Manufacturing Business Technology articles from May 2005

Manufacturing Business Technology archives from May 2005

A man with a plan.(Up front)
May 1, 2005... Joe Bellini, executive VP and general manager, Brooks Software, isn't the first person to notice that software platforms for "real-time" optimization of shop-floor operations are more widely found in asset-intensive than materials-intensive...

Microsoft formalizes Axapta ISV development program.(MIDMARKET ERP)
May 1, 2005... Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS), the unit focused on enterprise solutions, used Convergence, its annual user conference, to publicly assure users of the viability of a vertical industry strategy that relies heavily on the development efforts...

SAP, Intel leaving their footprints on RFID applications.(DATA COLLECTION AND ERP)
May 1, 2005... SAP and Intel announced an alliance at the CeBIT show in Hannover, Germany, that may make it easier for companies to adopt RFID technology, while at the same time carving out a piece of the exploding market for themselves. The alliance...

Deals point to supply chain convergence.(CORPORATE)
May 1, 2005... JPMorgan Chase Bank has finalized acquisition of Vastera, a supplier of global trade management solutions. The transaction's value was about $129 million. Vastera, which will now be known as JPMorgan Chase Vastera, reported 2004 calendar-year...

What products should you RFID-tag first?(OPERATIONS)
May 1, 2005... TrueDemand, a start-up so new the ink is barely dry on its venture-capital checks, says its SKU Analyzer isn't about the "physics" of RFID tagging-read rates, accuracy, or label positioning. Instead, maintains CEO Eric Peters, it's for...

Windows, Linux neck-in-neck in cost-of-ownership race.(INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)
May 1, 2005... A Yankee Group survey contradicts the notion that Linux is more secure--and cheaper to own--than Windows. The survey of 509 companies indicates a majority of server users rate Windows at least equal to, if not better than, Linux in terms of...

Discrete manufacturers among top projected IT investors in 2005.(SUPPLY CHAIN INFRASTRUCTURE)
May 1, 2005... Growing complexity of the global supply chain is a key driver of IT investment in discrete manufacturing, according to a February report from IDC, a Framingham, Mass.-based research group. Discrete manufacturing--i.e., products made as...

EPA streamlines hazardous waste tracking.(REGULATORY COMPLIANCE)
May 1, 2005... The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to replace separate state-level shipment manifest forms required to track movement of hazardous waste with one universal federal form. Eliminating multiple forms will reduce costs for waste...

"Creative destruction" closes 35,000 U.S. manufacturing sites.(PLANT SURVIVAL STORY)
May 1, 2005... An imbalance in the natural process of "creative destruction"--not outsourcing--is the real culprit in the decline of American manufacturing jobs, according to a research report from the Manufacturing Alliance/MAPI, Arlington, Va. Also...

Projected SSA Global IPO says much about enterprise market's future.(THE ERP HORSE RACE)
May 1, 2005... Even as Oracle seeks through acquisitions to grow its enterprise applications business to the size of SAP's, less noticed is the horse race going on one tier below, where vendors are looking to quickly grow to a size ranging from $500 million...

Manufacturers upbeat on economy, but cautious as to growth.(ECONOMIC INDICATORS)
May 1, 2005... U.S. manufacturing executives are more optimistic than their counterparts in other sectors about prospects for the U.S. economy in 2005, according to a recent Manufacturer's Barometer report from New York-based PricewaterhouseCoopers. ...

Chili powder saga highlights food traceability challenges.(REGULATORY COMPLIANCE)
May 1, 2005... Just weeks after Europe's new food traceability legislation became effective January 1, British food manufacturers endured something of a baptism of fire. Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002--which requires companies to produce, on demand, information...

Tracing over existing apps.(Views from the front)
May 1, 2005... ERP vendor Intentia sees mandates from the European Union (EU) and the U.S Food & Drug Administration (FDA) as "a mountain for industry to climb." So says John Gledhill Intentia's director of food and beverage solutions, adding, "We built our...

Prelude to a prediction: the next five years of IT demand.(In perspective)
May 1, 2005... Regardless how quickly the fashions of technology change--remember Web services, which is so 2004--the installed base of systems is like a supertanker: slow-moving and powerful via its inertia and inability to alter course quickly. So for those...

Performance measurements accelerate in supply chain.(In perspective)
May 1, 2005... When enterprise performance management (EPM) emerged as a key item on executives' agendas in the late 1990s, it had a heavy, sometimes exclusive financial emphasis. Not surprising. Financial measures and goals are well defined within every...

CPG seeks virtuous circle: Wells Lamont, Wise Foods adopt nimbler planning that closes loop with execution.(Cover Story)
May 1, 2005... Concepts like closed-loop supply chain management and event-driven forecasting might have a grandiose ring to them, but they translate into concrete benefits for those who put them in practice in retail supply chains. Just ask Steve Bartok,...

Real time's role in product quality: solutions that enable live tracking of production processes lead to lower costs, happier customers. (Applications & Services).
May 1, 2005... How valuable is real-time production data? To one company--ElkCorp--it's worth at least $6,000 an hour. That's how much the company loses whenever the production lines go down at its Shafter, Calif., plant, where it makes roofing shingles. To...

