Analytics give manufacturers the edge

Technologies such as radio frequency identification, product life cycle management and business intelligence/business analytics can help manufacturers improve performance and meet the demand for products as the economy recovers, according to Baseline.

Manufacturing companies face daunting challenges: managing inventory across an increasingly complex global supply chain; dealing with wildly varying demands for products; tracking the location of products in factories, warehouses and distribution centres; and monitoring products as they move through their life cycles.

“Manufacturers that understand how to leverage information to provide enhanced value through end-to-end service delivery - instead of just pushing products out the door - will be the winners going forward,” says Dan Miklovic, vice-president of manufacturing industries advisory services at research firm Gartner.

KETIV Technologies, an Autodesk solutions reseller, started KETIV AMA|Online, a Web site featuring curriculum and session materials from the KETIV Autodesk Manufacturing Academy held in October, says TenLinks.

The Web site has information, session videos, and text materials that address important topics in three different tracks - design and automation, system configuration and CAD management, and management and career advancement.

“We want designers and engineers to know more about the KETIV Academy so they can plan to attend next year,” says CEO Kanwar Anand.

Despite the economic environment, purveyors of mobile computing hardware, software and wireless infrastructure are still seeing steady, in some cases aggressive, growth, says Plant Services.

“Life is more competitive,” says Joe Granda, executive vice-president of marketing at Syclo. “Organisations have gone to a lot of effort to streamline activities - six sigma, asset management, supply chain - and they've done a pretty good job of improving productivity and processes. So what's the next step? Mobile.”

Mobile computing lets companies leverage office system improvements in the field. You can reduce cycle times to reduce labor costs, improve customer satisfaction and increase product quality; get information into the hands of people and back into the system; and handle regulatory compliance with documentation for the EPA, FDA and Sarbanes-Oxley.