Intelligent Manufacturing € September € 1996 € Vol. 2 € No. 9
Intelligent Manufacturing € September € 1996 € Vol. 2
€ No. 9
Continuing the merger mania shakeout among manufacturing software
vendors, PeopleSoft Inc. (Pleasonton, Calif.), a supplier of
client/server business software, and Red Pepper Software (San Mateo,
Calif.), a provider of manufacturing and supply chain optimization
solutions, have agreed to merge the two companies. PeopleSoft will
issue 2.975 million shares of common stock to acquire all of the
outstanding shares and stock options of Red Pepper in a transaction
to be accounted for as a pooling of interests. Red Pepper will
continue to operate as an independent business unit following the
merger. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year,
subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
As a key component of its strategy for entering the manufacturing and
distribution applications market, PeopleSoft entered into a
technology licensing and distribution agreement with Red Pepper in
June 1995. Earlier this year, PeopleSoft announced the initial
release of a new line of software products that embed Red Pepper's
ResponseAgent technology. This in-memory, intelligent agent
technology enables real-time planning and optimization of
manufacturing operations, integrated supply chains and customer
orders. PeopleSoft has since designed and delivered an enterprise
resource planning (ERP) solution that fully exploits this type of
advanced planning technology.
Red Pepper will continue to operate as an independent business unit
of PeopleSoft, providing planning and optimization solutions that
integrate with legacy transaction systems and client/server offerings
from other vendors such as SAP, Oracle and Baan. The addition of
PeopleSoft's financial resources and global infrastructure will
expand Red Pepper's presence in the market for advanced planning
systems.
American Software (Atlanta, Ga.), a vendor of integrated supply
chain management systems, is actively evaluating the formation of a
separate company for its Supply Chain Planning solutions, its fastest
growing business unit. The new company would have a dedicated
organization to develop, market, sell, install and support new
solutions exclusively for the Supply Chain Planning market.
Supply Chain Planning is a Windows-based group of integrated decision
support modules designed to increase customer responsiveness and
eliminate waste. It provides a modeling process that automatically
selects the most appropriate business model and algorithm for making
forecasts. At the same time, users can override quantities or
percentages at any level of the business to accommodate promotions,
supply constraints or other "what if" possibilities.
American Software is also evaluating the possible sale of a portion
of the new company to the public.
Hughes Christensen Co. (Houston, Tex.), a manufacturer of drill
bits used in the oil and gas drilling industry, has signed a deal
with American Software (see above item) to use its Supply Chain
Planning software product to help improve the accuracy of its
forecasts. Improving forecast accuracy is of particular importance in
the oil field service industry because of widely fluctuating demand
for drill bits. Hughes Christensen will implement Supply Chain
Planning to help it meet the needs of its customers without carrying
excessive inventory.
International Supply Products (Sint-Niklass, Belgium), a manufacturer
of specialty chemicals, filter products and advanced materials, has
also chosen to use Supply Chain Planning to improve the accuracy of
its sales forecasting.
ProfitKey International Inc. (Salem, N.H.) has formed a strategic
alliance with JNL Industries Inc. (Robersonia, Pa.). Both companies
provide shop floor manufacturing products and services, and ProfitKey
will establish a direct connection between its Rapid Response
Manufacturing system and JNL's Cimnet Folders system. The goal is to
allow manufacturers to put timely and accurate documentation directly
on the shop floor.
Benefits of the document management module are expected to include
reduced set-ups and tear-downs, and the elimination of outdated
drawings, instructions, etc. Future announcements will include
integration with factory management display and statistical process
control modules.
i2 Technologies (Irving, Tex.), a provider of intelligent planning
and scheduling software for supply chain management, has closed a
deal with Siemens Semiconductor (Munich, Germany), a manufacturer of
semiconductor products from DRAM to application-specific chips.
Siemens has purchased i2's Rhythm software to help improve delivery
dates, reduce planning and cycle times, and reduce costs.
Rhythm will concurrently plan all aspects of Siemens' supply chain.
The software is to be installed in 13 wafer fabrication facilities
throughout Europe and Asia.
Trilogy (Austin, Tex.), a provider of front-office reengineering
solutions, and OneWave Inc. (Watertown, Mass.), a supplier of
business software solutions, have signed an alliance agreement under
which they will link Trilogy's Selling Chain software suite to
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems using OneWave Internet
capabilities. The combination of the two companies' technologies will
enable manufacturers to utilize Trilogy's customer-focused business
applications, seamlessly integrated with back-office ERP systems via
the Internet of corporate intranets.
CIMCASE International Corp. (Tulsa, Ok.), a supplier of enterprise
resource planning (ERP) systems, has acquired Eigen Computing
(Bartlesville, Ok.), a provider of networking services, hardware and
automation solutions. CIMCASE's plan is to expand its manufacturing
solutions offerings toward a systems integration business model, and
to that end has expanded its automated data collection division.
