Ortems has the keys to supply chain management

Citation

(2001), "Ortems has the keys to supply chain management", Assembly Automation, Vol. 21 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.2001.03321aab.012

Ortems has the keys to supply chain management

Ortems has the keys to supply chain management

Keyword: Supply chain management

Ortems recently announced the availability of a suite of component-based, Web-enabled software and services designed to support extended supply chain collaboration necessary for e-business transformation. The Ortems e-SCM solution aligns plant optimisation to support new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for managing rapid collaborative co-ordination across the extended supply chain

The new Ortems e-SCM product initiative is in tandem with Ortems' traditional plant-centric Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) solution, which, with the new Version 6 Release 4, exploits the capabilities in the e-SCM solution as well as offering additional features for key vertical markets. The focus of both the Ortems e-SCM solution and Version 6.4 is on enabling increased manufacturing agility to support rapid order fulfilment, the most critical barrier to e-business success.

"The impact of B2B commerce on manufacturing is completely altering how companies must view and manage plant performance", said René Desvignes, Ortems president and CEO. "Demand-driven, Web-enabled business requires greater plant agility, flexibility and real-time transparency in the order fulfilment processes. Shorter life cycles, greater customisation of products, and faster delivery to the customer requires KPIs that focus the plant on collaborative supply chain performance. The Ortems Plant Desktop drives supply chain performance into the plant at the same time it extends visibility to KPIs for monitoring and managing optimised collaboration of the extensive supply chain."

The foundation for Ortems' new strategic e-SCM initiative is an outgrowth of its history as the leading plant-centric APS provider. With the growing convergence of supply chain management and IT strategies plants are increasingly having to embrace not only intra-enterprise integration, but also intercompany business process integration and collaboration. This calls for faster and smarter order processing, faster new product introduction, and faster responsiveness to the demands of the extended supply chain. Web-based access to detailed execution information, visibility to and analysis of KPIs, and the ability to monitor and manage plant activities within a collaborative supply chain environment are the hallmarks of e-manufacturing agility.

These attributes comprise the core of the new Ortems e-SCM solution which, with the Ortems APS components, are designed to deliver value quickly, incrementally, and comprehensively over time.

The Ortems e-SCM applications are Web-based Java applets, requiring zero client administration. Communication is XML-enabled, and optimised for low bandwidth integration with ERP backbones, is provided by Ortems Visual Interface Configurator (VIC) and certified EAI adapters for leading ERP systems, including SAP R/3 and Oracle. VIC is available as a standalone EAI product.

Ortems e-SCM applications include Ortems Navigator, a single point of interaction and execution, offering pre-defined business templates based on job function for easy implementation and presentation of data, and real-time alert processing for optimised collaborative decision making processes.

The e-SCM suite also includes Ortems Key Performance Monitor, which runs within Ortems Navigator, providing KPI management. It gives intra- and inter-company users immediate access to such KPIs as asset utilisation and production efficiency, but more importantly, to the performance of the extended supply chain, to KPIs that support customer delivery, customer satisfaction and market share growth.

Ortems e-SCM Profiler provides a single point of administration for the Ortems Plant Supply Chain solutions, where user profiles regarding data access, presentation, and alert messaging are maintained.

New Ortems APS components, focusing on key vertical markets – pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and speciality chemicals, among others – are part of Release 4 of Version 6. Specific features added include lot for lot management (pharmaceuticals); advanced tank management (for most process industries); just-in-time optimisation (food and other process industries); and alternate BOMs and routings, synchronised procurement recommendations, and safety stock management (for semi-continuous process industries).

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