Manufacturing Business Technology articles from October 2008

Manufacturing Business Technology archives from October 2008

Economic storms slow investment, but not innovation.
October 1, 2008... By Sidney Hill, Jr., executive editor As I write this, the U.S. Congress is debating something called the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. You may know it as the financial services industry bailout. Whatever it's called,...

Supply chain solutions support the eco-friendly imperative.
October 1, 2008... By Julie Fraser How can a company achieve sustainability and fight energy costs? This question has put a focus on supply chain management for several years. However, within the supply chain, there are many opportunities for lowering...

Leveraging after-sales service for competitive advantage.
October 1, 2008... By Ed Miller In a world where competing on product pricing alone is problematic, more companies recognize the importance of after-sales service as a means of enhancing brand value, strengthening customer relationships, and boosting revenue...

For Coca-Cola Enterprises, standardized printing bubbles up with lean opportunity.
October 1, 2008... By Frank O Smith (fosmith@thewritinggroup.com) With deep roots in manufacturing production, Lean's key premise--the reduction or elimination of waste--has broad applicability across business processes. It entails taking a fresh look at...

Zontec shatters under-$1,000 price point with mobile SPC offering.
October 1, 2008... By Staff Zontec is addressing the wireless mobility needs of quality assurance professionals with a mini-notebook computer and real-time statistical process control (SPC) software application for a combined package price of under $1,000....

Watt meters a bright idea for green thinkers.
October 1, 2008... By Staff The Kill A Watt family of products allows business users to cut energy costs by determining which electrical devices, appliances, and components are affordable to keep plugged in. Simply connect equipment to the Kill A Watt...

Front-end modules for ZigBee apps.
October 1, 2008... By Staff Skyworks Solutions , a specialist in mobile connectivity, and Ember , a ZigBee technology provider, will develop a portfolio of ZigBee front-end modules (FEM) targeting applications such as smart meters in energy management and...

Intelligence platform enhancements secure the collaboration environment.
October 1, 2008... By Staff secureWISE, a remote secure collaboration platform from ILS Technology , under a Software-as-as-Service model, offers improved ease of use by incorporating several user-requested changes. Among them: A "team" function allowing...

New takes on emerging software.(Company overview)
October 1, 2008... By Roberto Michel, senior contributing editor SaaS-based solutions, fresh spins on optimization create opportunity for innovative vendors The steady consolidation in the enterprise software industry hasn't driven choice out of the...

Serving up better business performance.
October 1, 2008... By Malcolm Wheatley, senior contributing editor SOA becomes conduit for shop-floor to top-floor intelligence networks Seeking better insight to plant-floor performance, Premier Manufacturing Corp. instigated a system under which...

The complete picture:.
October 1, 2008... By Hope Neal, contributing editor Supply chain solutions balance inventory management with transportation costs For years, when it came to inventory, most manufacturers were focused on one goal: cutting inventory levels as low as they...

Licensing solution simplifies asset management in SAP, other software deployments.
October 1, 2008... By Frank O Smith (fosmith@thewritinggroup.com) Acresso Software (formerly Macrovision) says its License Manager for the SAP Business Suite helps companies using SAP reduce their license requirements by 30 percent. That's a significant...

Infosys to buy Axon Group.
October 1, 2008... By Staff Infosys Technologies Limited will buy U.K.-based Axon Group plc for approximately (U.S.)$753.1 million. Axon, with about 2,000 employees, delivers consultancy services to multinational organizations with SAP as their strategic...

Total clarity: Timely reports, data flexibility power up business intelligence.
October 1, 2008... By Karen Dilger, contributing editor (kadilger@comcast.net) Upper management at CLARCOR Air Filtration Products has good data, but making it easily accessible is no small task when that data must be extracted, sorted, analyzed, and...

Manual mistake: New survey proves the need for automated time & attendance.
October 1, 2008... By Staff A new survey by workforce management solutions specialist CyberShift and theAmerican Payroll Association(APA) on employee time-entry management finds continued usage of relatively antiquated methods of recording time--e.g.,...

