Intelligent Manufacturing € April € 1996 € Vol. 2 € No. 4
Intelligent Manufacturing € April € 1996 € Vol. 2
€ No. 4
American Software (Atlanta, Ga.), a supplier of supply chain
management systems, has acquired the Production Scheduling Advisor
software group from Stone & Webster Advanced Systems Development
Services Inc. (Boston, Mass.) to take advantage of Stone &
Webster's experience and capabilities in manufacturing planning and
scheduling. Terms were not disclosed.
American Software has integrated Production Scheduling Advisor (PSA)
finite capacity and material planning system into its Supply Chain
Planning demand planning and replenishment system. PSA will also
continue to be sold as an independent product.
PSA is an intelligent software solution that provides
constraint-based capacity and materials planning as well as
activity-based costing for manufacturing and distribution processes,
while Supply Chain Planning provides comprehensive tools for decision
support, demand forecasting, inventory management and support of
multiple continuous replenishment strategies.
The acquisition follows Stone & Webster's successful relationship
as an American Software integrated solution provider. The companies
have worked closely together to provide complementary solutions, and
recently initiated a joint project at Land O'Lakes (Arden Hills,
Minn.), a supplier of butter products. The project will enable Land
O'Lakes to synchronize production more closely to customer demand
while avoiding the expenses of stock-outs and dated inventory.
Tecnomatix Technologies (Herzliya, Israel, and Novi, Mich.), a
vendor of computer-aided production engineering (CAPE) software for
automated manufacturing systems, has been selected by the Advanced
Information Technology (AIT) consortium as a technology partner to
contribute its expertise for the Digital Mock-Up Process Simulation
project, funded by the European Community.
The objective of the project is to develop technologies and
prototypes that allow design and production engineers to model and
simulate assembly operations of product assemblies, such as an entire
engine compartment. These technologies will allow companies to work
in a concurrent engineering environment, simultaneously designing
products and processes, in order to get products to the market
quicker, reduce manufacturing costs and increase product quality.
The AIT consortium consists of 17 automotive and aerospace companies
from six European countries. The consortium's objectives are to
define advanced technology requirements for more competitive design
and manufacturing processes and to initiate R&D projects with
technology providers.
Think Systems Corp. (Parsippany, N.J.), a supplier of decision
support tools, and i2 Technologies (Dallas, Tex.), a supplier of
constraint-based planning products, have signed an agreement to
jointly develop a state-of-the-art, global forecasting system for
intelligent global supply chain management and factory planning and
scheduling systems. i2 will embed Think Systems' FYI Planner as the
core for i2's own forecasting tool, Rhythm Forecast Planner, and will
support the jointly developed product. In addition, i2 will become an
authorized worldwide reseller of FYI Planner. The companies will work
in partnership to develop complementary sales and marketing
programs.
Rhythm encompasses the complete demand fulfillment cycle, from
sourcing and procurement of materials through manufacturing,
transportation and distribution to customers. FYI Planner is designed
to help logistics, sales and marketing professionals better forecast
and plan demand cycles, as well as analyze and evaluate actual
performance. Combining elements of the two products will allow users
to create accurate and timely global demand statements that will then
be translated into feasible manufacturing and delivery plans.
System Software Associates Inc. (SSA) (Chicago, Ill.), a vendor of
enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, has signed an agreement
with AT&T Solutions (Washington, D.C.), a systems integrator, to
combine their expertise to help businesses achieve the competitive
benefits of ERP solutions and the advanced capabilities of electronic
commerce. The two companies will provide complete enterprise process
redesign, business consulting, systems integration, and
implementation services, networking and outsourcing services.
SSA will train and certify AT&T Solutions' consultants on its
BPCS Client/Server applications and Distributed Object Computing
Architecture (DOCA) technologies. In turn, AT&T will provide a
range of consulting services that include BPCS-based enterprise
business process redesign and implementation, including network
infrastructure and support capabilities.
System Software Associates Inc. (SSA) and i2 Technologies (see
previous two items) have established a strategic partnership to
deliver integrated supply chain and multi-mode manufacturing
capabilities. The use of messaging will allow real-time changes to be
propagated to i2's Rhythm product, thus allowing dynamic
reconfigurability of the Rhythm models. SSA's BPCS Client/Server and
its Distributed Computing Architecture (DOCA) will be used as the
application backbone.
SSA and i2 will use DOCA, which is based on industry-standard object
technology, to integrate the products. The resulting integration will
be bi-directional, tightly coupled and message-based to best ensure
functional integration. i2's Rhythm will be marketed and supported
globally by SSA as a component of its BPCS Client/Server.
CIMLINC Inc. (Itasca, Ill.) and its Manufacturing Solutions Group,
a supplier of production and design process implementation solutions,
has received a $500,000 order from Applied Materials (Santa Clara,
Calif.), a manufacturer of wafer fabrication systems for the
semiconductor industry. Applied Materials has selected CIMLINC to
provide a solution which will speed and improve production throughput
in its Worldwide Manufacturing Operations Division.
