|
by David R. Brousell, MA Editorial Staff   How should manufacturers organize their companies to compete in the global marketplace of the 21st century? Should there be tight, centralized control of all major processes or should the model be decentralized, with local control by divisions and business units over how they do things and what systems they run? The questions are timely and relevant because many manufacturers these days are trying to establish common business processes and practices in their companies. This transformation comes in response to the globalization of manufacturing. Now, more than ever before, manufacturers are realizing that to grow profitability in their hyper-competitive markets they need to be more innovative in what they make and in how they manufacture. They must fully leverage every physical and human asset, and they must integrate their information systems, in the back room and on the factory floor, to a greater degree than ever before. These trends were center stage at the recent ARC Advisory Group conference in Boston. In a talk entitled "Enterprise Interoperability Challenges," Jim Porter, chief engineer and vice president of safety, health & environment, and engineering at DuPont, described how DuPont's business transformation efforts -- slogan: "The Power of One DuPont" -- are closely linked to systems interoperability. The problem, though, is that industry standards for interoperability are sorely lacking. [Click to continue] |