The Missing Link

As profit margins decline and economic pressures increase, consumer goods manufacturers will aggressively seek out the next phase of operations improvements, according to a recent AMR Research report. Companies that have invested heavily in both business and process automation are challenged to join the two forces, only to find a disparate land of manual data reconciliation, transfer and analysis. AMR believes that manufacturers who want to drive more value from their Enterprise Resource Planning, Enterprise Asset Management and Business Intelligence systems may find that Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence applications are the critical link to the real-time world that's been missing from their enterprise performance strategies.

"Enterprise manufacturing intelligence connects people, processes, and performance," says the report.

Cognos Gets Busy

Through an ambitious 2003 strategy, leading business intelligence provider Cognos has positioned itself for future growth in 2004. In December, Webplan joined the Cognos Partner Program (CPP) as a Strategic Technology Partner. Webplan's Operations Performance Management software, Webplan Manufacturing Insight, offers a Live Scorecard that allows manufacturers to make better operational decisions by simulating the outcome of their decisions and aligning them with the metrics that they use to run their business. The two companies will integrate Webplan Manufacturing Insight with Cognos ReportNet and Cognos PowerPlay for enhanced operations visibility and analysis, and with Cognos Metrics Manager to ensure operations decision-making alignment with corporate objectives. The end result is rapid and measurable return on investment for manufacturers.

In 2003, Cognos bolstered its offerings through key partnerships with iGate, Tata Consultancy, Plumtree Software, IBM, Paradigm Business Solutions and others.

SAP Lands McCormick & Company

In May, SAP announced that McCormick & Company Inc. selected solutions from mySAP Business Suite in a strategic, global effort to improve business processes, effectively manage performance, and enhance both sales and service to its customers and its relationships with suppliers. McCormick & Company deployed mySAP Customer Relationship Management, mySAP Enterprise Portal, mySAP Business Intelligence (mySAP Supplier Relationship Management and SAP Strategic Enterprise Management as part of the next phase of the company's Beyond 2000 effort, a global initiative designed to achieve business process improvement through integrated information technology, enterprise supply chain optimization and the streamlining of transaction processes. For more info on this story, please see the July 2003 issue of Consumer Goods Technology.

Oracle Gets Down to Business

In the business intelligence arena, Oracle offers a technology foundation in order to help build a complete and integrated solution for business intelligence and data warehousing. Oracle Database 10g, Oracle Application Server 10g, and Oracle Developer Suite allow users to develop and deploy data warehouses and data marts with an integrated array of reporting, querying and analytic capabilities. In 2003, Oracle's array of customer wins across the consumer goods landscape reached far and wide. To view Oracle's comprehensive client list, please visit www.consumergoods.com, click on "Archives" and refer to the November issue of CGT that profiles the Top 100 consumer goods companies.

Objects of Intelligence

In January, BusinessObjects announced the availability of BusinessObjects Data Integrator 6.0, the newest version of its real-time and batch data integration tool designed to simplify and accelerate data movement and data sharing across the enterprise. In April, global pharmaceutical company Pfizer licensed Business Objects business intelligence software for its worldwide research and development division.

In August, upscale outerwear manufacturer Cutter & Buck says it will reduce the amount of hand-coding through BusinessObject's Data Integrator.

SAS Broadens Scope

In February, Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd, says it will use SAS' Oros Value Chain Analyzer software in collaboration with its trading customers to identify cost savings across the entire supply chain. In May, Unisys, SAS and SIGMA Marketing Group announced Z3 Customer Analytics, a packaged business intelligence and marketing services solution. In October, SAS unveiled a new software solution, SAS Corporate Compliance for Sarbanes-Oxley. In December, SAS appointed Suzanne Gordon as its chief information officer. Gordon is responsible for the operational systems and data within the IT organization.

Teradata Boosts Offerings

Teradata, a division of NCR Corporation, announced a n enhancement to its manufacturing industry offering in September. The Manufacturing Logical Data Model 2.0 provides a blueprint for building an enterprise data warehouse that spans supply chain management, financial management and customer management. It also expedites time-to-value while creating a consistent view of the data across the enterprise. Also in September, the company released Teradata Warehouse 7.1 suite that includes the new Teradata Dual systems offer, NCR BAR (Backup, Archive and Restore) solutions, the flagship Teradata Database V2R5.1, Teradata Tools and Utilities 7.1 and the two new more powerful servers, NCR 4980 Server and NCR 5380 Server.