Intelligent Manufacturing € August € 1995 € Vol. 1 € No. 8
Intelligent Manufacturing € August € 1995 € Vol. 1
€ No. 8
i2 Technologies (Dallas, Tex.), a supplier of planning and
scheduling solutions, has teamed up with Carnegie Group Inc.
(Pittsburgh, Pa.), an advanced software systems integrator, to
combine their intelligent manufacturing scheduling technologies into
a single application that will offer a plant-wide scheduling solution
to the metals industry. Carnegie Group's Caster Planning and
Scheduling System (CaPSS) and Rolling Mills Scheduling System (RMSS)
technologies will be integrated with i2's Rhythm family of
intelligent planning products, beginning with i2's Q3 1995
release.
Both CaPSS and RMSS are intelligent scheduling solutions used for
automatically creating detailed schedules for complex resources,
particularly for the metals industry. The applications were
originally developed for Gulf States Steel. Carnegie Group's
applications will also be integrated into TIPS (Truly Integrated
Planning System), i2's newest Rhythm family member (see
"Product").
Marcam Corp. (Newton, Mass.), a supplier of manufacturing systems
software, has signed a joint agreement with Premenos Corp. (Concord,
Calif.), a provider of electronic data interchange (EDI) software
solutions for electronic commerce applications. The strategic
alliance provides for integration of Premenos' EDI/400 system with
Marcam's MAPICS XA Electronic Commerce application.
MAPICS XA provides direct links with the purchasing, accounts
payable/receivable, customer order management, inventory management,
and materials requirements planning systems. Together, MAPICS XA and
EDI/400 will provide EDI support that includes the tasks of
application integration, translation, communications, and document
management.
IBM has reached an agreement with Datalogix International Inc.
(Valhalla, N.Y.), a supplier of process manufacturing software. IBM
will integrate Datalogix's CIMPRO (Computer Integrated Manufacturing
for Process) product line into its Process Industry Solutions
strategy. IBM will become a total solution provider to the U.S.-based
small-to-medium-sized process manufacturing market segment, and will
act as a systems integrator to deliver a turnkey solution to the
customer, including hardware, software and services.
CIMPRO - an open systems solution for the process industry -
automates and integrates a process manufacturer's business functions
such as formula management, production management, manufacturing
planning, inventory and quality management, regulatory management,
purchasing, product costing, customer order processing, accounts
receivable, accounts payable, and general ledger and financial
reporting.
Automobile manufacturer Chrysler Corp. (Auburn Hills, Mich.) plans
to build a $1 billion transmission plant in Kokomo, Ind., that will
produce next-generation, rear-wheel-drive, fully electronic automatic
transmissions for 1999 Jeep vehicles and Dodge trucks. The investment
is reportedly the largest ever made by Chrysler in a powertrain
manufacturing facility and supports the company's goal to develop
world-class powertrains for all of its current and future vehicles.
Chrysler will invest $2.3 billion in powertrain plants and processes
over the next five years.
Chrysler plans to invest $200 million to produce next-generation
all-aluminum engines in Trenton, Mich., for use in passenger cars.
The company will invest $350 million at its Kenosha, Wis., plant to
produce a multi-valve V-6 engine for passenger cars. And it will
invest another $750 million at it New Mack plant in Detroit to build
other V-6 and V-8 engines for various Jeeps, trucks and vans.
The first U.S. joint venture between Japan-based Toshiba and IBM
will result in a $1.2 billion semiconductor manufacturing facility in
Manassas, Va. This venture will initially employ 1,200; future plans
call for the eventual construction of three semiconductor
manufacturing facilities on the site. Within 10 years, it is expected
that the facility will employ 4,000, and the total investment could
be the largest in Virginia history.
The plant will produce leading-edge dynamic random access memory
(DRAM) chips. These semiconductor products are used in computers,
multimedia products and other information processing equipment.
Emerson Electric Co. (St. Louis, Mo.), a manufacturer of
electronic and electrical products, has acquired Intellution
(Norwood, Mass.), a supplier of PC-based manufacturing automation
software. Intellution will become a fully independent subsidiary,
closely affiliated with the Fisher-Rosemount group of process
companies. Intellution will retain its business mission, identity,
operations and channel structure. Terms of the acquisition were not
disclosed.
Through the agreement, Emerson Electric will acquire strategic
software technologies, such as SCADA (supervisory control and data
acquisition), MMI (man-machine interface) and MES (manufacturing
execution system) applications.
Parametric Technology Corp. (Waltham, Mass.), supplier of the
Pro/Engineer family of design automation software, has received an
order of $5.4 million - its largest international order to date -
from Seiko Epson Corp. (Nagano-Ken, Japan), a manufacturer of
computers, printers and electronic devices. The newly purchased
Pro/Engineer software will be used in many key areas throughout the
company to automate, streamline and manage its mechanical product
development process.
The order from Seiko Epson comes on the heels of a $3.3 million order
from another Japanese manufacturer. Shin Nihon Koki Co. Ltd. (Osaka,
Japan), a producer of machine tools, plans to use Parametric's
Pro/Engineer to automate, streamline and manage its
design-through-manufacturing operations. Parametric has seen a strong
shift in strategic investments among its Japanese customers from 2-D
to 3-D methods, reported C. Richard Harrison, the company's
president.
Rockwell Telecommunications (Newport Beach, Calif.), a
manufacturer of fax and data modem chipsets, plans to invest $200
million to further expand its Newport Beach facility. The
announcement comes as an earlier $200 million, 18-month expansion at
the same site nears completion.
Rockwell's semiconductor product revenues are expected to exceed $750
million, up 25% over last year, with demand continuing to grow. The
combined expansion efforts will have added 40,000 square feet of
clean rooms and 300 new jobs, and will have increased capacity to a
total of 25,000 wafer starts per month.