Intelligent Manufacturing € December € 1996 € Vol. 2 € No. 12

News in Brief

Red Pepper Teams Up with OneWave
Red Pepper Software Co. (San Mateo, Calif.), a developer of intelligent supply chain optimization solutions, and OneWave Inc. (Watertown, Mass.), a provider of business software solutions, have signed an integration agreement. Red Pepper will integrate its Sales ResponseAgent (SRA) supply chain order promising application with the OneWave solution to extend SRA's order promising capabilities to the Internet and corporate intranets.

SRA, which provides intelligent product delivery dates based on the availability of all supply chain assets, will be integrated with a range of client/server and legacy applications, as well as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems from such application provides as Baan and SAP. With a complete in-memory model of a company's supply chain, SRA promises delivery anywhere in the supply chain based on the status of finished goods, raw materials, available capacity, and expected materials. With OneWave's application integration capabilities, users of various traditional and Internet-based systems will be able to access intelligent order promising information.

Baan Acquires Antalys
The Baan Company (Menlo Park, Calif.), a provider of enterprise business software, has acquired Antalys Inc. (Golden, Colo.), a supplier of configuration software. Antalys' Classys software product automates configuration and pricing for complex products and services. This client/server solution can be used anywhere in the supply chain to develop configurations and pricing, then enable product delivery. Classys applies to a broad user group, from intranet-linked purchasing departments to Web-enabled consumers, as well as modem-powered sales and distribution, or engineering/manufacturing teams using private carrier networks.

As a result of the acquisition, Baan will be able to offer a solution fully integrating customer requirements across the entire supply chain. With new core functionality from Antalys, Baan's customers will give their customers, distributors and sales force direct access to manufacturing and supplier information, turning customer demand into a key driver for the enterprise. The hope is to promote the delivery of customized products at mass production prices -- a concept known as "mass customization."

Integration between the Baan applications and Classys will occur in a phased approach, beginning with access to the BAAN IV configuration rules and product definitions through the Antalys product. This will enable a mobile sales and distribution force to access core manufacturing information, via modem connections or the Internet, to create accurate configuration, proposals, and pricing structures in a matter of minutes. Future phases will enable approved customer orders and presales statistics to be automatically input into an enterprise system and incorporated into MRP forecasting. Additional integration may include order change validation, engineer-to-order interface and service configurator interface.

ICC Signs Integration Deal with i2 Technologies
Industrial Computer Corp. (Atlanta, Ga.), a supplier of real-time manufacturing execution systems (MES) for discrete manufacturers, has signed a cooperative marketing agreement with i2 Technologies Inc. (Irving, Tex.), a provider of intelligent planning and scheduling software for global supply chain management. The two companies will provide an integrated MES/supply chain optimization solution between their flagship software products.

The link between ICC's Shop Floor Data Manager (SFDM) and i2's Rhythm Advanced Scheduler will provide for the release of optimized production schedules to MES for execution on the factory floor. The link will also provide real-time shop floor data feedback to Rhythm to ensure real-case supply chain optimization on demand. The agreement calls for joint marketing, sales and implementation of the integrated solution in shared target industries, including electronic assembly, aerospace, and medical instruments and devices.

ProMIRA Launches Supply Chain Alliance Program
ProMIRA Software Inc. (Ottawa, Ont., Canada), a provider of supply chain planning and scheduling software for manufacturers, has launched a strategic alliance program to deliver comprehensive supply chain solutions. The company has initiated partnerships with enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors Baan, QAD, PSI and Cincom, and complementary supply chain vendor Calico. These relationships cover co-marketing activities and commitments to define the interaction between products.

Raytheon Aircraft Signs Deal with IBM
Raytheon Aircraft Co. (Wichita, Kan.), a manufacturer of aircraft from single-engine piston planes to medium-sized twin-engine business jets, has signed an agreement with IBM's Manufacturing Industries Solutions Unit (Charlotte, N.C.). Raytheon Aircraft will implement IBM's ProductManager product data management (PDM) solution to design and manufacture its general aviation aircraft.

Using IBM's ProductManager and CATIA computer-aided design software to implement concurrent engineering, Raytheon Aircraft expects to shorten its traditional design cycle by 40%. A direct result of this new technology implementation will be the Premier I, Raytheon Aircraft's first entry-level light jet.

ProductManager acts as a data vault, providing a single source of product information and offering users access to the most current data, wherever it resides.

SCP Partners with PeopleSoft
American Software's Supply Chain Planning Division (SCP) (Atlanta, Ga.) has signed a partnership agreement with PeopleSoft Inc. (Pleasanton, Calif.) to provide demand-driven supply chain management solutions to their customers. SCP software (forecasting, demand planning and inventory planning) will supplement PeopleSoft's enterprise and production planning products. Each company will actively promote PeopleSoft and SCP products as complementary supply chain solutions.

Wonderware Licenses HEM Data's Snap-Master
Wonderware Corp. (Irvine, Calif.), a supplier of industrial automation software, has licensed Snap-Master software from HEM Data Corp. (Detroit, Mich.), a provider of high-speed data acquisition and analysis software. Snap-Master will be integrated with Wonderware's InTouch and InControl products for Windows-based platforms, as well as its upcoming real-time Plant Data Server product scheduled for release in the first half of 1997.

Snap-Master's analysis capabilities include real-time and post-processing of data, both interactively or by using intelligent processing to automate data manipulation. It reportedly can handle data acquisition rates as high as one million samples per second.

Silicon Graphics Opens Auto Solution Center
Silicon Graphics Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.), a supplier of interactive graphics workstations, has opened a WorldWide Automotive Solution Center in Detroit. The center features a staff of experts in high-performance computing, customer process/technology, computer graphics and high-end visualization, computer-aided engineering and design software. The company also plans to involve collaborative computing and World Wide Web solution experts to work with automotive manufacturers on various technology challenges.

Solar Turbines Signs Deal with Thru-Put Technologies
Solar Turbines Inc. (San Diego, Calif.), a manufacturer of gas turbine engines, has signed an agreement with Thru-Put Technologies (San Jose, Calif.), a vendor of scheduling software for manufacturing operations. Solar Turbines will deploy Thru-Put's Theory of Constraints/Drum-Buffer-Rope (TOC/DBR) planning and scheduling software across four major manufacturing facilities. Running on Windows NT platforms, the TOC/DBR software will have gateways to Solar Turbine's homegrown legacy system.

TOC/DBR uses intelligent software technology to help manufacturers develop finite schedules that identify, exploit and subordinate their constraints.

Strassle Opens U.S. Office
Strassle (Stuttgart, Germany), a supplier of computer-aided manufacturing software, has opened a U.S. subsidiary in Detroit, Mich. Strassle USA will offer an integrated UNIX and Windows NT-based range of process-optimizing information system products, under the name POIS, to its core market in manufacturing.

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