Roberto Michel, Senior Contributing Editor
Articles
Cloud computing moves toward the factory
The software-as-a-service (SaaS) model is well established in some enterprise software markets. Need a SaaS-based customer-relationship management (CRM) solution? Salesforce.com—the vendor widely credited with popularizing SaaS—stands ready to serve you. In the enterprise resource planning (ERP) space, NetSuite is thriving under SaaS...
Under IBM’s wing, ILOG’s latest supply chain apps take flight: food and beverage
IBM's ILOG unit unveiled a set of new supply chain and business rules management software offerings in mid June, but IBM managers seem just as excited about broader synergies with IBM's software group as they are about the specifics of the new applications.
2009 Innovation Insight Awards: Manufacturing meets 3D design
MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT BY A VENDOR ¦ FOURTH PLACE Numerous studies have proven that learning a task becomes much easier if the student can observe it being performed in the proper manner. Right Hemisphere has taken that concept to new heights with its 3D Visual Manufacturing Solution, the fourth place finisher among vendor products in MBT's 2009 Innovation Insight Awards competition.
2009 Innovation Insight Awards: Keeping product innovation in sync
MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT BY A VENDOR ¦ SECOND PLACE Shrinking product design cycles remains a chief goal for nearly all manufacturers. And few products have attacked that issue better than Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology from Siemens PLM Software. Using this solution, Razor, a maker of toy scooters, took model editing time from three hours in a traditional 3D CAD system to about five...
New solution tracks carbon footprint throughout the product lifecycle
Running manufacturing sites accounts for plenty of carbon emissions, but in reality, it's the process of making and shipping goods that generates emissions, not strictly the buildings themselves. This basic perspective reflects the functionality of the Eco-footprint Management tool from ERP vendor IFS.
2009 Innovation Insight Awards: A new day for ERP users
MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT BY A VENDOR ¦ THIRD PLACE ERP software suites are the "backbone" systems for today's companies but, historically, users needed to be experts in navigating those systems to find the information they needed to do their jobs. With its Infor MyDay tool, ERP vendor Infor Global Solutions set out to fix this problem.
2009 Innovation Insight Awards: A product development portal
MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT BY A VENDOR ¦ FIRST PLACE Windchill ProductPoint isn't the first solution in the product lifecycle management (PLM) software market to tap Microsoft's SharePoint portal technology for Web-based collaboration. But this application, developed by PTC, can lay claim to fully harnessing SharePoint.
Model-based advanced process control helps create energy efficient plants
If cost weren't a factor, numerous technologies could be tapped to create the most energy-efficient plant. The latest furnaces, boilers, or co-generation equipment could be installed. The facility could have solar panels or geo-thermal heating. A new distributed process control system (DCS) could be deployed.
Lead by example: SAP sets sustainability pledge; enhances environmental software
Enterprise software vendor SAP made a two-pronged sustainability announcement March 2, announcing goals for its own operations; and enhancements for the environmental, health and safety (EHS) management solutions it sells to customers. For internal goals, SAP announced it will reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions down to its year-2000 levels by the year 2020. According to SAP, this would entail a 51-percent reduction in its total GHG emissions from its year 2007-published baseline levels. SAP initiated its first global GHG inventory in 2008 and will report performance and progress toward the target in its annual sustainability report. “SAP is in a unique, dual position when it comes to sustainability,” says Leo Apotheker, co-CEO, SAP AG.
Lighten up: Recessionary times call for business intelligence-based insight to lean supply chain performance
Maintaining a lean supply chain during flush economic times isn't exactly easy, but staying lean during a recession times is tougher by far. In recent years, many companies could count on steadily growing demand, but the downturn has sent demand patterns plummeting in many industries, necessitating nimble short-term balancing of the supply picture against current demand in an effort to stay lean.