Malcolm Wheatley, senior contributing editor (malcolm_wheatley@compuserve.com)
Articles
The real thing: New metric reveals the true impact of ideas on the bottom line
Researchers say they are seeing an uptick in the number of companies that want to know how to measure research & development productivity. Now vendors are offering new solutions that facilitate determining the costs behind the innovation process.
Best-of-breed supply chain vendor thrives by tackling specific customer needs
Manufacturers rarely have trouble finding supply chain planning and scheduling applications—many are embedded in ERP suites. What's trickier is finding a supply chain package that meets all of a manufacturer's specific planning and scheduling needs. Preactor International, a U.K.-based planning and scheduling software vendor, says its ability to fill gaps that ERP-based solutions miss is ...
Filling a void: Best-of-breed supply chain vendor thrives by tackling specific customer needs
Manufacturers rarely have trouble finding supply chain planning and scheduling applications. Most companies have them embedded in their ERP suites. What's tricky is finding a supply chain package that meets all of a manufacturer’s specific planning and scheduling needs. Preactor International, a U.K.-based planning and scheduling software vendor, says its ability to fill gaps that ERP-based solutions miss is helping its global expansion plans—even in a generally slow market.
New insight: Quality application sets up visual cues for process flow integrity
When Power-One agreed to be a beta tester for a new quality management application, the results were surprising. “When we saw our own data in the beta product, we realized we were getting insight we'd never [seen] before,” recalls Chris Rodriguez, strategic planning manager for global test engineering at the Camarillo, Calif.
Robust VPN keeps apparel maker ahead of the fashion curve
The apparel industry, perhaps more than any other, feels the need for speed when it comes to getting new products to market. “Speed is a core competency in the fashion business,” says Fernando Gonzalez, CIO of Byer California, a San Francisco-based manufacturer of clothing that appeals primarily to teenage girls.
A digital transformation: 3D virtual prototypes shrink development cycles for complex products
Grinding machine manufacturer HTC, Söderköping, Sweden, builds products that literally transform the look of floors. Its machines—containing up to 3,000 discrete components and sub-assemblies, and ranging in price from [euro] 20,000 to 300,000—are used to grind and polish natural stone and concrete floors with diamond tools.
There by Christmas: Robust VPN keeps apparel maker ahead of the fashion curve
The apparel industry, perhaps more than any other, feels the need for speed when it comes to getting new products to market. “Speed is a core competency in the fashion business,” says Fernando Gonzalez, CIO of Byer California, a San Francisco-based manufacturer of clothing that appeals primarily to teenage girls. “In just weeks a new design can go from ‘hot’ to ‘not’, and slip from the full-price rack to the closeout discounter.”
Metal finisher enjoys real-time costs picture from ERP for the order-driven business
当罗斯勒金属装饰我挂了瓦n Battle Creek, Mich., in 1999, its enterprise application needs were relatively few. As a manufacturer and distributor of machine tool consumables on behalf of its German parent company, Rösler GmbH, simple spreadsheets and a basic accounting package cut the mustard.
Honda at heart: Plexus multi-industry enterprise system built on automotive supplier foundation
在使用超过1200种植物互蟒蛇sting a 100-percent customer retention rate—the Plexus Online on-demand enterprise system from Plexus Systems has to be one of the most successful application suites you've probably never heard of. And with more than 350 functional modules, the description “suite” is surely no misnomer.
Visibility ERP tracks deep into orders
When Ontario-based Nanometrics Seismological Inc. decided in early 2007 to find a new ERP system, the company evaluated more than 20 solutions, explains Ian Talbot, Nanometrics' director of finance. And somewhat to his surprise, Talbot relates, the choice was Visibility Corp.'s Visibility.net offering—a solution aimed at complex manufacturing environments typically engaged in building eng...