Articles and News

By Robert Harrison, COPA-DATA It takes an average of twelve years and over £200m to get a new drug from the laboratory onto the shelf. As a result, the pharmaceutical industry is well known for its prudence, especially regarding the uptake of new technologies. Here’s how appropriate technologies can help, rather than hinder, essential regulatory compliance including ISO 50001 and FDA 21 CFR Part 11.

Savigent Software provides event-driven manufacturing operations management software.

By Dennis Gilhooley, Jr., Ultra Consultants Many manufacturers have come to the conclusion that “smart” part numbering is an unwieldy approach to part numbering and data analysis. Instead, leading companies are shifting from “smart” to what is termed as “insignificant” or unique part numbers.

By Dennis Gilhooley, Jr., Ultra Consultants ERP selection is typically driven by a common set of conditions, including poor access to information, core systems that are difficult to use, and an over-reliance on standalone systems that function as islands of information. Organizations saddled with legacy solutions often don’t know where to begin when it comes to an ERP selection project.

By Bill Lydon, Editor They say, “What goes around comes around.” I think this is happening with Advanced Process Control (APC) and Model Predictive Control (MPC). There seems to be a renewed interest in APC, and the systems, while not trivial, seem to be easier to use and lower cost.

By Greg Goodwin, LNS Research If you’re currently planning on implementing a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) or other applications in the Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) space, you may think you have all the shop-floor areas and situations that still use manual, paper-based processes identified, but this may not necessarily be the case.

By T. Lee Wylie The recent news regarding a lawsuit filed by Kentwool against NetSuite demonstrates that all ERP solutions are not manufacturing ERP solutions. It also cautions ERP vendors that knowing what you don’t know is a very valuable asset.

K3 Syspro provides solutions in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS), Warehouse Management, Human Resources (HR) and e-business.

PAS-X was delivered with the entire user interface in Japanese. Werum carried out this project in cooperation with their Japanese integration partner CST Chiyoda System Technologies.

By Luigi De Bernardini, Autoware It’s important to analyze production data to understand what factors caused loss of quality, production or efficiency. However, it is much more useful to be able to recognize in real time the onset of any problem and be able to intervene and reduce the possibility of compromising the production target.

Yogawa will supply a CENTUM VP integrated production control system, InsightSuite AE plant asset effectiveness optimization services, PRM plant resource manager, Exaquantum plant information management system, and a plant operation training simulator.

Founded in 1989, Columbus now has over 900 employees worldwide, customers in 42 countries, and 6,000 successful ERP implementations worldwide.

The PLM market grew 4.8% to $35 billion in 2013, slowing after several high growth years coming out of the global recession, says CIMdata.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial Internet, Industrial Internet Protocol (IP) all relate to the modernization and improvement of industrial automation. Is industrial automation evolving to become an integral part of enterprise computing, also referred to as IT?

By Warren Wilson, Ovum Few companies have deployed software that can accurately manage all physical assets across the organization. Asset lifecycle information management (ALIM) is an emerging application category that offers a solution.

GE made a strategic minority equity investment in Meridium, a supplier of asset performance management (APM) software and services for asset-intensive industries.

Mazak's turning and milling machine plant uses MERLIN's Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications platform with the MTConnect interoperability standard.

The on-line calculator illustrates the typical savings manufacturers can achieve by using an out of the box manufacturing execution system (MES).

OSI has been awarded a contract by Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) to implement an Energy Management System (EMS) based on OSI’s monarch platform.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 visions, which includes connecting people and services, leverages open communications, like OPC UA, and embedded-to-enterprise computing.