White Papers
Eliminate Seven Wastes from Your Quality Processes with Mobility
December 16, 2010 6:52 am | by Motorola | CommentsLean manufacturing practices apply equally well to the quality function, but you can amplify their effect with mobile capability. Download our white paper, Eliminate Seven Wastes from Your Quality Processes with Mobility, to learn how you can achieve higher quality standards with reduced staff—only a sample of the benefits manufacturers can expect from a mobile and lean quality function!
Synchronizing the Distribution Supply Chain with Mobility
December 16, 2010 6:50 am | by Motorola | CommentsMobility helps the distribution supply chain address some of today’s most challenging issues: thin margins, rapid product life cycles, and increased customer expectations. Download our white paper, Synchronizing the Distribution Supply Chain with Mobility, to see how empowering workers with the ability to capture data in real time — right at the point of work—can shave wasted time and errors out of business processes throughout the distribution supply chain, including warehouse, transportation, the yard, and labor management.
Mobility in manufacturing: Achieve a new level of lean—and a new level of profitability
December 16, 2010 6:47 am | by Motorola | CommentsGain a greater understanding of how mobile solutions practically eliminate the seven hidden wastes of manufacturing and increase your profitability. Download Mobility in Manufacturing: Achieve a new level of lean—and a new level of profitability to see the real-life applications that discrete and process manufacturers across industries are using to decrease cycle times, reduce errors, and increase yields. You’ll also get deep dives into mobility’s role in a range of industries—aerospace, automotive, CPG/food and beverage—as well as details on the benefits of a unified voice and data architecture.
Beating complexity, achieving operational excellence
December 13, 2010 12:14 pm | by IBM | CommentsIDC Manufacturing Insights recently conducted on behalf of Infor and IBM a worldwide study of over 700 small and medium-sized enterprises in the discrete manufacturing industry across four sectors and in eight countries. We discovered that for European and North American manufacturers achieving operational excellence has become more complex, the pressure to reduce costs and improve productivity as ever top priorities, and perfecting the customer experience from bid to fulfillment a critical business need.
Understanding ERP and PLM; Improving Performance Through Collaboration
November 4, 2010 7:44 am | by Omnify Software | CommentsIt’s never easy to adopt new enterprise technology. It is important to understand the value that the technology brings to each department and the enterprise as a whole. Enterprise applications that complement each other like PLM and ERP play a key role in supporting and improving product development and achieving bottom line operational benefits. Recognizing the distinctive features offered by ERP and PLM as well as the benefits of creating an integrated environment will help manufacturers maintain their competitive edge. Adoption of a PLM system to work in conjunction with ERP greatly enhances a manufacturer’s product development performance. The result is the ability to deliver higher quality products in less time and maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Why Risk Management Matters More than Ever
November 3, 2010 6:04 am | by Western Union Business Solutions | CommentsMinimize your risk–protect your profits and prosper in an uncertain economy. Protect your company's bottom line – a changing economy doesn't have to impact your profits. Ensure that the success of your business depends on its operations and not unpredictable economic factors and volatile currency rates. Find out how to manage your company's currency risk. • Clear up the top three myths associated with currency hedging • Learn how to identify and mitigate your company's foreign exchange risks • Discover the key elements for a successful foreign exchange risk management strategy • Protect your company from changes in an uncertain economy
Essential Features of Manufacturing ERP Software
November 3, 2010 5:34 am | by Focus | CommentsEnterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems can seem like giant beasts when you realize how integrated they can be with nearly every function in your business. From the Sales and Quoting process through Material Planning, Procurement, Scheduling, Shop Floor Control, Quality Management, Outside Services, Shipping & Logistics, Customer Service, Finance and Human Resource Management, an integrated system can be tied into nearly every function.This FREE research brief will help you understand how the functions link together, simplify the complexity of the many ERP features available and highlight where you can realize the most value.
2010 Midmarket - Enterprise ERP Solutions Comparison Guide
November 3, 2010 5:30 am | by Focus | CommentsWhich ERP solution best fits your unique business situation? Focus has the answers with our in-depth comparison of the top 17 ERP solutions, including offerings from Oracle, SAP, Sage, Epicor, Netsuite, IFS and Microsoft. Whether you’re just looking for basic features such as accounting, CRM, finance and HR or need a robust solution with a full suite of add-on modules for your company, you’ll be able to evaluate the appropriate vendors with this guide.This FREE comparison guide lets you compare important features and functions side by side, including:• Basic features such as inventory management, CRM, financial management and HR• Intermediate features like e-commerce tools• Advanced features including business intelligence and supply chain management• Deployment• CostsPlus many, many more. Download your free Comparison Guide now!