CIMLINC's business process execution solution, Linkage Shop Floor
Workflow, integrates enterprise resource planning (ERP),
computer-aided design (CAD) and product data management (PDM)
information for real-time, on-demand presentation to the
manufacturing floor, and tracks job progress, status and "as-built"
information. The Applied Materials applications will support 50 users
initially, and rapidly expand to support hundreds of users on
IBM-compatible computers running X-terminals.
Applied Materials is using the Linkage solution to implement lean
manufacturing techniques. The software supports the generation,
delivery and execution of operational method sheets used in the
assembly of highly configurable wafer manufacturing products. In
addition, the graphically enabled operational method sheets allow for
real-time data acquisition during production to capture complete
"as-built" records for ISO 9000 requirements.
Industri-Matematik International Corp. (IMI) (Tarrytown, N.Y.), a
supplier of demand chain management solutions for manufacturers, has
received a $2.3 million software contract from Unisys Corp. (Blue
Bell, Pa.), an information management company. Unisys plans to use
IMI's System ESS software as a central component of its
Order-to-Invoice project, which will focus on improving customer
service in order fulfillment while reducing costs.
System ESS will enable users to manage the order-to-invoice process
for Unisys' computer systems. The software tightly integrates
management of information from order processing,
logistics/manufacturing and customer service operations, making this
information more readily accessible throughout the lifecycle of
customer order. The solution is designed for rapid implementation and
enterprise-wide integration.
Parametric Technology Corp. (Waltham, Mass.), a provider of
mechanical design automation software, has received a $2.2 million
order for software and services from Takagi Seiko Corp. (Toyama,
Japan), a manufacturer of mold and plastic molding products used in
automobiles, consumer appliances and office automation equipment. The
newly purchased Pro/Engineer software will be used throughout Takagi
to automate its complete design-through-manufacturing process.
Parametric has also received a $1.2 million order from truck
manufacturer Volvo Truck (Gothenburg, Sweden) to implement
Pro/Engineer throughout Volvo's powertrain and chassis engineering
operations worldwide. Deployment of the software will occur
throughout Sweden, Scotland, Brazil and the U.S., and will be used in
development programs for Volvo Truck's engines, transmissions,
chassis, and complete vehicle packaging.
S-B Power Tool Co. (Chicago, Ill.), a manufacturer of power tools
under the Skil and Bosch trademarks, has purchased $1 million worth
of Euclid software from Matra Datavision Inc. (Andover, Mass.), a
supplier of CAD/CAM/CAE solutions. Euclid is a design and
manufacturing solution with solid, surface and adaptive modeling
capabilities.
Engineering tolerances on S-B's tools' sculptured shapes are very
tight and the company's existing system was proving inadequate.
Specifically, engineers required more surface and solid modeling
functionality and better integration with manufacturing. To that end,
over 40 Euclid seats will be installed throughout S-B's American and
Dutch locations over a two-year period, as the company upgrades its
CAD/CAM installations.
Airplane manufacturer The Boeing Co. (Seattle, Wash.) has
purchased software valued at $1.75 million from Concentra Corp.
(Burlington, Mass.), a supplier of knowledge-based engineering
automation solutions. Concentra's ICAD System, presently used by
Boeing for conceptual design, airframe structure design, wire harness
routing, cabin layout and tooling design on its 777 and 737 programs,
will also now be used extensively to reduce design cycle time for
electrical configuration on new plane orders and for the design of an
upcoming airplane program.
Marcam Corp. (Newton, Mass.), a supplier of open enterprise
applications for process and discrete manufacturers, and electronics
giant NEC Corp. (Tokyo, Japan) have together achieved a major sale to
AGF (Ajinomoto General Foods) of Japan for Marcam's Protean
enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications suite. The Protean
maintenance modules will run on a UNIX platform.
Through several strategic marketing and development agreements,
Marcam and NEC are working together on the continued development of
Protean and additional applications. The companies expect the
partnership to accelerate the delivery and use of Protean
applications worldwide, including in Japan where NEC markets Protean.
Marcam and NEC are establishing object integration and consulting
services companies in North America and Asia under a separate
agreement.
Protean Maintenance Management is an integrated set of maintenance
and materials management applications that provide a comprehensive
solution for plant, facility and fleet environments. Maintenance
applications include entity management, work management, preventive
maintenance, inventory and project accounting.
Intellution (Norwood, Mass.), a supplier of industrial automation
software, has entered into a cooperative automation partnership with
RWT Corp. (Mount Prospect, Ill.), a vendor of manufacturing execution
system (MES) software. Using an OLE interface, users will now have an
industry-standard method to interface the two companies' Windows
NT-based products.
Effective Management Systems Inc. (EMS) (Milwaukee, Wis.), a
provider of pre-integrated manufacturing software, has established
EMS China Ltd. in a joint venture with IMAG Industries Inc. (Santa
Clara, Calif.), a computer systems consultant and integrator which
has been doing business in China since 1981. EMS hopes to expand its
activities in mainland China as that country moves toward a global
market
economy.
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