Manufacturing Business Technology articles from July 2006

Manufacturing Business Technology archives from July 2006

It's time for vendors to find their niche in life.
July 1, 2006... By Sidney Hill, Jr., executive editor A recent road trip took me through what seemed like a time warp, and it wasn't just because I was in Las Vegas, where everyone from Elvis to Dino, Frank, and Sammy--or at least facsimiles of them--are...

Perfecting the intelligent enterprise.
July 1, 2006... By Jane Biddle, AberdeenGroup Success will come only through tools that enable continuous innovation of products and processes What does today's executive need to intelligently run the business? Will the knowledge and tools of the...

One solution for how, why, and "what if?".
July 1, 2006... By Staff Paul Hoy, manufacturing industry director at Cognos , recently displayed an effusive mood. "From a product perspective, it's been a monumental year," he enthuses. Pressed for a particular highlight, he settles on the launch...

Seeing the trees, and then the forest.
July 1, 2006... By Staff For SAS , bringing business intelligence (BI) capability to market was a no-brainer, and so it's proved. "We've sold a lot of platforms, and are pleased with what our customers have done with them," says Mike Newkirk, SAS...

Enterprise software: a new beginning.
July 1, 2006... By Erik Keller, Wapiti LLC The choice is there for manufacturers to build, buy, rent, or outsource applications of choice Common wisdom about enterprise software is just plain wrong. Buyers have more options than ever to build, buy,...

Becoming a different kind of traditional enterprise.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Employees used to joke that the letters "IBM" stood for "I've Been Moved." That was back in the days when battalions of executives were dispatched from IBM's Armonk, N.Y.-based headquarters to manage its far-flung operations...

The adaptive enterprise drawn from multiple threads.
July 1, 2006... By Staff When it comes to manufacturing and supply chain, Hewlett-Packard (HP) is focused on its vision of the "adaptive enterprise," which uses virtualized hardware, utility computing, service-oriented architecture, and other...

A solutions-based approach to enterprise and plant-floor networking.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Networking giant Cisco Systems needs no introduction--but what it offers manufacturers does. While routers, for example, are still an important part of its business, Cisco these days applies its technology-based products and...

New version of BizTalk includes upgraded EDI and RFID support.
July 1, 2006... By Staff At the recent U Connect supply chain conference, Microsoft disclosed its plans for the next version of BizTalk Server, which will include significantly upgraded EDI and RFID support. Release 2 of BizTalk Server 2006, set...

Network technology to counter the sophisticated criminal.
July 1, 2006... By Staff "Now more than ever, it's important for you to be proactive and agile, to think creatively, and to push the boundaries of what's possible." So said John W. Thompson, chairman and CEO of Symantec Corp. as part of his opening...

RFID Roundup.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Predictions, deals, and good intentions in the upward-trending RFID market Market watchers predict uptick Staff The view of the RFID market from the vantage point of Q2 2006 is notably more optimistic than...

Fusion of ERP solutions, and a look at the plant floor ahead.
July 1, 2006... By Staff At Oracle , it's usually CEO Larry Ellison who gets all the headlines. But these days, John Wookey, senior VP of applications, is gathering column-inches of his own. Holding down what has variously been described as "one of...

Agile enough to follow manufacturing market demand.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Just months after a rousing 2004 user conference, a cautious economic climate and the distractions of Sarbanes-Oxley caused ERP vendor QAD to cut costs and redouble its development efforts. Since then, as seen in financial...

It's all about the architecture.(Company overview)
July 1, 2006... By Dave Caruso, principal, David Caruso & Associates Dramatic computing shifts will reveal newfound business processes It must be a sign of the times. Recently, a large manufacturer asked me to help design an IT organization that...

On-demand leader says it has the bases covered.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Use of the Internet is having a tremendous impact on consumers' lives, yet that same level of impact has been missing from the business world, says Kendall Collins, a VP with Salesforce.com . "As we looked at how Amazon,...