A SaaS Primer – Understanding Software as a Service
November 2, 2010 6:59 am | by Plex Systems | CommentsThis paper defines the SaaS model, and describes the short-term and long-term benefits the model delivers when implemented within the manufacturing enterprise.
ERP vs Project Based Solutions - Which Is Right for You?
October 26, 2010 7:15 am | by IFS | CommentsProject Based Solutions (PBS) is a new type of ERP for complex, engineer-to-order companies and companies facing rapid change. And these days, most companies do face change and their legacy ERP systems strain to keep up. Is PBS a better choice for you than traditional ERP.
Designing Drives for a Competitive Edge
October 5, 2010 7:49 am | by Gates | CommentsWhen high maintenance or frequent replacement of drive components becomes the norm, it’s time to reassess your drive design. Replacing older drive technologies, such as roller chain or gears, with a synchronous belt system offers a way for your equipment
Seeing the Big Picture: A Corporate Guide to Better Decisions through IT
September 30, 2010 8:23 am | by SAP | CommentsThe sheer amount of information available in today's business climate can be a double-edge sword. This TEC white paper takes an informative look at how small businesses and midsize companies can develop ways to access the right information at the right time in order to make better, faster decisions – without getting bogged down or delayed.
SaaS Realities: Business Benefits for Small and Mid-sized Enterprises
September 30, 2010 8:21 am | by SAP | CommentsIn this paper, we consider the business advantages of moving to a Software as a Service (SaaS) model for improving business operations, and to better meet the challenges of growth, competition and regulatory compliance faced by small-to midsize businesses.
Evaluating SaaS Solutions: A Checklist for Small and Mid-sized Enterprises
September 30, 2010 8:18 am | by SAP | CommentsIn this paper we discuss the relevant criteria for evaluation of SaaS solutions targeting small-to-midsize businesses, and we raise the key questions that should be asked. It is important to ensure that the qualities of the SaaS solution will align well the business requirements and be sufficiently adaptable to meet the needs of change and growth. We also provide an evaluation template for small-to-midsize business executives to use in conducting an evaluation of a SaaS solution.
Software as a Service: A Cheaper, Faster Way to Access Applications
September 30, 2010 8:15 am | by SAP | CommentsSoftware as a Service can provide lower-cost, efficient choices for building, testing, and deploying certain applications and software services, and it offers new go-to-market choices over traditional managed services. For smaller organizations, SaaS is particularly appealing because it allows customers to pay for what they use and deploy applications quickly with less in-house staff and fewer related costs.
Comparing the Total Cost of Ownership of SME On-Premises Business Management Applications and SAP Business By Design
September 30, 2010 8:12 am | by SAP | CommentsRead how SAP Business ByDesign delivered on-demand compares to other equivalent on-premise applications. IDC provides its analysis of the lifetime cost of ownership for a typical on-premise SME business management system and compares it to the cost of running SAP Business ByDesign.
The ROI of Software-As-A-Service
September 30, 2010 8:09 am | by SAP | CommentsFirms almost always consider software-as-a-service (SaaS) as a cost-advantage over on-premise in the short run due to its quick implementation times and pay-as-you-go pricing. But many firms question the long-term value of SaaS, wondering if the rent-versus-own model necessarily has a cost crossover point and if so, when? As SaaS continues to move into a broader range of applications and into larger, more strategic deployments, Forrester examined client decisions across a range of SaaS solution areas and found that firms obtain long-term value with SaaS solutions.
Access Your Enterprise Agility
September 30, 2010 8:06 am | by SAP | CommentsWhile firms have used different business strategies to insulate themselves from the effect of change, CEOs are beginning to recognize the need for their firms to become more agile in detecting and making the changes to strategy, operations, and products. Turning agility from a buzzword into a business capability requires firms to measure and manage their ability to change — and agree on what agility means specifically for their enterprise.
Measuring the ROI of ERP in SMB: Keeping ERP Projects Alive When You Need Them the Most
September 30, 2010 8:03 am | by SAP | CommentsRead this report from Aberdeen to discover their findings about the benefits of an implementing an ERP system. Companies which are growing and improving performance have often invested in an ERP system that will grow with them. An ERP system can help small and mid-size businesses develop a balance between their business drivers, growth and customer service.
AXIS Analyst Insight: SAP ERP for SME Not Just for SME
September 30, 2010 8:00 am | by SAP | CommentsThis Axis Analyst Insight presents vendor-specific highlights from the ERP in Manufacturing Aberdeen AXIS™ published in June 2009 and focuses specifically on SAP Small to Medium-size Enterprise (SME) offerings. With ist dominant market share, it was not surprising to find SAP to be "market ready", but it is a bit surprising to see where its SME products are landing.
