Sidney Hill, Executive Editor
Articles
Top trends for 2010
Manufacturers—like nearly everyone else in the business world—are looking forward to better times in 2010. Several recent surveys confirm that sentiment. For instance, 57 percent of the senior executives polled in the PricewaterhouseCoopers Manufacturing Barometer in the third quarter of 2009 expect their companies to experience revenue growth in 2010.
Product innovation: Keeping good ideas on the fast track
It seems only fitting that product lifecycle management (PLM) software vendors are producing some of the most ingenious applications used by manufacturing companies these days. These vendors specialize in making it easier for manufacturers to nurture the ideas that eventually become new products, as well as simplifying processes for building and servicing those products.
ERP and supply chain: Emerging vendors support global business models
The severe economic downturn of the past couple years has caused manufacturers to take a closer look at how they run their businesses. And this period of self examination has made two things clear: When these factors are taken into account, it's not surprising that a large percentage of the business software vendors who have managed to hold their own financially during this turbulent economic p...
SAP customer panel lets competitors collaborate for mutual benefit
“Business today is all about managing complexity. Supply chain excellence is not an option.” That statement from Tom Miller, VP of bottling investments, The Coca-Cola Company, sums up why executives with 33 companies that potentially compete for the same customers convene on a regular basis to share tips for improving supply chain performance.
Business process management: Making strategic use of operational data
The factory floor is the heart of any manufacturing enterprise. At times, however, manufacturing executives seemed more concerned with perfecting processes for designing and delivering products, with the production almost an afterthought. If manufacturers ever did view the building of products as somehow less important than other aspects of the business, that attitude certainly has changed.
This could be the end of forecast error
Supply chain execution software supplier RedPrairie believes a technique called flowcasting can solve one of the most difficult problems confronting consumer goods manufacturers: How to keep excess inventory out of the supply chain without leaving retail customers short of needed merchandise.
2009 Innovation Insight Awards: A revolution in product testing
MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT BY A MANUFACTURER ¦ FIRST PLACE Manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and home care products have made great strides with methods of testing their products for contamination in recent years. With new rapid microbial methods, processes that used to consume 3 to 7 days—waiting to see if there is growth in a Petri dish—can now be completed in 18 hours.
2009 Innovation Insight Awards: Premium coffee roasting machines designed in an instant
MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT BY A MANUFACTURER ¦ THIRD PLACE Premium coffee has become big business in recent years, primarily because many consumers now consider having a good cup of coffee an essential part of their daily lives. Ponderosa Roasting, a manufacturer of coffee roasting machines, located outside San Diego, Calif.
2009 Innovation Insight Awards: Making money while saving the environment
最创新的产品由制造商¦第二PLACE After receiving a painfully large water bill, Wally Berry began looking for a way to stop his toilets from leaking. Roughly four years later, Berry founded a company called Siphon Flush that now markets the first anti-leak toilet flapper. The product was formally introduced at the Water Smarts Innovation conference in Las Vegas in Oc...