Supply-chain software: an industry on a thrill ride
Article Abstract:
Demand for supply-chain management software is exploding in mid-1998, as clients are accepting higher prices in return for greater business flexibility. Businesses also prefer the prepackaged supply-chain software to create flexible pricing systems, organize conflicting demands and customize shipments. The market, which totaled $1.6 billion in 1997, will leap to $2.4 billion in 1997 and $12 billion by the end of 2002, according to research firm Advanced Manufacturing Research. By comparison, enterprise resource planning software programs currently in use among many companies only coordinates the materials and administrative functions that involve product manufacturing. Investors also are showing confidence in small supply-chain software vendors despite German software giant SAP's product development announcement.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1998
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Digital polish for factory floors; software simulations lead to better assembly lines
Article Abstract:
Diverse industries are using factory simulation software to redesign and retool assembly lines and improve upon their manufacturing processes, taking advantage of the flexibility and speed of today's modeling software. Automobile manufacturers, cookie companies, computer makers, plastics and chemical concerns are using virtual reality and simulation to reduce the time it takes to reconfigure assembly lines. Other advantages of using factory design simulation software include dramatic reductions in line set-up costs, improved ergonomics and customized product design. Whereas production engineering often dictated how products were designed and manufactured, factory simulation software now permits companies to design products, then create the industrial process to fit.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1999
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Not making them like they used to; CAD/CAM turns design on its prototypical ear
Article Abstract:
A 3D CAD/CAM system allows engineers to view the parts of an object on a computer screen and provides the ability to manipulate and rotate them 360 degrees, in order to create the perfect part. New CAD/CAM software programs can approximate a solid part, rather than just the surfaces of it, and computers are now powerful enough to run the programs. The price of an interactive, high-speed program that is complex enough to handle an aircraft wing is approximately $50,000. A 3D CAD/CAM program is being designed by the Design and Manufacturing Institute at Stevens Institute of Technology that will allow engineers to choose the data they will use to design a product based on the cost and availability of materials.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1997
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