Shipping bottlenecks from China subside, but risks still present, say experts.(LEAN LOGISTICS)
May 1, 2005... One year ago, few companies foresaw the bottlenecks that would emerge in importing goods from China. But by late summer 2004 and into the fall, a mix of factors--some of them stateside--resulted in major delays unloading at ports, including at...

Personal productivity and enterprise interfaces starting to merge, says Microsoft.(Microsoft Office)
May 1, 2005... Microsoft has built a client solution that gives users of Microsoft's calendar and e-mail program--i.e., Outlook--access to information found in a Siebel CRM system. The initial goal of the project, code-named Elixir, was to give...

Vendors upgrade systems to beat back competition with ERP's big league.(ENTERPRISE ASSET MANAGEMENT)
May 1, 2005... ERP-based asset management solutions are rapidly achieving parity with best-of-breed enterprise asset management (EAM) suites, and in situations where basic functionality is sufficient, even displacing EAM based on the benefits that follow from...

SanDisk ekes profit out of excess inventory using online auctioning.(B2B SERVICES)
May 1, 2005... Excess inventory is an especially tough problem when the products in question have short life cycles, such as the flash storage cards made by SanDisk, Sunnyvale, Calif. Flash memory has about a six-month life cycle, evidenced by the fact...

Enterprise vendors can't do everything (not that they'll admit it).(THE EXECUTION SPACE)
May 1, 2005... ERP by itself can't drive the efficiencies manufacturers need--especially in process or complex manufacturing environments. That's the conclusion of a recent report, Why Can't I Just Use My ERP System for Manufacturing? by Greg Gorbach of ARC...

Salesforce.com's next customer management release breaks it out of CRM mold.(APPS ON DEMAND)
May 1, 2005... In its next quarterly release, Salesforce.com will give users--including nearly 14,000 customers and 227,00 paying subscribers--the means to build their own applications using the infrastructure and point-and-click interface of its Salesforce...

Ingersoll-Rand avoids tough spot with latest version of Siebel OnDemand.(CRM AND THE CALL CENTER)
May 1, 2005... In its latest move to one-up Salesforce.com, Siebel says the latest version of its "on-demand" hosted CRM product now supports today's modern call center. The new version--which incorporates capabilities of Ineto Services' hosted...

ERP vendors scramble to sign up midmarket VARs.(MIDSIZE ENTERPRISE MARKET)
May 1, 2005... The shakeup in the ERP midmarket is causing a ripple effect among value-added resellers, or VARs. This means ERP vendors are putting more attention on recruiting and retaining VARs, which analysts say should benefit end users by making VARs...

Beyond KPIs: impacting supply chain performance.(In perspective)
May 1, 2005... Why is it that despite manufacturers' many supply chain solution investments, most still struggle to consistently perform well against their key performance indicators (KPIs)? It's a daunting question, and one that few companies can answer...

The loss of certainty: Peter Drucker's take on 21st century management challenges, with commentary by Geoffrey Moore.(Business Performance)
May 1, 2005... It's a cliche to say we've become a nation of knowledge workers. What's less often stated are the consequences of that for you as a manager. According to Peter Drucker, dean of management consultants, it means you have to give up control. ...

With Metreo pricing engine, Owens Corning always knows the price is right.(CASE-IN-POINT)
May 1, 2005... Owens Corning, Toledo, Ohio, is a symbol of hope for every manufacturing company fighting to stay profitable in the face of what seem to be ever-shrinking gross margins on individual products. The world leader in building materials and...

Preventive maintenance can boost overall business performance.(STRATEGIC MAINTENANCE)
May 1, 2005... At Cincinnati-based Premier Manufacturing Support Services, 100-percent equipment uptime isn't just a goal--it's a business strategy. "Our value proposition is based on increased equipment uptime," explains Eric Faith, director of...

i2 Technologies and Underwriters Laboratories.(Business performance in brief)
May 1, 2005... Supply chain planning vendor i2 Technologies and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) will offer electronics manufacturers extended services for self-declaring compliance with global restricted substance regulations, such as the European Union's...

Honeywell.(Business performance in brief)
May 1, 2005... Honeywell now offers The Certified Functional Safety Expert IEC 61508, a training program for process industry operators who use safety-instrumented systems (SIS). The program enables cost-cutting and compliance with government safety...

AssurX.(Business performance in brief)
May 1, 2005... AssurX's CATSWeb Records Management facilitates compliance with corporate record retention policies by automating the process of archiving or purging records.

IBM applies supply chain principles to human assets.(WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT)
May 1, 2005... Like many technology companies, IBM has long targeted better supply chain management as a means to reduce operating costs and improve response times. During a senior executive meeting in 2003, CEO Sam Palmissano asked his team why the same...

