Manufacturing Business Technology articles from October 2007

Manufacturing Business Technology archives from October 2007

Data historian's role in plant performance expands in an energy-management era.(Company overview)
October 1, 2007... By Kevin Parker, editorial director Two men were walking into the opening session of the recently held OSIsoft user conference. One turned to the other and said, 'He's supposed to spend his time solving problems, not building...

FreeFlow disposition options keep inventory moving in harmony with the sales channel.
October 1, 2007... By Staff When SanDisk , a Milpitas, Calif.-based manufacturer of flash storage card products, received MP3 players back from its sales channel, it sought to clear the inventory rather than hold it or reprocess it. It turned to inventory...

SAP: We're ahead of Oracle, Siemens in PLM.
October 1, 2007... By Staff SAP admits to having gaps to fill in its product life-cycle management (PLM) solution set. Still it contends it already offers more of what PLM users really need than either Oracle or Siemens -two large vendors that recently made...

Web-based warranty system cuts paper trail for Goodman Manufacturing.
October 1, 2007... By Jim Fulcher, contributing editor (jimfulcher@comcast.net) One way to extend customer engagement and maximize revenue streams is to establish processes for extended warranty sales. But for manufacturers, it's a goal that's not quite as...

Globalization wins out in GM-UAW accord.
October 1, 2007... By Sidney Hill, Jr., executive editor Although it lasted less than two full days, the impact of the strike the United Auto Workers (UAW) launched against General Motors in September will be felt for many years. In fact, it will likely...

MES integrators mix controls, enterprise expertise to guide production management.
October 1, 2007... By Roberto Michel, senior contributing editor The steady acquisition and building of manufacturing execution system (MES)-level software packages by industrial automation vendors wrought change in their service partner ecosystems. Where...

Quality grows 'in Stature' for innovative electronics components leader Molex.
October 1, 2007... By Jim Fulcher, contributing editor (jimfulcher@comcast.net) Manufacturers with design and manufacturing facilities around the globe must ensure enterprisewide uniformity of practices. Now there are several ways to do that. For Molex...

Katrina disaster confirms need for real-time inventory and asset management.
October 1, 2007... By Staff For private citizens, government agencies, and the corporate world alike, Hurricane Katrina taught many harsh lessons in August 2005. One is the need to plan, as made painfully apparent to Wink Companies LLC , a multidiscipline...

To reach desired 'IT end-state,' Volvo CE focuses on multi-plant performance.
October 1, 2007... By Kevin Parker, editorial director and Frank Smith, senior contributing editor With exports of complex products from developed to developing economies on the rise, the construction equipment market is a robust one. Volvo Construction...

Recognizing innovation in the global manufacturing enterprise.(Company overview)
October 1, 2007... Kevin Parker, editorial director The U.S. manufacturing industries have seized upon the term 'innovation' as epitomizing what it takes to survive and thrive in an era of free trade and rapid technological change. Through increased...

Application portfolio management: a necessity for future IT.
October 1, 2007... By David Caruso, contributing editor Most business executives see IT as a bit of a black hole. The shifting sands of new technologies make it difficult to understand what should be invested in next. Making the wrong technology...

Low-cost Linux clusters drive supercomputing use in manufacturing.
October 1, 2007... By Roberto Michel, senior contributing editor (robertomichel@charter.net) The days when only the largest manufacturers could afford supercomputers based on proprietary hardware are giving way to an era of lower-cost high performance...

Manufacturers can hit product innovation targets with PLM/MES integration.
October 1, 2007... By Staff A European weapons maker is among the first manufacturers to forge a working link between a product life-cycle management (PLM) system and a manufacturing execution systems (MES). MBDA Missile Systems says this connection allows...

RosettaNet-E2open survey validates XML B2B integration.
October 1, 2007... By Karen Abramic-Dilger, contributing editor (kadilger@comcast.net) Accessing timely information is a top concern when collaborating with trading partners. Having a professional to turn to-one with a long tradition of creating standards...

Environmental compliance: a foundation for sustainability.
October 1, 2007... By Simon Jacobson Implementing a consistent environmental framework is a large undertaking that still doesn't have a standardized blueprint or implementation methodology that ERP or some supply chain-facing projects have. AMR...

ERP meets the desktop.
October 1, 2007... By Cindy Jutras In the front and back offices of manufacturing companies, it's hard to imagine life without desktop productivity tools. Word processing programs, spreadsheets, and email are used by 95 percent of those dubbed 'information...

Fall cleanup time: Step one is software maintenance.
October 1, 2007... By Erik Keller As SAP and Oracle go toe-to-toe in court over alleged intellectual property misappropriations via the SAP-subsidiary TomorrowNow, I think it's a good time to review the four main levers that buyers should use when...

'Google-like' capabilities impact enterprise system use.
October 1, 2007... By Kevin Parker, editorial director One of the challenges for small and midsize companies using enterprise resources planning (ERP) is the system's over-segmentation based on roles and functions common to large companies. This segmentation...

Wonderware releases bring HMI into managed applications world.
October 1, 2007... By Kevin Parker, editorial director (kparker@reedbusiness.com) To ensure harmony between its past and future-i.e., to support the installed base even as it moves firmly into the plant SOA era-Wonderware introduced in early September version...

Revised MESA model gives production execution systems strategic context.
October 1, 2007... By Kevin Parker, editorial director (kparker@reedbusiness.com) MESA International has devised new guidelines for connecting plant-floor systems with higher-level business applications. The ultimate goal in releasing the new collaborative...

Oracle ramps up midmarket self-service business programs.
October 1, 2007... By Tony Baer, senior contributing editor (tbaer@tbaer.com) Oracle says it wants to make buying software easier for small to midsize businesses (SMB), and its sales & marketing programs are part of a larger effort for the enterprise vendor...

Lawson antes up top benefits per dollar for midsize manufacturers.
October 1, 2007... By Staff For the money, Lawson Software comes out on top as a provider of business performance improvement. Compared to five other ERP vendors, and based on a survey of 645 midsize manufacturing companies, Boston-based Aberdeen Group...

The key to worry-free compliance is a nonfinancial e-business audit.
October 1, 2007... By Staff Today, an e-business audit can have greater impact on a company than a financial audit. So says nuBridges , which researches changes in legislation that effect e-business. nuBridges also develops solutions that meet and...