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IT Shortlist cover.qxp:Layout 1 6/5/11 12:11 Page 1 MAY 2011 Enterprise resource planning (ERP) MRP II Supply chain management Planning and scheduling Shopfloor data capture Business intelligence Customer relationship management Plant systems Workforce management systems Manufacturing execution systems Cloud computing Factory automation RFID Network infrastructure Product lifecycle management IT Shortlist 2011 SL_contents.qxp:Layout 1 6/5/11 09:50 Page 22 Take your pick 24 So you want a new Brian Tinham: [email protected] system? Brian Tinham reports from the recent IT roundtable Shortlist 2011 is our annual reference directory of IT systems, software, ICT consultancy and service event which provided system seekers with food providers. Our objective in this special issue is to make your task of defining, finding and shortlisting IT for thought suppliers as fast, easy and effective as possible. We start, however, by taking soundings on the kinds of systems and approaches needed in these 27 Factory smart box changing times. It’s not going to be easy, so on page 24 you’ll find our examination of what analysts, ERP does not provide the consultants and your peers in manufacturing believe must be considered, as organisations continue to only answer, according to bear down on costs while also preparing for growth. Mestec’s Jeremy Harford One word stands out, and that word is ‘agility’. It’s a very big word. What some management teams are crying out for is a system simultaneously capable of handling extremes of manufacturing style. Profiles Others want a solution designed from the outset for easy reconfiguration to support new Your guide to leading opportunities. And others just want functionality to help them resolve unpredictable conflicts – caused system and service by late customer changes, production or supply chain failures. suppliers: For the latter, popular solutions today remain APS (advanced planning and scheduling), web-based SCEM (supply chain event management) and production management add-ons. However, when it 29 123insight comes to the former two, you’re into the functionality required of core, manufacturing-centric ERP, and the best policy is due diligence. 31 Access In essence, however, what most manufacturers want is the ability to deliver better customer 33 Columbus IT fulfilment, whatever happens, without incurring additional cost. That is a tall, but increasingly important order, driven by the increasing complexity of doing business in manufacturing – itself 35 Exel Computer Systems caused by the pressures of global markets, more complex products and relentless competition. Quite simply, modern IT needs to deliver better results, faster – first, through rock solid automation, 36 eBECS and, second, by assisting managers in every aspect of the business, but probably starting with the 37 FactoryMaster factory. Best advice is to look to operational management systems – not just MES (manufacturing 39 IFS execution systems), but often relatively simple alerts, reports and analytics. These are typically the Cinderella suites, yet information from the coal face can be key. Then revisit your ERP, followed by 41 Infor business intelligence, CRM, demand forecasting and supply chain management – and review your 43 Javelin engineering PLM (product lifecycle management) and design thinking, with a good dose of lean. As for shortlisting the products themselves, your first port of call is opposite on page 23: the alpha 44 K3 list by function. Look for the functionality you require to find appropriate suppliers for your shortlist and then go to the pages indicated. 45 QiSOFT Starting on page 29, you will then find details on key providers of solutions, systems and services. 47 Pinnula Everything is covered: from providers of ERP systems to supply chain management systems; APS to PLM; and plant and factory controls to shopfloor data capture systems. 49 Preactor International Finally, remember the Manufacturing Computer Solutions website at www.mcsolutions.co.uk. It’s a key adjunct to the annual in-print Shortlist, providing searchable information access, as well as news 51 Production Modelling and reference material. 53 QAD Europe 55 Sage Brian Tinham BSc CEng MInstMC FSOE FIPlantE Technical editor 22 May 2011 www.worksmanagement.co.uk SL_contents.qxp:Layout 1 6/5/11 09:50 Page 23 shortlist 2011 Contents by function To find the suppliers most relevant to your project requirements, simply use the listing below Product data management Columbus IT 33 Pinnula 47 Pinnula 47 Exel Computer Systems 35 QAD 53 QAD 53 FactoryMaster 37 QiSOFT 45 IFS 39 Sage 55 Time & attendance Javelin 43 123insight 29 Pinnula 47 Planning/scheduling Access 31 QAD 53 123insight 29 Columbus IT 33 QiSOFT 45 Access 31 Exel Computer Systems 35 Columbus IT 33 FactoryMaster 37 Factory/plant/shopfloor systems eBECS 36 IFS 39 123insight 29 Exel Computer Systems 35 Javelin 43 Access 31 FactoryMaster 37 Pinnula 47 Columbus IT 33 IFS 39 eBECS 36 Javelin 43 Supply chain systems Exel Computer Systems 35 K3 44 123insight 29 FactoryMaster 37 Pinnula 47 Access 31 Infor 41 