Services architecture, growing partnerships mark metamorphosis.
July 1, 2006... By Staff At Sapphire '06, the annual SAP user conference, what the company's executives were most interested in talking about--by a long shot--wasn't ERP, but rather the enterprise services architecture (ESA), its service-oriented...

Singularly focused vendor responds to changed planning needs.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Kanban is at the heart of "pull" production methodologies, being the signal that triggers replenishment from stores of components or material to the line just-in-time. Over the years, it has become integral to many Lean...

Proving bigger isn't always better.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Epicor isn't the world's largest ERP software vendor, but it is a market leader in many ways. For instance, long before the enterprise software market starting consolidating, Epicor began building up its product portfolio--and...

Soft landing leads to pliable spend-management program.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Few companies epitomize the ups and downs that the entire high-tech industry has experienced over the past decade more than Ariba . Less than two years after introducing the first e-procurement application, Ariba launched one of...

ERP and more for SMBs that want freedom of choice.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Sage Software 's success stems from continued efforts to set its sights on being a one-stop shop for small and mid-size businesses [SMBs], says John Schoutsen, a company VP. Consequently, he explains, customers have the freedom...

Purchase of SSA GT changes ERP system landscape.(Company overview)
July 1, 2006... By Staff In the five years since its founding, Infor has gone from a concept--albeit one backed by deep pockets--to the third-largest ERP vendor in the world, a stature it secured in May upon announcing its 19th and largest...

Bill Gates speaks on enterprise systems and the desktop.
July 1, 2006... By Staff If anyone still thinks that, for Microsoft , the enterprise system applications market is a mere sideline, put those thoughts to rest once and for all with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' recent address to Convergence, Microsoft...

Promises made, and delivered.
July 1, 2006... By Staff It was difficult to escape the optimism at i2's latest user conference, held in Las Vegas in May. To begin, just days earlier, longtime competitor Manugistics was finally acquired by JDA Software Group , leaving i2 as 'the last...

Supply chain roundup.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Tips and tools from experts in planning, execution, and event management Inventory optimization Staff Microsoft, DuPont, and Celanese became Optiant customers in Q1 2006, joining Intel and Kraft after Optiant...

Information, not just automation.
July 1, 2006... By Roberto Michel, senior contributing editor Software architectures move plant automation vendors into performance-partner role Just when did the big plant automation vendors evolve from hardware-centric suppliers to suppliers of...

Eventful year for plant applications vendor.
July 1, 2006... By Staff With the market topping $1 billion in revenue for the first time, 2005 was a very good year for manufacturing execution system (MES) providers, and few did better than Citect . The Australian vendor of next-generation industrial...

Diverse capabilities united in an IT infrastructure for the plant floor.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Invensys Process Systems is a business unit of U.K.-based Invensys plc. Its brands include Foxboro, Triconex, SimSci-Esscor, Avantis, and Wonderware. For fiscal year 2004/05, Process Systems reported sales of about $1.3 billion,...

MES as the cure for complexity.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Brooks Automation is a leading vendor to the semiconductor industry, counting the top 20 companies as customers. Besides automation gear for that vertical, Brooks also offers manufacturing execution system (MES); plant...

Get more: Proficy suite moves toward unified view.
July 1, 2006... By Staff The plant-management applications suite under the wing of GE Fanuc Automation , Proficy, is evolving into a tighter suite enabled by--among other things--a single view into plant applications and information. At its user...

Making a way through a maze of plant-floor applications.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Executives at Rockwell Automation attribute the appeal of the vendor's Logix control platform to the fact that Logix addresses process and production management in discrete, batch, and continuous process industries; as well as...

Award cites security gain, while keeping premium on information.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Standards-based open systems bring great benefit--but in the world of process control, they also pose risk to the security and safety of plant operations. "In the past, control systems were built on proprietary platforms...

Production control is central to the enterprise.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Historically viewed as a bottom-up automation vendor, Siemens now has a message that resonates well with IT decision makers who traditionally take much more of a top-down view. Likewise, Siemens offers a compelling vision and a...

