committed $1 billion per year to deliver technologies that help customers increase energy efficiency in their data centers and physical plants.
  
  
  
• Vendor alliances: Lawson Software and RR Donnelley continue work on mobile solutions
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 26, 2008
  Lawson Software and RR Donnelley have decided to extend a relationship through which the two companies deliver business forms and labels through mobile computing devices directly to users of the Lawson enterprise software applications.
  
• Legal maneuvering: SAP and Oracle likely to meet in court over TomorrowNow
  
  Reuters, May 26, 2008
  It’s not likely that SAP and Oracle will reach an out-of-court settlement of the lawsuit in which Oracle accuses SAP of stealing confidential information in the course of bringing the TomorrowNow consulting business under the SAP corporate umbrella.
  
  
• Technology trends: Large users sparking new growth in RFID market
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 26, 2008
  Several large multinational companies have demonstrated a renewed commitment to the use of RFID in their supply chains over the past year, and that signals a pending growth spurt for companies that develop and sell this technology, according to new analysis from ABI Research. 
  
• Process management: Life sciences companies have performance improvement down PAT
  
  Jim Fulcher, contributing editor, May 26, 2008
  As the definition of “manufacturing process” widens to include the supply chain, manufacturers must adopt technologies that assure appropriate quality outcomes in real time. Now the FDA is putting more pressure on the pharmaceutical and biotech industries to enhance their operations through use of process analytical technologies (PAT) that require data collection, data access, and data analysis systems.
  
• Easy innovation: Siemens PLM Software unfurls its Synchronous Technology banner
  
  Frank O Smith, contributing editor, May 26, 2008
  Eager to keep market interest whetted following its $3.5-billion acquisition of UGS early last year and subsequent announcement of its Project Archimedes manufacturing initiative last summer, Siemens PLM Software heralded its April 2008 announcement of Synchronous Technology (ST) as “the next big breakthrough” in digital product development.
  
  
• Industry spotlight: Executives discovering value of PLM software
  
  Ed Miller, CIMdata, Inc., May 26, 2008
  Increased executive-level awareness of how product life-cycle management (PLM) software can enhance the product development process—increasing efficiency, lowering costs, and improving quality—is spurring robust sales growth in this market segment. According to recent statistics compiled by CIMdata, the worldwide comprehensive PLM market experienced a stronger-than-expected 13.5 percent growth rate to reach an estimated $24.3 billion in 2007 for software and related services.
  
  
• Greenpeace: Video game makers play dirty
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 21, 2008
  Greenpeace says the most popular video game consoles—Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 Elite (PS3) and Microsoft Xbox 360—all have failed the organization's test for green electronics. 
  
• Vertical solutions: New steel plants to run on metals-oriented software suite
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 21, 2008
  ThyssenKrupp Steel USA has selected a supply chain management solution designed specifically for the metals industry to run a series of carbon steel processing plants the company is building in Alabama.
  
• Enterprise 2.0: Businesses not sure how to use social networking tools
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 21, 2008
  More than 40 percent of businesses believe Web 2.0 technologies such as RSS, wikis, and blogs can bring significant value to their operations, but few organizations know how to properly deploy these technologies. Those facts came to light in a recent survey conducted by AIIM—the Association for Information and Image Management.
  
  
• Hackett: Targeted back-office cuts can soften blow of recession
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, May 21, 2008
  As the recession looms, many companies are reacting by mandating across the board cuts in key administrative areas such as IT, finance, HR, and procurement. But new research from the Atlanta-based Hackett Group, Inc. indicates targeted, strategic reductions that can offset nearly half the impact of a potential recession while minimally affecting service delivery and the ability to provide strategic value.