Manufacturing Business Technology articles from September 2006

Manufacturing Business Technology archives from September 2006

Search technology supports self-service on Delphi plant floor.
September 1, 2006... By Staff At its engine-component plant in Grand Rapids, Mich., Delphi Corp. is using a search solution from Centric Software to sharply cut the cost of getting manufacturing instructions to the factory floor. "Kiosks" located around...

PLM keeps manufacturer on right sideof the law.
September 1, 2006... By Staff The cost of "component traceability"--i.e., tracking every component and every input from every source in a product sold--can range from 2 percent to 8 percent of revenue. "That's the profit margin," says Eric Karofsky, senior...

Manufacturing intelligence vendor tapslean components to ease production bottlenecks.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Manufacturing performance management vendor Activplant claims to have discovered a simple way to eliminate production bottlenecks by combining elements of Eliyahu Goldratt's Theory of Constraints (TOC) and the Toyota Production...

ABB using machine-to-machine sensortechnology to corral robots.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Automation systems vendor ABB is deploying wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) control technology to simplify maintenance of its industrial robots. The technology, supplied by nPhase, allows ABB to transfer system data from the...

Container security gettingmore than standard attention.
September 1, 2006... By Staff The number of cargo containers--some 17 million globally--plus the number of entities that own and manage their movement equals nightmarish security for governments and shippers. Part of the problem is lack of standards for...

Wireless finds its way to the wrist.
September 1, 2006... By Staff A wearable wrist computer from Parvus has multiple industry applications, from military and emergency response to logistics and transportation. The ZYPAD WL 1000 is a hands-free computer that enables continuous connectivity using...

Microsoft and Astea integrate ERPand service-management suites.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Microsoft Business Solutions ' latest bid to add vertical-industry functionality to its ERP offerings came via a partnership with Astea International , a field-service operations vendor. Astea's Alliance suite will be...

Market growth moves away from planning segment.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Dedham, Mass.-based ARC Advisory Group says real-time supply chain execution (SCE) solutions will lead supply chain management (SCM) overall market growth through 2010. While price points and margins will be lower as new...

Production scheduling system leads steelmakerto $70-million revenue gain.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Like many in the steel industry, Brazil-based Companhia Siderúrgica de Tubarão (CST)--a semi-finished steelmaker and part of the Arcelor Group--is expanding capacity. The difference for this manufacturer, however, is...

UPS continues hub expansions.
September 1, 2006... By Staff UPS will put another $1 billion toward package-shipment processing at its Louisville, Ky.-based hub to boost capacity 60 percent. In January, UPS completed a $135-million expansion of its Cologne/Bonn Airport hub, its main...

Autodesk practices moderation in marketing.
September 1, 2006... By Sidney Hill, Jr., executive editor The marketing of enterprise software often is portrayed as an evil endeavor, with "hype" being the term most frequently used to describe vendors' efforts to promote their products. My dictionary...

More than $10 billion saved.
September 1, 2006... By Malcolm Wheatley, senior contributing editor Ten years after Ariba pioneered e-sourcing, manufacturers are seeing the value Jim Polak, director of general purchasing at Pittsburgh-based PPG Industries , never saw himself as a...

SAP enhances trade services suiteout of new GRC business unit.
September 1, 2006... By Staff With customers spread across continents, enterprise vendor SAP knows something about trade compliance--from its users. The fact is most manufacturers now find themselves pressed to meet ongoing waves of legislation, as well as...

Cleaning products maker sweeps up new sales using Web-based business intelligence.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Just two years ago, TxF --a manufacturer of microfiber mops, brooms, and dusters based in Arlington, Texas--reported a $2.5-million sales decline. Upon determining its problems stemmed largely from an inability to track and...

Historians now boosting performance in real time.
September 1, 2006... By Hope Neal, contributing editor Data historians traditionally had one purpose: monitoring equipment performance by collecting specific pieces of information, such as measuring the temperature of an engine every five seconds. Today,...

Exostar gathers A&D players to develop compliance best practices.
September 1, 2006... By Staff As operator of an e-trading hub for aerospace & defense (A&D) manufacturers, Exostar is spearheading an effort to help the A&D industry cope with stringent regulations surrounding the transfer of goods between countries. ...

Public key infrastructure technology simplifies identity management.
September 1, 2006... By Staff CertiPath --a joint venture of aerospace & defense (A&D) industry service providers Exostar, ARINC , and SITA --promises to simplify digital-certificate processes used to verify trading partners' identities on e-commerce sites....

Integrated business planning tightenssupply chain for wireless supplier.
September 1, 2006... By Jim Fulcher, contributing editor Powerwave Technologies , a Santa Ana, Calif.-based wireless solutions supplier that counts numerous international acquisitions in its recent history, relies on outsourced manufacturing. That reliance...

A winning strategy.(Company overview)
September 1, 2006... By Sidney Hill, Jr., Executive Editor Collaborating on product designs speeds time-to-market, improves quality, boosts revenues Before selecting Lockheed Martin to manage the largest military aircraft program in U.S. history, the...

