Manufacturing Business Technology

• Fast answers: AXLE Studio presents critical data without delay
  
  Karen Dilger, contributing editor, March 16, 2008
  The accounts receivable department at Virtek Vision International is much more efficient since the company adopted a business intelligence solution known as AXLE Studio. Credit managers get automatic warnings when an account becomes 45 days past due. The system also identifies which companies should be given restrictions on future orders. 
  
  
• Know your domain: Successful lean practitioners need vertical industry knowledge 
  
  Cindy Jutras, Aberdeen Group, March 16, 2008
  Aberdeen Group research shows that knowledge of lean methodologies is not enough to ensure a successful lean program. Best-in-Class process manufacturers are 36 percent more likely to use consultants with specific vertical industry experience when implementing lean.
  
• Global supply chain alert: IBM opens Innovation Center in China
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 14, 2008
  In a "flat" world, execution of supply chain management is a key driver of competitive advantage, offering great improvement opportunities for multinational companies. IBM is responding with a unique new center in Beijing that will leverage best practices in leading-edge supply chain methods/techniques. The center seeks to help companies advance their supply chain transformation agenda.
  
  
• Wireless success story: Land Rover complements trackside replenishment system with RFID-based vehicle location
  
  Malcolm Wheatley, senior contributing editor, Solihull, U.K., March 13, 2008
  An ongoing relationship with the codeveloper of an assembly track lineside parts-replenishment system has led to the rollout of a real-time vehicle locating system at Solihull, U.K.-based Land Rover—neatly leveraging an existing investment in wireless technology at the company’s 308-acre assembly plant.
  
• Toshiba Matsushita chooses Kinaxis for global supply chain initiative
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 13, 2008
  TMD will use Kinaxis RapidResponse to enhance supply chain flexibility and keep pace with unpredictable and oftentimes severe market demand changes.
  
• ERP integration: ATSCO "remanufactures" EDI with RedTail SaaS
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 12, 2008
  As a supplier of remanufactured automotive steering components, ATSCO needed to support direct store delivery to thousands of locations within the specified 48-hour time period. The short order life cycle put the burden on suppliers to fulfill the orders and support the underlying EDI transactions with virtually no margin for error. That's why ATSCO turned to Redtail's Software-as-a-Service as an alternative to building an on-premise EDI solution.
  
  
• RFID Roundup: New tag technology developments reap operational benefits for some; see a national security-based boost for others
  
  Frank O Smith, senior contributing editor, March 12, 2008
  In the latest RFID news, tags from Alien Technology are allowing dairy products leader Daisy Brand to move beyond supplier mandates and reap benefits in its own operations and customer service, while tag vendor MIKOH is boosting tag security in partnership with the U.S. National Security Agency, and Impinj is mastering directional movement on tagged items.
  
• Content-centric workflow: Intalio and Alfresco add documents to business processes
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 12, 2008
  Traditional business process management (BPM) systems cover the basics: design, automation, orchestration, and workflow. A partnership between Intalio and Alfresco lays the groundwork for expanding BPM to include document and content management in a broader Business Process Platform, whereby processes involving applications throughout the enterprise are easily developed and managed.
  
• Collaboration 2.0: From execution to orchestration, lessons for manufacturers from Davos forum
  
  B.G. Srinivas, senior VP and head of manufacturing, Infosys Technologies, March 12, 2008
  For manufacturers, collaboration across geographies with service providers, contractors, partners, and suppliers is integral to their global operations. Yet there is a shift that must occur from collaboration to collaborative innovation. There are emerging technologies to enable this new form of co-creation that can keep manufacturers globally competitive.
  
• Autodesk to “democratize” industrial design as it has 3D product engineering
  
  Kevin Parker, editorial director, March 12, 2008
    “Design, engineering, and entertainment are converging to address unprecedented global challenges,” says Carl Bass, CEO and president of Autodesk, the largest CAD solutions vendor in the world. “Autodesk’s role is to provide visualization, simulation, and analysis tools that result in real or ‘as-if’ [i.e., entertainment] assets.”
  
• PAC report: IT Services vendors look beyond India as offshoring matures
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 12, 2008
  Major IT services vendors have turned the focus of their offshore sourcing strategies away from the established centres of India, according to new research from Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC).
  
• USBIC report: Rising January trade deficit due to worsening performance in manufactures, high-tech
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 11, 2008
  A 15-percent cratering in U.S. exports to economically booming China again underscored Washington’s bipartisan failure to combat Beijing’s predatory trade policies.
  
• Cummins taps Transplace for TMS best practices
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 11, 2008
  Cummins conducted a rigorous review process in pursuit of a lead logistics provider before selecting Transplace.
  
  
• SC spending projected to grow in coming months
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 10, 2008
  
  
• Quality control: Camstar says new solution will “disrupt the quality market”
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 10, 2008
  Manufacturing execution system supplier Camstar Systems says it is introducing a new product that will transform traditional manufacturing quality management into “enterprise quality execution.”
  
  
• Focus on innovation: HP expects restructured labs to produce fewer, more successful projects 
  
  Cox News Service, March 10, 2008
  Hewlett-Packard Co., signaling that it has turned its focus to research and development, has announced a major restructuring of its HP Labs division. Under the restructuring, HP will consolidate its research in 23 labs around the world. The 700-plus researchers in those labs will focus on 20 to 30 large research projects instead of the 150 or so smaller projects they've typically worked on in the past.
  
• Software piracy: Counterfeit program sales net jail terms
  
  U.S. Newswire, March 10, 2008
  Two brothers who operated Web sites that sold pirated versions of software from well-known vendors such as Adobe Systems and Autodesk have been sentenced to prison. 
  
  
• Employment report: Manufacturing leads in job losses
  
  Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers, March 10, 2008
  The manufacturing sector is suffering the most when it comes to job losses, according to the most recent figures released by The Bureau of Labor Statistics. Numbers released late last week showed U.S. manufacturers shedding 52,000 jobs in February, bringing the 12-month total to nearly 300,000.
  
  
• Matrix uses document management to meet mandates
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 10, 2008
  Electronic materials distributor Matrix  Technology completely automated its purchase order-to-invoice and shipping document process using Optio Software’s document process solution.
  
• Equipment monitors speed safety reporting
  
  By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff, March 6, 2008
   ShockWatch solutions can be used to automatically maintain OSHA-specified reports.