Managing Automation - April 2008 - (Page 20)

[ COVER STORY] roadblocks integration 7 FEWER EUROPEANS SAY THE INTEGRATION WORK IS HARDER THAN EXPECTED Q: Has your company found the interconnection work between factory floor systems and business systems more or less challenging than expected? As expected: 38% More: 53.9% More: 56% As expected: 43% U.S. 2008 U.S. 2007 Less: 3.1% Less: 6% As expected: 45.5% Europe 2008 More: 45.5% Less: 8.9% 8 MORE TRAINING UNDERTAKEN AS REACTION TO CHALLENGES, BUT PROJECT DELAYS STILL PROMINENT Q: If more challenging, what steps have been taken to deal with the complexity of interconnecting systems? Brought in consultants U.S. 2008 U.S. 2007 Europe 2008 34.2% 38% 43.3% Increased training U.S. 2008 U.S. 2007 Europe 2008 50.7% 44% 60.8% Increased spending U.S. 2008 U.S. 2007 Europe 2008 31.5% 36% 47.4% Delayed projects U.S. 2008 U.S. 2007 Europe 2008 47.9% 44% 50.5% Percentages may have been rounded and may not equal 100%. rectly to an ERP system, compared with 18% of European entities. Even more companies — 28% of U.S. companies, up substantially from 18% in last year’s poll, and 24% of European organizations — will have integration take place through a separate hub (chart 4). The challenging side of the integration work, those issues related to people, competing business priorities, and management policy, is yet another shared experience for U.S. and European manufacturers. When asked what they have found to be the most challenging aspect of integration, 52% of U.S. poll respondents placed a high level of emphasis on people and organizational issues, compared with 58% last year. About 41% of European poll takers said the same thing. Competing priorities — at 39% of U.S. poll takers, the same as last year — and budget issues — at 36%, down from 39% last year — were the two other highest areas of emphasis. Nearly an equal percentage of European and U.S. respondents cite a lack of standards as a key issue (chart 9). Half of European respondents have delayed projects due to complexity issues, while 48% of U.S. respondents have done so this year, up from 44% last year (chart 7). Responsibility for the integration work appears nearly as diffuse in European manufacturers as in U.S. companies. Whether it is an internal IT team, a team comprised solely of automation professionals, or a combined IT/automation team, no one organizational form dominates in either U.S. or European manufacturing companies (char t 10). And when asked about the degree of influence of various personnel in driving integration in their companies, executive management, operations vice presidents, and IT departments are the most prominent, according to both polls (chart 11). Given the organizationally pervasive nature of plant floor to enterprise integration projects, it is not surprising that a number of functional groups must collaborate on them. But that need for collaboration also makes these projects tougher to manage. And it is the management challenge associated with enterprise integration that comes through loud and clear from both sides of the Atlantic. While U.S. and European manufacturers may have differences in language, history, and even the scale of their businesses, they share many common issues when it comes to getting people to work together to create the business advantages necessary to compete in a global market. Perhaps the key finding in comparing the U.S. and European polls this year is just that: We are united in a common pursuit to transform the way manufacturing is run. s ma 20 2008 April

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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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