Headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, USA, Oz Development is the privately held provider of OzLINK, the set of cloud-based solutions that integrate and automate the order management process. Oz Development has a patented cloud-based platform that enables integration, automation, and extension of order management processes for small and medium sized companies. OzLINK has created value for more than 10,000 customers in the manufacturing, wholesale distribution, retail, and healthcare industries. Read the rest of this entry »

Infor recently announced the release of Infor Automotive Exchange v11.0 and Infor Supplier Exchange v11.3, two products that deliver embedded industry-required collaboration throughout the automotive supplier value chain. Infor Automotive Exchange (previous version 10.3 and previous product name AutoConnect) provides automotive suppliers with connectivity with their OEM and up-tier customers, whereas Infor Supplier Exchange (previous version 11.2 and previous product name SupplyWEB) provides connectivity with their downstream supply chain.

Both solutions are generally available now, and are integrated with Infor ION, Infor’s purpose-built integration solution built on industry standards, and a part of the Infor 10x technology platform. The idea is to create an automotive industry solution suite, which provides the connectivity, capabilities, and user experience required for the automotive industry.

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 Jive introduces new iPad, iPhone and Android apps to support the demands of mobile users to generate content and access communication and collaboration tools.

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SYSPRO has recently been selected to drive rapid growth, replace seven currently used disparate software systems, and provide a single source for real-time operational data at Precision Fluorocarbon Inc. (PFI).  The Tomball, Texas-based manufacturer specializes in compression molded PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene), thermally formed PTFE diaphragms, and custom machined plastic components. PFI, a privately held corporation, was founded in 1989 with the primary focus on custom made-to-order PTFE machined products, primarily for the oil field. The organization then diversified into other industries and today serves the medical device industry, OEM pump and valve manufacturers, the semiconductor industry, and many other industries requiring complex machined components.

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Following on its recent win at Carolina Color, abas-USA announced that VC999 Packaging Systems has selected it to be its enterprise resource planning (ERP) provider. VC999 is a global leader in the design and manufacturing of vacuum chamber, thermoforming (rollstock), tray sealer, and flow wrapper machine systems as well as other packaging robotics, vision inspection systems, conveyer/converger systems, labeling, and product scanning.

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VISI Incorporated, a provider of data center solutions, announced that it has signed a three-year agreement with Rockler Companies to provide ReliaCloud services for Rockler Companies, Inc. The ReliaCloud services provide a virtualized, outsourced production server environment for Rockler. Read the rest of this entry »

If Dassault Systemes’ recent acquisition of Apriso was to cut into Siemens manufacturing execution systems (MES) and manufacturing operations management (MOM) prowess and advantage, the thrill might have been short-lived. Namely, Siemens quickly responded by acquiring the Preactor Group headquartered in Chippenham in the UK for an undisclosed price. Preactor’s advanced planning and scheduling (APS) software solutions will join the Siemens MOM portfolio. Once the deal is complete, the UK-based company will be assigned to the Siemens Industry Automation Division.

Preactor has been developing software solutions for efficient automated production planning processes for over 20 years—the company was founded in 1992—and currently employs a workforce of 70. Alongside its base in the UK, the company is also represented in North America, India, France, Spain, and China. Preactor’s APS planning software has been installed by over 4,500 small, medium, and large multinational companies in 75 countries, and is used to drive down production costs, boost productivity, and improve adherence to delivery deadlines.

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Soffront Software Inc., launched version 10.0 of its customer relationship management (CRM) solution, with a complete technology upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft .NET, a renewed user interface, and support for easier integration with third-party applications. Read the rest of this entry »

Kronos Incorporated has announced improvements to Kronos Workforce Ready, its cloud solution for small to medium businesses (SMBs). To date, Kronos Workforce Ready offers functionality for the following SMB human capital management (HCM) requirements: Read the rest of this entry »

Contrary to its archrivals, Dassault Systèmes and Siemens PLM Software, PTC targets various lines of business (e.g., engineering, service, manufacturing, sourcing/supply chain, etc.) with its product portfolio rather than via dedicated vertical industry teams and offerings. One exception would be retail, where PTC has, for about a decade (after the Aptavis Technology acquisition in 2005), been offering an astute product lifecycle management (PLM) and supply chain management (SCM) solution called PTC Windchill FlexPLM. This sector is one of the fastest growing at PTC, although not one of the largest by any stretch of imagination, as it’s currently at about eight percent of PTC revenues (compared to five percent last year).