CIMCASE has also created a division offering client/server
integration services, which supplies manufacturers with Internet
application integration, data warehousing, network design and
integration, custom software development and Year 2000
conversion.
Interactive Design Computing (IDC) (Hemel, U.K.), Sherpa Corp.
(San Jose, Calif.) and Dassault Systemes (Paris, France) have teamed
up to develop an interface that will integrate Dassault Systemes'
CATIA product and its associated virtual product modeling solution,
CDM (CATIA Data Management), with Sherpa product data management
software (PDM II). As a company possessing significant CATIA and CDM
knowledge in the areas of implementation and customization, IDC will
develop the interface between CATIA/CDM and PDM II while Dassault and
Sherpa will gather the functional requirements and provide IDC with
on-going support. Certification will be performed by all three
companies.
Sherpa's PDM II systems replace paper-based processes and information
storage with replicated servers and global distributed storage that
enable authorized users throughout a company to access and update
current product information, while ensuring they follow specific
procedures. As a result, manufacturers can manage, organize and
leverage a common database of product information to enable the full
integration of all product management functions throughout the global
extended enterprise.
The integration will be based on Sherpa Foundation Classes (SFC) 1.0,
an object-oriented class library that complies with industry-standard
object communication protocols. Users can access PDM capabilities
from within a variety of tools.
Consilium Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.), a supplier of integrated
manufacturing execution systems (MES) software, has closed a deal
worth $800,000 with Hitachi Semiconductor (Irving, Tex.). Hitachi
will use Consilium's WorkStream DFS family of MES products at the
company's two semiconductor manufacturing facilities, and at its test
and assembly plant, all in Irving.
Hitachi Semiconductor will use the WorkStream Open core product in
conjunction with several WorkStream DFS (Distributed Factory System)
application servers, including the Station Controller for automation
implementation, the Recipe Manager for context-sensitive recipe
management and the Quality Server for on-line quality analysis and
reporting.
Consilium (see above item) has also filed a lawsuit against
electronics manufacturer Honeywell Inc. (Phoenix, Ariz.). Consilium's
complaint against Honeywell alleges breach of contract, unfair
competition and defamation. The contract involved was entered into in
April 1993 and is a distributor and license agreement pertaining to
Consilium's FlowStream MES product.
JBA International Inc. (Mt. Laurel, N.J.), a provider of
manufacturing software solutions, has formed a strategic partnership
with Management Software International Inc. (MSI) (Stoneham, Mass.),
a developer of electronic quality management systems. The two
companies will address the need of automotive and other manufacturers
to integrate quality management throughout the enterprise.
The partnership will link JBA's solutions for managing a
manufacturing enterprise with MSI's ISOxPERT software that automates
the QS 9000 and ISO 9000 certification and compliance process. JBA
will offer ISOxPERT as an adjunct to its enterprise software.
The Lehigh Group (Allentown, Pa.), a manufacturer of cordage and
cordage accessories, has selected the Adage enterprise resource
planning (ERP) software tool from Systems & Computer Technology
Corp. (SCT) (Malvern, Pa.) as its company-wide ERP solution for
manufacturing, distribution and financial management.
Adage is an object-based, fully graphical ERP solution, with a
special emphasis on the process and hybrid manufacturing and
distribution industries. Adage object technology enables its users to
configure the system to map to their business processes and
reconfigure as changing business conditions require.
Bailey Controls Co. (Wickliffe, Ohio), a supplier of process
automation systems, has signed a strategic partnership agreement with
LTV Corp. (Cleveland, Ohio), a producer of sheet and specialty steel
products. Bailey will supply distributed control systems and related
technologies to LTV.
The two companies will work together to optimize use of the Bailey
systems at LTV through joint development, plus standardization of
hardware, software and training strategies. The alliance also
facilitates integration of other Bailey technologies, including
process instrumentation, analytical measurement devices and
professional services.
System Software Associates Inc. (SSA) (Chicago, Ill.), a supplier
of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, has signed an
agreement with computer manufacturer IBM Corp. (Armonk, N.Y.) to
establish a BPCS Client/Server implementation and reengineering
service line in Europe. This service line will complement SSA's BPCS
Client/Server practice in Atlanta, Ga.
IBM will provide complete implementation and support capabilities to
users of SSA's BPCS Client/Server supply chain management
products.
Datalogix International Inc. (Valhalla, N.Y.), a provider of open
client/server software solutions for managing the manufacturing
operations of process companies, has launched CIMPRO Business
Systems, a strategic business unit dedicated to providing supply
chain management solutions. This unit will offer mid-sized
manufacturers a full-featured solution for complete supply chain
management, from managing raw material acquisition to delivering
finished goods to customers.
Gould Electronics (Newburyport, Mass.), a manufacturer of circuit
protection devices, has chosen the Matrix System from Adra Systems
Inc. (Chelmsford, Mass.) to create and manage a comprehensive
manufacturing database that includes engineering drawings and bill of
materials. The Matrix System is a product data management (PDM)
software solution.
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