What does it take to succeed at global trade management?(Ask Aberdeen Group)
May 1, 2005... A March 2005 survey report, New Strategies for Global Trade Management, finds that nine out of 10 midsize and large manufacturers say they now do business in China. And half of respondents say more than 25 percent of their suppliers are located...

The new sourcing mantra: think globally: Internet-based solutions locate the right suppliers, regardless of location.(Integration & Infrastructure)
May 1, 2005... When Powertrain Control Solutions solicited quotes for a special part to use in one of its products, the response from North American suppliers was disappointing. "Most said the project couldn't be done easily," recalls James Ballenger,...

New management solutions untangle storage networks.(DATA MANAGEMENT)
May 1, 2005... As the amount of business data grows, many IT executives face a daunting challenge: how to manage and provision a complex assortment of storage systems. Some are finding storage resource management software is the answer. Such systems...

Enterprise integration, custom capabilities key to successful forms automation.(DOCUMENT PRODUCTION)
May 1, 2005... Linking key documents to the enterprise system does more than produce fancy-looking paperwork. As two recent implementations of Formscape's document technology underscore, there are distinct bottom-line benefits, too--such as improved...

Seeburger.(Integration & infrastructure in brief)
May 1, 2005... Business Integration Suite Application Server Edition (BIS/AS)--an enterprise application integration solution that runs on IBM WebSphere. SAP NetWeaver. and Oracle 10g--extends Seeburger's BIS platform from Windows to UNIX and Linux, and...

LANSA.(Integration & infrastructure in brief)
May 1, 2005... LANSA 2005 a cross-platform suite, delivers application modernization, integration, and extension capabilities for multiple platforms--including IBM's eServera iSeries. Enhancements include rapid application development capability, support for...

Infravio and GT Software will deliver solutions for managing and governing policy in service-oriented architectures (SOA) using legacy mainframe applications.(Integration & infrastructure in brief)
May 1, 2005... Infravio and GT Software will deliver solutions for managing and governing policy in service-oriented architectures (SOA) using legacy mainframe applications. The vendors say their combined solutions--Infravio Ensemble Web Services Management...

Application router meets straightforward data transformation needs.(DATA INTEGRATION)
May 1, 2005... Cast Iron Systems wants to make data integration as simple as plugging in a router. Using what it calls its "application router," the vendor reports contract manufacturer Solectron realized 80-percent savings over custom systems integration...

RFID is the balm: motivated by mandates and a compelling business case, the pharmaceutical supply chain embraces RFID.(Security/Wireless)
May 1, 2005... The lion's share of RFID discussion is focused on the consumer packaged goods (CPG) sector, but it could be said the pharmaceutical industry has the most compelling RFID business case--the safety and security of the pharmaceutical supply...

Rockwell Automation says the time is right for RFID.(PILOT PROJECTS)
May 1, 2005... At first glance, industrial automation hardware and software giant Rockwell Automation doesn't seem an obvious candidate to spend a lot of time and money on an RFID project. It doesn't make RFID hardware or software. It doesn't sell to...

Wi-Fi and Ethernet on same device as standards converge.(THE SEAMLESS NETWORK)
May 1, 2005... Suppliers of networking technology are showing a great deal of interest in wireless systems, and they're going the acquisition route in hopes of accelerating the convergence of wired and wireless networks. Siemens has acquired Chantry...

ISA tackles industrial compatibility with Wi-Fi.(WIRELESS STANDARDS)
May 1, 2005... ON World, a San Diego-based research group focused on emerging wireless markets, predicts 168 million wireless network nodes will be deployed by 2010, making for a $5.9-billion end-user market. A recent study by Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner...

Semiconductor manufacturer Atmel, and Ember Corp., a vendor of low-power wireless semiconductor solutions, will deliver an ultralow-power ZigBee semiconductor platform.
May 1, 2005... Semiconductor manufacturer Atmel, and Ember Corp., a vendor of low-power wireless semiconductor solutions, will deliver an ultralow-power ZigBee semiconductor platform. ZigBee is a wireless, standard: based radio technology for control and...

Intermec Technologies.
May 1, 2005... Intermec Technologies will supply passive UHF RFID tags to the Department of Defense (DoD) and the U.S. Coast Guard as part of an Automatic Information Technology RFID initiative to establish asset visibility in the DoD's logistics pipeline.

Axcess offers tag for less than a sawbuck to jump-start RFID adoption.(RFID HARDWARE)
May 1, 2005... In a move the company says will "accelerate the pace for mass adoption," Axcess International, a vendor of network-based asset management, tracking, and security solutions, now has active RFID personnel tags available for less than $10.00 a...

RFID considered the next piece in IT infrastructure.(RFID PROJECTIONS)
May 1, 2005... Boston-based AMR Research says the RFID market is still very much "under construction," but its evolution will follow the track of other maturing technology markets consolidation and transformation, with current infrastructure and applications...

Enterprise's top ranks may have gelled, but someone will buy Siebel.(Back talk)
May 1, 2005... The best thing about being an information technology journalist is that the industry constantly changes. It makes the job both interesting and challenging. Historically, the industry's most significant events revolved around technical...