At the PTC Live Global 2013 conference, PTC announced its new PTC Retail PLM Solution developed specifically for the requirements of companies in the retail, footwear, and apparel industry, and built on the aforementioned PLM solution for that industry. For retailers, delivering innovative, trend-right products to the market faster has become a business imperative. Maintaining high quality products, building a competitive edge, and generating consistent profit margins continue to be essential.

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About a year ago, QAD made the wise and relatively inexpensive acquisition of DynaSys in France for sales and operations planning (S&OP), procurement planning, production planning, distribution planning, demand planning, strategic network planning, and inventory optimization capabilities. Strasbourg is now a supply chain management (SCM) competence center for QAD, as DynaSys has 27 years of experience and several million (USD) in revenues. About 20 percent of its customers are joint with QAD.

QAD can now vicariously tackle some other industries where it hasn’t had much success in light of its traditional focus on manufacturing. Most recently, DynaSys, a supply chain planning (SCP) division of QAD, announced it has signed a new contract with Sodebo, a European producer of fresh food including pizza, sandwiches, pasta, and salads. The company’s products are distributed to supermarkets and caterers and exported within the European Union.

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A major announcement at the PTC Live Global 2013 conference was that PTC Creo design and analysis applications will soon be available and supported in a Virtual Desktop environment. In design and manufacturing environments today, corporations need to have the ability to get global teams up and running quickly in new locations, and they need all teams to be able to easily access the latest software installation by updating from a single server. Virtualization of PTC Creo design and analysis applications can help IT managers accomplish this. Read the rest of this entry »

Market conditions are driving requirements for visibility and control across global operations and supply chains, as witnessed by a number of recent E2open wins. In today’s increasingly digital world, supply chain leaders are delivering competitive advantage to their customers by sharing critical information across their vast supplier networks more quickly and efficiently through the cloud. During the recently held IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit, IBM announced a four-year contract with CEVA Logistics to accelerate business delivery results for its customers through a new cloud-based information exchange for its supply network.

CEVA Logistics, a non-asset-based supply chain management (SCM) company, designs and implements solutions for large and medium-sized national and multinational companies in the automotive, consumer, retail, healthcare, pharmaceutical, industrial, and technology sectors. Their customers’ profitability and customer service reputation rely on how fast they can orchestrate their supply chain to take parts and products produced in multiple regions and assemble and ship them around the world. Read the rest of this entry »

As my colleague Bob Eastman reported in a blogpost earlier today, SAP plans to acquire hybris, a vibrant and widely recognized leader in e-commerce technology with the choice of on-premises or cloud deployment, as enterprises around the world struggle with the customer experience for businesses and consumers across an ever-growing number of delivery channels, devices, and touch points. The combination of industry-leading enterprise solutions from SAP with the multi-channel commerce solutions of hybris should provide enterprises with the enhanced data and tools necessary to optimize margins and customer loyalty.

As mentioned in TEC’s report from the NRF 2013 conference, today’s consumers and businesses demand a seamless brand and shopping experience across all channels. The e-commerce technology market is experiencing rapid growth as businesses adapt to changing customer behaviors that seamlessly cross Web, mobile, store, contact center, and other points of engagement. Big data, cloud, mobile, and social technologies only heighten demand for innovative commerce solutions needed for managing consistent customer engagement.

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SAP has rocked the e-commerce/digital commerce world this week with the announcement of its intention to acquire hybris. Whether you believe that this is a strategy to specifically address the competitive threat of Salesforce.com or not, SAP is not shy about its intention to use this acquisition, together with its HANA technology, to attack the retail sector. As “omnichannel” has become a hot button for several converging retail trends, the e-commerce and digital commerce space has become a hotbed of innovation. The SAP and hybris partnership seeks to raise the ante.

hybris
hybris is a Switzerland-based “commerce technology company” founded in 1997 that has recently reported terrific growth—a compound annual growth rate of 83% since 2009. It now claims some 500 customers, a reported 650 employees, and annual revenues in excess of $100 million. hybris will become an independent business unit of SAP.

SAP’s vision for hybris is ambitious. It intends to marry the hybris technology with the HANA platform into a B2B2C offering, and, SAP says, “are going to totally unleash our will like never before on the CRM marketplace and the competitors that decide to go against us.” Read the rest of this entry »