When ERP isn't enough.(Company overview)
September 1, 2006... By Scott Bury, contributing editor Innovative uses of IT stand to change plant-floor performance Elliott Co. , an engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturer of rotating equipment used in petrochemical and power-generation applications, saw...

Google, Microsoft on collision course,but users could benefit.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Locating information locked in business intelligence (BI) systems may soon require no more skills than doing a Google search. That's because Google is working with BI vendors such as Cognos and SAS Institute to link its...

In brief.
September 1, 2006... By Staff HyperRoll will port its data-aggregation technology to Actuate 's Enterprise Reporting Application Platform. When used with Actuate, HyperRoll is expected to deliver exponential increase in query performance and more consistent...

VP Buildings fabricates better inventorymanagement with SOA.
September 1, 2006... By Staff When Memphis, Tenn.-based VP Buildings looked to solve a nagging inventory management problem, it discovered one of the many benefits associated with a service-oriented architecture (SOA): fast, low-cost integration of disparate...

Offshore DCS development takes on local feelfor Hercules Chemical.
September 1, 2006... By Jim Fulcher, contributing editor Some people might raise an eyebrow at Hercules Chemical 's approach to plant automation, but the software-development side of a new distributed control system (DCS) implementation was outsourced to an...

Symbol foresees a single management infrastructure.
September 1, 2006... By Staff The expanding use of wireless technology in the workplace introduces new network-management challenges. Chief among them is the need to manage all kinds of wireless devices that can be deployed to accommodate different...

IBM centralizes SOA solutions in one online catalog.
September 1, 2006... By Staff A market bazaar is probably the last venue one would expect to be invited to when looking for a service-oriented architecture (SOA) platform, but a central spot for shopping vendor wares is exactly what IBM is serving up to...

Value models and informed legislation lookto grow technology adoption rate.
September 1, 2006... By Staff EPGglobal releases more ROI models Staff EPCglobal released three more of its vertical-industry RFID Value Models for assessing potential ROI from solutions deployments. In addition to pre-existing models for health...

The paradoxes of ERP-based productivity.
September 1, 2006... By Kevin Parker, editorial director Enterprise, or ERP, systems are "basic plumbing," needed to run a manufacturing enterprise. Yet on average companies use less than 28 percent of available functionality. Because ERP is considered...

IBM to fold MRO Software into Tivoli.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Seeking to shore up its asset-management and service-desk capabilities, IBM intends to buy asset-management vendor MRO Software for approximately $740 million. In the fiscal year ended last September, MRO reported a profit...

Infor acquires financial software vendors Extensity, Systems Union.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Enterprise vendor Infor is again broadening its enterprise software portfolio, this time with offerings from two vendors, but stemming from a single acquisition: that of Extensity, a financial performance management software...

Survey says employees feel obligated 24/7.
September 1, 2006... By Staff The majority of employees heading out at the end of the day take the office with them. So says a survey by Ontario-based Info-Tech Research Group , wherein 81 percent of employees say they feel obligated, to some degree, to be...

Manufacturers exposed to RoHS risk.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Eric Karofsky, senior analyst for Boston-based AMR Research , says U.S. manufacturers are woefully unprepared for the impact of European Union's Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Act. Manufacturers risk revenue loss...

Translating IT's business impactis a four-step process.
September 1, 2006... By Staff As senior consultants with Cutter Consortium assert, "Establishing IT's business impact requires expressing what IT accomplishes in business terms, as viewed by business executives." Cutter suggests four ways to communicate IT's...

Boston Consulting report identifies emerging masters of competition.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Global markets are on the brink of becoming vastly more competitive, claims Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which identified 100 companies in rapidly developing economies (RDE) that are growing 10 times faster than the U.S.'s...

Tax credit program offers welcome optionto expanding manufacturers.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Manufacturers looking to expand operations may qualify for little known tax credits, says Karen Williams, a partner with the Portland, Ore.-based law firm of Lane Powell. New Market Tax Credits (NMTC) is a federal program that...

Survey data portrays a risk-adverse,tech-savvy SMB market.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Small and midsize business market (SMB) executives are optimistic about future market prospects, but are missing the boat on globalization, says a survey by Minneapolis-based business consultancy RSM McGladrey . Other...

Harvard study maps IT investment to enterprise growth.
September 1, 2006... By Staff Harvard Business School Professor Marco Iansiti points out a distinct correlation between IT investment and growth: Companies with better IT capabilities grew 6.8 percent faster than those with less robust infrastructures. ...

Oracle quietly evolves execution system to match complex manufacturing scenarios.
September 1, 2006... By Staff National Instruments is the kind of customer Oracle hopes it's going to see a lot more of. With what Steven Lusk, National's manufacturing business analyst manager, describes as "a low-volume, high-mix" order book--the...

Security breaches on the rise at all organizational levels.
September 1, 2006... By Staff IT infrastructure solutions supplier CA says a new survey of 642 large North American organizations indicates more than 84 percent experienced a security incident over the past 12 months. The survey was conducted across the...

Mainframes have solid future, but not without pain points.
September 1, 2006... By Staff As computing devices get smaller yet more powerful, one might presume that mainframes are in their twilight years. Not so, says business service management vendor BMC Software . "The mainframe is participating in bigger...