One of the things manufacturers tell us pretty consistently is that they want to reduce the number of technology suppliers with whom they deal. Through reader surveys and in the course of day-to-day reporting, we have received a message with several parts to it. One is that time-constrained, lean organizations simply don't have the bandwidth anymore to evaluate a large number of potential suppliers. These companies have enough to do in managing their current crop of vendors.
Another part of the message is that there are too many technology suppliers that appear to be "me-too" vendors; that is, too many suppliers seem to be selling similar products. Some vendors seem to have technology solutions in search of a real-world problem. Still others can't articulate their value propositions clearly and quickly enough.
But smart manufacturers, even though they want to bring greater order to a process that has in the past been chaotic at times, also know that it is important to be open to a new idea, even from a vendor without a long track record or a marquee name. Competitive advantage can sometimes be found where you least expect it.
The balancing act is between adopting a more disciplined, rational approach to technology acquisition and remaining open and flexible enough to quickly take advantage of an opportunity that may come from a newer or even a start-up technology supplier. Those companies that can strike the balance can have the best of both worlds.
It is in this spirit that the editors of Managing Automation bring you our second-annual Companies to Watch issue. This is our attempt to sift through technology companies and products that have come to our attention over the past year -- many of which are relatively new to the scene and have innovated in some way -- and present to you 10 whose stories we found interesting.
This year, our picks span a broad spectrum of important technologies for manufacturing, from enterprise application software for supplier performance management ( Apexon ), on-demand ERP and MES systems (Plexus Systems), and supply chain planning (TrueDemand Software), to wireless sensor networks (Sensicast Systems) and SCADA/DCS security systems (Verano). In between, we look at RFID management (Reva Systems), sales and operations planning (Interlace Systems), product performance management ( SigmaQuest ), product development risk management ( Sopheon ), and online merchandising (WebCollage).
The MA list this year touches many aspects of the manufacturing enterprise. We fully expect that many of the companies on our list may be entirely new to you and that the areas they address may not be ones that you have focused on. But we hope that Companies to Watch will take some of the time and effort out of your own process of discovery and evaluation. If we have done that, we have succeeded in easing your already considerable technology management burden.
I welcome your feedback, as always.
To read about our 10 Companies to Watch, click on the links in the Related Resources box at right.