Infor enhances HCM Workforce Management.
October 1, 2008... By Staff Feature Pack 5 for Infor HCM Workforce Management (formerly Workbrain) delivers more than a dozen new features to reduce the burden of administration for management, including a new Payroll Wizard that automates the payroll...

FLEX timesheets set up real-time data exchange.
October 1, 2008... By Staff SoftSolutions says its FLEX workforce management software is gaining traction in the manufacturing sector based on innovative metrics and decision-support tools to best leverage skilled labor markets. Chelsea, Mich.-based...

Virtual learning: Companies turn to BPO for talent retention.
October 1, 2008... By Staff Boston-based NelsonHall, an independent business process optimization (BPO) analyst firm, offers its latest research, Targeting Learning BPO , featuring a comprehensive assessment of learning BPO (LBPO) services and...

Are we safe enough?
October 1, 2008... By Scott Hillman, Honeywell Process Solutions Plant managers can effectively mitigate risk through safety & security systems integration Ask a plant manager why safety is important, and the answer is that protection of personnel,...

Manufacturing life-cycle solution finds defects before it's too late--or too costly.
October 1, 2008... By Karen Dilger (kadilger@comcast.net) A flawless inspection process is essential to building a 20-foot power boat that costs $50,000 to $90,000. Production defects can result in astronomical scrap and rework costs. Correct Craft ,...

How to create a "Safety Culture" for industrial environments.
October 1, 2008... By Staff Creating a completely safe workplace will only prevent 15 percent of potential accidents; the other 85 percent comes from implementing behavioral-based safety training to prevent unsafe acts. Pearson Safety Services (PSS) has...

Performix offers SAP Network-ready MES.
October 1, 2008... By Staff Manufacturing execution system (MES) vendor Performix recently received SAP 's Industry Value Network group designation for chemicals. Users will benefit from a new level of interoperability, reduced total cost of ownership, and...

GE Fanuc supports MTConnect standard.
October 1, 2008... By Staff GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms now supports MTConnect, a new communication protocol to link machine tools from varying suppliers. In particular, GE recently focused on integration of GE Fanuc CNC systems with MTConnect Network,...

ICONICS partnership focuses on OPC training.
October 1, 2008... By Staff ICONICS , which offers Web-enabled, OPC-based, HMI/SCADA visualization and manufacturing intelligence software for Microsoft Windows, is extending its partnership with the OPC Training Institute (OPCTI). ICONICS'...

New support for process-based compliance.
October 1, 2008... By Staff Pilgrim Software is teaming up with Virtify for a complete life-cycle management solution surrounding the regulatory submissions process. The joint offering is based on applications built on Microsoft .NET and XML technology,...

Old adages made new:.(Company overview)
October 1, 2008... By Jim Fulcher, contributing editor Supplier performance management is job one in creating a lean supply chain LSI Corp. , a provider of silicon, systems, and software technologies used by other companies to power storage and...

Dassault empowers "Design for the Environment".
October 1, 2008... By Staff Dassault Systemes ENOVIA Materials Compliance Central for automotive and high-tech industries is a business-process application said to empower companies to adopt proactive environmental compliance strategies throughout a...

QAD ushers in Enterprise PLM.
October 1, 2008... By Staff Enterprise solutions vendor QAD has joined the PTC Channel Advantage Program , a move that's considered a handy development for manufacturers that already use QAD software to run their global business processes and would like to...

Aras expands PLM partner program.
October 1, 2008... Staff Aras says its new partner program holds significant advantages over the traditional product life-cycle management (PLM)/product data management (PDM) partner programs offered by PTC and Oracle Agile PLM , says Aras President Peter...

Configurator puts product modeling in field rep's hands.
October 1, 2008... By Staff With Selectica Simplexity Configurator 9.2, field sales personnel can load models they require for customer meetings right from their hard drives to address order changes on-the-fly. The configurator can load sales and product...