Preactor International 49 Columbus IT 33 Javelin 43 Production Modelling 51 eBECS 36 K3 44 QAD 53 Exel Computer Systems 35 Pinnula 47 FactoryMaster 37 Production Modelling 51 Business intelligence IFS 39 QiSOFT 45 123insight 29 Infor 41 Access 31 K3 44 Process industry systems Columbus IT 33 Pinnula 47 Access 31 eBECS 36 Preactor International 49 Columbus IT 33 Exel Computer Systems 35 Production Modelling 51 FactoryMaster 37 IFS 39 QAD 53 Infor 41 Javelin 43 Sage 55 Javelin 43 Pinnula 47 Production Modelling 51 Production Modelling 51 IT & network infrastructure QiSOFT 45 QAD 53 Columbus IT 33 Sage 55 FactoryMaster 37 Enterprise systems K3 44 123insight 29 CRM systems Pinnula 47 Access 31 123insight 29 Columbus IT 33 Access 31 Consultancy services eBECS 36 Columbus IT 33 Access 31 Exel Computer Systems 35 eBECS 36 Columbus IT 33 IFS 39 Exel Computer Systems 35 eBECS 36 Infor 41 FactoryMaster 37 FactoryMaster 37 Javelin 43 IFS 39 Pinnula 47 K3 44 Infor 41 Production Modelling 51 www.worksmanagement.co.uk May 2011 23 shortlist feature.qxp:Layout 1 6/5/11 09:42 Page 24 So you want a new system? Last month’s IT roundtable event, organised by this journal in London, provided system seekers with useful food for thought. Brian Tinham mulls over the meat n some senses, selecting a new ERP system is easier than Iever. Sadly, however, in other ways business leaders will experience quite the reverse. Why easier? Firstly because, following the scale of consolidation in the mainstream IT sector (as we go to press, yet another of the big boys, Lawson Software, is falling to the Infor stable), there are relatively few organisations and systems to choose from. So, quite simply, shortlisting shouldn’t be quite such a nightmare. Secondly – and just as importantly – the relatively few remaining ERP suites cover the vast majority of business requirements as standard, so project groups should be able to focus solely on testing potential solutions’ support for what they believe makes their company special. And thirdly, most operational and business teams have been around the block of major system purchases and upgrades before, so they’re sufficiently IT savvy to know what they’re looking for current requirement for manufacturers, particularly those in and the pitfalls to avoid. the western world. Speaking at an IT roundtable event One serious snag, however, is that while ERP and other organised by WM in London last month, Pierfrancesco major systems have long since reached maturity, Manenti, director of IDC’s manufacturing insights division, manufacturers now need more. When any technology pointed to its latest global study among manufacturing becomes more or less available to all, it’s no longer a game SMEs, aimed at understanding how post-recession changer; it’s just part of the level playing field. challenges were impacting IT. Oxford Engineering’s Hence, today, a key requirement for many projects is “One of our key findings was the increasing complexity Karim Sekkat: finance that a new system can support what’s loosely termed of doing business in manufacturing, caused by the and production ‘agility’ or ‘flexibility’. That can mean an ability to handle enormous pressures of global markets, complex products systems must be extremes of manufacturing style (for example, multi-mode and competitive markets. That’s the same for small and integrated or from pull to push). Equally, it can imply little more than large organisations – but for SMEs the issue is they don’t functionality to help resolve unpredictable events – such as have the resources,” he said. late customer changes and production or supply chain For Manenti, part of the solution is sorting out the failures – generally handled, for example, by APS (advanced differences between complexity and complication. The planning and scheduling), web-based SCEM (supply chain former is just the way it is, he explains, while the latter is event management) and production management add-ons. largely self inflicted and receptive to improvement by, for Either way, the objective is better customer fulfilment. example, integrating disparate systems to provide universal, However, increasingly, manufacturers are also starting to real-time information, and simplifying business processes. mean a system designed from the outset to be capable of That said, his view is that modern IT needs to handle easy reconfiguration, as needed, to support whatever complexity by assisting managers in achieving what unforeseen opportunity might be coming down the line. matters most – fulfilling customer requirements, not only And that’s much more difficult. capacity nor even excellence in production and product. More on this point later, but on the customer fulfilment “The factory is where customer satisfaction or front, analyst IDC sees this as probably the number one dissatisfaction is created, so manufacturers need to go 24 May 2011 www.worksmanagement.co.uk shortlist feature.qxp:Layout 1 6/5/11 09:43 Page 25 shortlist 2011 Just how closely IDC’s analysis fits with real SMEs became clear around the table, as manufacturers outlined their current concerns and tentative spending plans.