A 25th anniversary finds founder "feeling great".
July 1, 2006... By Staff OSIsoft is a $110 million-plus innovator celebrating its 25th year in business. It brought data historians into wide use in process industries, and its RtPM Platform brings technologies for data historians, portals, integration,...

Years in the making.
July 1, 2006... By Michael Burkett, AMR Research Innovation requires deployment of the Hierarchy of Product Metrics You don't need to look far to understand the importance of new products to the long-term success of the business. Markets reward those...

Solutions for document-based communication.
July 1, 2006... By Staff To date, says Mike Morel, director of manufacturing solutions for Adobe Systems , the company's game plan in the industry has revolved around its PostScript printer language and Acrobat PDF file format, supplemented by...

Understanding PLM requirements drives growth.
July 1, 2006... By Staff It's easy to see why the product life-cycle management (PLM) market has grown so rapidly, says Jay Fulcher, CEO of Agile Software . "Having already wrung excess cost out of business, manufacturers realize it's imperative to...

Outsourcing flourishes when based on 3D collaboration.
July 1, 2006... By Staff "Outsourcing has become a critical capability for manufacturers across all industries, which places a premium on the ability to foster communication with customers and suppliers," says Buzz Kross, VP of manufacturing solutions...

PLM functionality now available on a desktop near you.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Product life-cycle management (PLM) software today is all about packaging product information for immediate use in many business activities, especially those outside engineering and design departments. UGS is the largest...

Companies want simplistic data sharing in product development.
July 1, 2006... By Staff PTC is a leader in product life-cycle management (PLM), with installations in more than 40,000 companies around the world. Its Pro/ENGINEER CAD system is said to have pioneered 3D product design, while its Windchill product...

Supply chain for a better, safer world.
July 1, 2006... By Kevin Parker, editorial director AMR Research had something decidedly different to say this year at its annual supply chain conference. But it was something that needed to be said. President Tony Friscia and his fellow...

Reports conclude global trade "actually works".(Company overview)
July 1, 2006... By Staff Failing to allocate resources for entering new markets in rapidly developing economies (RDE) and low-cost countries will result in many a missed opportunity, say reports from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and New York-based...

Capturing elusive data in extended supply chains calls for cross-functional perspective.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Outsourced production and more refined procurement practices actually exacerbate an already challenging task: that is, maintaining easy access to critical data. So says the summary judgment of a recent report from New...

Exploiting the value of PLM calls for process maturity.
July 1, 2006... By Staff The value of product life-cycle management (PLM) and digital manufacturing (DM) varies depending on who you talk to. "While there is general agreement as to the value of PLM between vendors and manufacturers, they don't have...

IBM sets forth on the innovation landscape armed with SOA.
July 1, 2006... By Staff If there was any lingering doubt about IBM 's commitment to service-oriented architecture (SOA), the company unequivocally dispelled it with a flood of SOA-related announcements on April 3, including 11 new products, 20...

Fraud, information access trump high-profile IT attacks in 2005--and today.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Symantec 's most recent Internet Security Threat Report spells it out like this: System security is a problem that's not going to go away. The report also indicates a trend toward highly targeted cyber crime--initially seen...

Low-level to moderate competency plagues offshore initiatives and strategies.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Your IT department may again find itself at a critical crossroads. A new survey of 945 IT professionals--conducted by Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Group --says that while a majority of companies negotiate IT outsourcing...

Diversity finds priority in corporate giving.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Companies are aligning philanthropy programs to meet overall business objectives, and reputation and branding needs, according to a report from The Conference Board , the New York-based global research organization. Nearly half...

Many ERP systems are underused.
July 1, 2006... By Staff Thanks to ERP investments--particularly in accounting, inventory, and human resources records management--the Fortune 500 collectively is saving $60 billion annually, yet is missing something considerable, says San Mateo,...

IBM wants email users to march to the penguin.
July 1, 2006... By Staff IBM says its Lotus Notes/Domino 7 combination is the hottest-selling version of its workgroup collaboration and email platform ever, and a good percentage of buyers are companies migrating from Microsoft Exchange. Naturally,...