Managing Automation - April 2008 - (Page 17)

[ COVER STORY] There are many steps to plant floor to enterprise integration, and some of the most difficult are cultural and organizational. A new poll of U.S. and European manufacturers shows just how far they’ve come. BY DAVID R. BROUSELL hen it comes to integrating their factory floor devices and systems with higher-level enterprise business systems, U.S. manufacturers and their European counterparts share many business and technology goals. But when it comes to actually accomplishing this oftendifficult work, European industrial companies are much further along in their integration activities and expect to complete them sooner than U.S. enterprises. Nevertheless, many European manufacturers, echoing the sentiments of U.S. companies, report that plant floor to enterprise systems integration is often more challenging than they had expected. They, too, have to contend with often-nettlesome organizational and cultural issues, as well as diffuse management responsibility for integration projects in their companies. As a result, integration project delays are even more common in European manufacturing companies than they are in U.S. companies. These are just some of the findings of the latest Managing Automation reader poll on plant floor to enterprise business systems integration, the magazine’s sixth such study since 2001. This year also marks the first extension of the poll to the European manufacturing market, which has been done under the auspices of MA’s new pan-European sister publication, called Manufacturing Executive, that will debut this month. Nearly 300 MA readers in the United States and about 200 Manufacturing Executive readers in Europe weighed in this year on the state of integration in their companies, as well as their business and technology goals and the barriers they face in accomplishing the work. Last year, U.S. poll respondents indicated that they were prepared to spend more money on integration projects even as they were grappling with organizational and cultural issues related to the work. This year again, just more than one-third of U.S. poll respondents, and 29% of European poll takers, indicated that they would have to spend more money over the next two to three years on integration projects. The spending intentions underscore the back-and-forth nature of plant floor to enterprise business systems integration work. On one hand, the work is technologically complex and often saddled with organizational and people issues that result in agonizingly slow progress and even delays. On the other hand, the business imperatives dependent on successfully accomplishing the work — increasing the speed of product development, improving customer service, and cutting downtime, among others — require ongoing determination, money, and sustained management commitment. The tension is real and reflected in many parts of both polls. But European companies appear to be dealing with the tension more effectively than U.S. entities, and one reason may be that more European companies are committed to the idea. While a sizable majority of U.S. companies 17 April 2008 ma Photo: Chia Yong Jian

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Managing Automation - April 2008 Contents Take 1 Camstar to Introduce Software that Combines Quality, MES, and Intelligence SAP Revamps Maintenance, Raises Fees 29% New TAGSYS Chief Sees Opportunity in Broader Approach Siemens Turns to Security Weaver for Compliance Supply Chain Company Takes Next Step in U.S. Notes Cover Story: The Long Climb Special Report - Undertanding Enterprise Performance Management Caught Between Supply and Demand Taking Off the Blindfold No Room for Error Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - April 2008

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