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by Lauren Gibbons Paul, Contributing Editor Posted on Wednesday, June 01, 2005 12:00:00 AM   | Abstract: | ERP vendors continue to target the mid-market in an effort to shore up sales. Here's what some are offering and how manufacturers can capitalize on the buyer's market in enterprise software.
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Not a week goes by that Lowell Johannsen of Cascade Engineering Inc. (Grand Rapids, MI) doesn't get a call from an ERP vendor, whether it's one of the big guys like SAP or a smaller player. With $300 million in sales, the maker of plastic-injected molded parts for the auto industry inhabits the sweet spot for ERP: mid-market, which vendors have been targeting with gusto for roughly the past two years to make up for time lost during the recent recession. "I get the calls all the time, but I just say 'no thanks,'" says Johannsen, senior IT project manager for Cascade. Cascade implemented MFG/PRO ERP (enterprise resource management) software from QAD Inc. (Carpinteria, CA) in 1998. To combat the lethargy that is spreading through the auto industry, Cascade will implement several additional MFG/PRO modules this year, including one for lean manufacturing. Johannsen remains unmoved by the pitches from other ERP vendors. "The only way we would touch our system now is to add additional modules from QAD, which we are doing," he says. [Click to continue] |