Oracle customers worldwide can now extend the capabilities of Oracle’s existing Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) suite through the two new modules, Oracle Strategic Network Optimization and Oracle Production Scheduling. Through a long-awaited marriage of Oracle’s JD Edwards and PeopleSoft Supply Chain Planning suite with Oracle’s Supply Chain Management applications, manufacturing companies can now optimize supply and distribution networks, mitigate risk, maximize shop floor throughput and dramatically reduce supply chain costs.
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By Renee Boucher Ferguson
November 16, 2006

At the Microsoft TechEd: IT Forum in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft and SAP announced Nov. 16 the next edition of Duet, the joint software application the two companies developed to enable users to access SAP business processes through Microsoft Office applications.
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CSCO Staff
Thursday, 12 October 2006

Oct. 12, 2006 — Sales of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications are expected to grow an average of 10 percent over the next five years according to a report released this week by Boston-based research and analysis firm AMR Research. As has been the case in recent years in the ERP market, the category is dominated by two companies, SAP and Oracle, at least in terms of revenue share, and AMR Research is forecasting that this trend will continue in 2006. The report indicates that SAP captured 42 percent of the ERP market’s revenue share in 2005 and that the software company’s share will increase to 43 percent in 2006. Oracle comes in a distant second, but still commanded 20 percent of the ERP revenue share in 2005, with it too projected to grow its share even more in 2006, to 23 percent. After those two companies, there is a sharp dropoff in revenue market share captured by other ERP vendors. For example, the company with the third highest revenue share in 2005 was the Sage Group (6 percent), and AMR Research forecasts Sage’s share to decline slightly to 5 percent in 2006. Microsoft came in fourth, with 4 percent ERP market share in 2005 and projected 4 percent in 2006.

Around the year 2000, ERP in general was considered by most analysts as offering substandard supply chain capabilities for managing such activities as complex warehouse management, order management, advanced planning, and more. The ERP concept originally came up through the manufacturing world, and many ERP packages were initially focused on financials with human resources, and basic (infinite, not capacity-based/finite) planning and scheduling and warehouse management. But since then, most ERP companies have improved their supply chain functionality, with some extending their reach into manufacturing execution, Customer Relationship Management, Web portals, and more. That meant the ERP vendors started encroaching into the domain of so-called Best of Breed supply chain software vendors such as Manhattan Associates, EXE, Provia Software, and others. “The integrated versus best-of-breed debate still goes on in some organizations, but the [ERP] suite advocates are clearly winning,” says Jim Shepherd, senior vice president of research at AMR Research.

Indeed, a report issued last month by AMR Research about the supply chain management application market shows that SAP was the top SCM (Supply Chain Management, which includes warehouse, transportation, network design, inventory control, and more) vendor in terms of revenue, with 12 percent of the market in 2005. Oracle was second in 2005 SCM revenue share with 10 percent, followed by i2 Technologies with 5 percent, Manhattan Associates with 4 percent, and infor with 3 percent.

ERP sales are also benefiting from a widespread acceptance of the idea that businesses must have integrated information systems to be competitive, and the most effective way to satisfy this need is to purchase an ERP package that features broad functionality and pre-built integration. AMR Research forecasts that the global ERP market revenue will reach $29 billion in 2006.

Takes supply chain execution solution leadership position in EMEA; announced as finalist for Best IT Supply Chain Solution in China

RedPrairie Corporation, the world’s leading consumer-driven optimization company, announced today that it has taken a leadership position in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and is a finalist for the Best IT Supply Chain Solution in China award by the China Supply Chain Council. (more…)

It wasn’t an awe-inspiring showing of strength, but the market for supply chain management (SCM) applications experienced 3-percent growth in 2005, achieving a total value of $5.6bn, according to AMR Research Inc. The sector was influenced by a variety of factors, including globalization, leaner supply networks, higher customer expectations, mass customization at the manufacturing and assembly level, and rising demand for product and service variability. “New business focuses and pressures are driving pockets of vendor information and renewed corporate spending in supply chain initiatives,” according to Mark Hillman, a senior research analyst at AMR. On the negative side, “spending is tempered by the fact that corporate supply chain organizational maturity is still relatively low, limiting adoption. In addition, consolidation will continue to play a significant role in 2006.”

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LONDON, November 15 /PRNewswire/ — The increasing need to prevent sales of counterfeit medicines and avoid stock outs of drugs has created a compelling need for effective IT solutions to rationalise pharmaceutical distribution channels across Europe. With comprehensive support from information technology (IT) across distribution channels, the European pharmaceutical industry will experience robust growth.
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By Fawn Fitter

They frequently happen without warning: canceled orders, delayed shipments, sudden changes in demand. The greatest difficulty in managing the supply chain is that so much is out of your control. And most enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are not designed to fully address such issues as demand forecasting, capacity planning or storage optimization.

In Summary:
• Supply chain niche applications can help your company make smarter decisions about inventory, capacity and demand.

• These applications are meant to add functionality to your existing ERP system in critical areas, especially warehouse management and transportation management.
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“After participating in the beta program, we are eager to use the new capabilities in PeopleSoft Enterprise 9.0, especially XML Publisher,” said Kentucky Community and Technical College System Lead Systems Analyst Patrick Wells. “This release has the potential to deliver improved usability, increased productivity and streamline business processes which is always of great interest to our organization.”
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Implements ClearOrbit’s Xtended Process Control (X.PC) suite to manage its global supply chain, order fulfillment operations
By Editorial Staff – Supply & Demand Chain Executive

Austin, TX — November 9, 2006 — Herbalife, which sells weight management, nutritional supplement and personal-care products in 62 countries, has implemented ClearOrbit’s Xtended Process Control (X.PC) suite to manage its global supply chain and order fulfillment operations.
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Manufacturers Have Invested Heavily in ERP, But Are Failing to See Plant-Floor Performance Gains. What’s Missing From the Picture? Lean Practices.

ATLANTA, GA — November 14, 2006 — After spending millions on enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), many manufacturers are still chasing performance improvements at the plant level. This is according to the results of a survey of more than 1,500 manufacturers conducted earlier this year by Invistics, a developer of manufacturing performance optimization solutions for complex, asset-intensive industries. The survey indicated that only a little more than a third of the respondents felt that their ERP systems have delivered their expected ROI. Respondents cited lack of visibility, lack of support for Lean principles, and no awareness of variability as key issues.
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New Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200 ACT! Link aims to provide SMBs with integration between front and back office operations
By Editorial Staff – Supply & Demand Chain Executive
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