Intelligent Manufacturing € February € 1996 € Vol. 2 € No. 2

Products

Made2Manage

Made2Manage for Windows integrates manufacturing, sales and financial management functions in one software package designed to increase the profitability of the small to midsize manufacturer. Developed as a client/server application, Made2Manage now includes SmartLink, an intelligent on-line support system that gives users the ability to query the same support database the Made2Manage customer support representatives use. SmartLink identifies solutions that relate to the user's inquiry and automatically downloads them. Another new feature, Notifier, provides a workflow-enabled environment and automatically sends e-mail, fax or pop-up messages when predetermined system events occur. For example, if a manufacturer's customer needs to be notified when a shipment will arrive, Notifier will send a fax message to that customer the moment the receiving department prints the shipper for the order. The Navigator feature displays a detailed flow diagram of the entire system one level at a time, outlining the flow of information and enabling the user to move from one function to another. To help manufacturers with quality management/ISO 9000, the Quality Procedures feature provides on-line access to relevant manufacturing procedures.

Made2Manage Systems Inc., 9002 Purdue Road, Suite 200, Indianapolis, IN 46268, (317) 875-9750, .

Sales ResponseAgent

Sales ResponseAgent 2.0 is an intelligent agent that provides a link between a company's enterprise-wide manufacturing and delivery capability and its sales personnel. It provides a real-time response to delivery requests after testing supply chain capacity, materials and distribution capabilities. Directly integrating into existing order entry systems, the Sales ResponseAgent optimizes product delivery schedules and costs based on supply chain constraints, so manufacturing resources can be accurately allocated to orders in real-time. It simultaneously evaluates the material and capacity constraints in every location of the supply chain network, plus the transportation options of interplant shipments. The actual asset capabilities of all factory and warehouse locations are considered. The best alternatives -- based upon cost, delivery date and customer loyalty -- are presented to the user for consideration. Sales ResponseAgent runs on UNIX and Motif platforms, with Windows95 and Windows NT versions to appear later this year. Pricing begins at $200,000.

Red Pepper Software Co., 1810 Gateway Blvd., Suite 150, San Mateo, CA 94404, (415) 525-3300, .

Factor/Aim

Factor/Aim 6.0, used by manufacturing engineers to design and improve manufacturing operations, now includes financial modeling capabilities. The user is able to create and evaluate alternative manufacturing strategies at both the operational level, including throughput and utilization, plus the financial level, including total cost, cost per part, equipment cost, and labor cost. Multiple overhead allocation rules are now supported, including traditional and activity-based costing. Reports and graphs have been added to communicate financial performance of the modeled system. Factor/Aim also now includes modeling features for material shipment and deliveries.

Pritsker Corp., 8910 Purdue Road, Suite 500, Indianapolis, IN 46268, (317) 879-1011, .

Horizon

The Horizon Series 7.0 software offers five bundled options for different manufacturing environments. These options provide users with real-time information and transaction processing to allow their companies to compete in a time-critical environment. The bundles are: repetitive manufacturing, discrete manufacturing, job shop manufacturing, light planning and control manufacturing, and enterprise manufacturing. Extensive customization support includes customization control of all screens, entry forms and reports at the user level without the need for source code. An advanced graphical interface with full support for multiple document interfacing allows users to take advantage of multi-tasking in a Windows environment. Enterprise information management capabilities allow for improved reporting and decision support by integrating the Horizon Series Enterprise Reporting System. Horizon runs on PCs, and manufacturing bundle prices range from $36,400 for the light planning and control manufacturing bundle to $43,000 for the enterprise manufacturing bundle.

Macola Inc., 333 East Center Street, Marion, OH 43302, (614) 382-5999, .

TeamSolutions

The TeamSolutions family of engineering collaboration software tools for design and manufacturing has been enhanced and upgraded. With its support of CAD STEP model import, TeamExchange 2.0 enables engineering team members to capture 3-D CAD models from such applications as I-DEAS, ProEngineer, CATIA and AutoCAD. Users can author a multimedia message around these captured models, and then the messages can be routed around the engineering team to share ideas or resolve conflicts. TeamConference 2.0 includes a new graphical user interface, and supports TIFF and GIF image import. It also supports InSoft's Communique! video/audio conferencing interface.

Spectragraphics Corp., 9707 Waples Street, San Diego, CA 92121, (619) 450-0611, .

G2-NetDDE Bridge

The G2-NetDDE Bridge is a software bridge linking Gensym's G2 real-time expert system development tool with InTouch and NetDDE, man-machine interface and SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) products from Wonderware (Irvine, Calif.). Developed by Johnson Intelligent Systems (Houston, Tex.), the bridge enables G2 to exchange data with NetDDE for an integrated intelligent process management solution. G2 applies rule-based and model-based reasoning to plant-floor data to diagnose problems and provide operator decision support. Instead of simply showing an alarm, it can warn operators early to potential problems and then provide intelligent advice on how to take corrective action. When software bridges like the one to InTouch and NetDDE link G2 applications to live data, G2 can monitor, control, diagnose and schedule on-line operations in real time.

Gensym Corp., 125 CambridgePark Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140, (617) 547-2500, .

Visual WorkPlace

Visual Workplace enables users of PRISM and Maintenance Management, Marcam's enterprise applications for process manufacturers, to achieve full desktop integration with other Windows-based applications. Visual WorkPlace organizes screen content in a hierarchical manner, with frequently used information residing on the primary screen and less often used data on a second screen. Users can also modify frequently used screens to accommodate changes in their workflow process and customize their applications using the Knowledge Base available with Visual WorkPlace. This intelligent Knowledge Base learns as it does conversions so that once the rules for converting a convention from a character screen to a GUI format are included in the Knowledge Base, all screens using that convention are automatically converted. The standard interface allows users to integrate other PC applications to enhance functionality and productivity at the client level, including integration to OLE-enabled applications.

Marcam Corp., 95 Wells Avenue, Newton, MA 02159, (617) 965-0220,

RSS

RSS is a real-time finite scheduling system that helps companies fulfill their delivery commitments by realistically allocating resources to address manufacturing priorities. Schedule optimization allows the user to manage-by-exception by highlighting problem areas, allowing the user to concentrate on problem-solving activities. RSS lets the user simulate solutions before implementing the one that is best suited for their business. RSS continuously tracks and measures job compliance, and visually shows the user any job delinquencies. Other features of RSS include: shop floor organization and management; flow time analysis; queue identification and management; accurate forecast of completion dates; exact status of work-in-process; identification of equipment and labor bottlenecks;synchronized manufacturing; simulation scheduling; and "what if" analysis. In some cases, RSS can reschedule an entire shop in minutes.

Northern Computer Systems Inc., 93 James Street, Parry Sound, Ont., Canada P2A 1T7, (705) 746-5873, .

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