Managing Automation - February 2009 - (Page 29) Inc., a third-party logistics provider and a division of Honda Logistics, managingautomation.com which uses SmartTurn’s WMS. RELATED ARTICLES: For example, one Komyo cusWeb 2.0 Gets Real NEW RULES tomer, a start-up business, tracked www.managingautomation.com/takeone51 Embracing Web 2.0 technology involves inventor y on spreadsheets and Collaborative Technologies to Be adopting a new mind-set. Part of the reason had no way to reconcile inventory Emphasized in 2008, Researchers Predict manufacturers are hesitant to try new tools is and sales. “We were able to give www.managingautomation.com/collaboration8 that most have built up an inflexible client/ them visibility to what their future COMPANIES MENTIONED: server IT foundation that can make it a chalsales were going to be based on Amitive, Inc. lenge to tap into Web 2.0 technologies. current inventory and the [orwww.managingautomation.com/amitive “We, as a software industry as a whole, der] lead time needed coming Central Desktop Inc. have designed [technology] that sustains that from Thailand,” Franklin says. www.managingautomation.com/central [old client/server] model,” Burleigh says. On top of that, the SmartTurn Cordys “At one point, it was great. But, now, in comapplication’s mashup capability lets www.managingautomation.com/cordys parison to the technology available out there Franklin look at a steamship line’s Komyo America Co. Inc. today, there are two huge problems. Numwebsite to see when, for example, a www.managingautomation.com/komyo ber one, software is deployed as an island in vessel left Thailand and calculate Rockwell Automation www.managingautomation.com/rockwell3 each office,” where a warehouse managewhen it will be in California, facment system and a manufacturing execution toring in the overall shipping schedSiperian www.managingautomation.com/siperian2 system (MES) are run on separate servers. ule and weather patterns, he says. SmartTurn Inc. “Second, none of these islands were ever deSimilarly, Rockwell Automawww.managingautomation.com/smartturn signed to talk with each other.” tion’s FactoryTalk VantagePoint, SPSS Inc. That has to change. And, luckily, the elasbuilt on Web ser vices, is a www.managingautomation.com/spss ticity of Web 2.0 and Web services means mashup application that pulls toWorkLight Inc. they can be layered over outdated client/ gether information from operawww.managingautomation.com/worklight server landscapes, delivering a variety of aptions management applications, Xora Inc. plications that can be anything from busisuch as MES, and cost managewww.managingautomation.com/xora ness intelligence, to ERP, to a legacy system, ment information, for example, cobbled together with the most useful inforfrom the ERP system. Vantagemation. This is what is referred to as a Point can also use Web 2.0 gadgets to pull re“mashup,” implying fast integration of multial-time information, such as stock quotes, ple data sources via open APIs. into the application. SmartTurn, for example, has built a ware“Manufacturing enterprises [typically] have house management system (WMS) on Web more than 500 different data sources [the 2.0 technology, using Google gadgets and VantagePoint] federated system leaves the pieces of different Web-based applications dedata where it lives, building a model that navlivered into a dashboard that can be accessed igates through to find the information,” says even via an iPhone. SmartTurn’s Inventory John Theron, vice president of product manGadgets enable warehouse operators to see agement for Incuity, a Rockwell company. inventory information and warehouse capacAnd Cordys’ Process Factory uses Web ser vices and Web In a SaaS-based Web 2.0 application, collaboration is 2.0 technology to a natural byproduct. And once collaboration becomes create mashup apbuilding the cornerstone of operations, trust is established. plications,processes workflow ity across multiple facilities, as well as open behind the scenes. These new applications purchase orders and see sales order status. do not require a change in infrastructure. SmartTurn’s Inventory Grid is delivered in a “It is all loosely coupled, so you drive value software-as-a-service (SaaS) model so that out of the existing infrastructure while helpcustomers don’t have to manage or maintain ing [the company] migrate that into the new it on-site. [Web 2.0] world,” Cordys’ Pyke says. In a SaaS-based Web 2.0 application, colWhile the true value and worth of the new laboration is a natural byproduct. And, once Web 2.0 world is tough to measure, there is collaboration becomes the cornerstone of opsomething to be said for the soft ROI it promerations, trust among partners is established. ises to cultivate: trust, visibility, and collab“Trust is built into this system because the visorative conduct. These are the things that ibility is there,” says Rick Franklin, corporate may hold the most value for manufacturers director of operations at Komyo America Co., in the future. s dam holding it back,” Levanda says. “They don’t want to be in that position. They have to find a way to embrace the tools.” maonline 29 February 2009 http://www.managingautomation.com http://www.managingautomation.com/takeone51 http://www.managingautomation.com/collaboration8 http://www.managingautomation.com/amitive http://www.managingautomation.com/central http://www.managingautomation.com/cordys http://www.managingautomation.com/komyo http://www.managingautomation.com/rockwell3 http://www.managingautomation.com/siperian2 http://www.managingautomation.com/smartturn http://www.managingautomation.com/spss http://www.managingautomation.com/worklight http://www.managingautomation.com/xora
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