As part of an ongoing effort to build industry-specific credibility, control vendor GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms has teamed up with the global IT service provider Wipro Technologies to target consumer packaged goods (CPG) and pharmaceutical manufacturers. The duo will offer systems and services ranging from implementation of production management systems to integration between plant and enterprise systems.
The relationship stems from a deal inked in June, in which the two announced a go-to-market agreement to serve customers in the automotive, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and CPG industries. In August, the companies unveiled their automotive strategy, including design for manufacturability, integrating sales and operations planning, enterprise application offerings, manufacturing operations management, and integration.
This week's announcement follows a similar mold, as the companies said they will focus on the implementation and standardization of MES, and integration to gain visibility into manufacturing operations at the plant and enterprise level — with the aim of improving quality, regulatory compliance, traceability, and delivering manufacturing intelligence. GE Fanuc's MES software, GE Fanuc Production Management Software, is housed under its Proficy line of automation products.
In an interview with Managing Automation earlier this year, GE Fanuc officials said they will depend on systems integrators that have industry and application domain expertise to deliver tailored solutions on top of the GE Fanuc Proficy Process System, a turnkey control system. At that time, officials said that among the company's hundreds of systems integrators partners, GE Fanuc has been establishing relationships with "premier" system integrators that bring added value to implementations, applications, services, and support.
According to a 2006 AMR Research report entitled, "Service Providers in Manufacturing Operations: Who Has the Goods?" (report here, subscription required) Wipro is one of a dozen global service providers that has established a focus in manufacturing operations and a presence in both discrete and process industries. Wipro is very strong in the automotive space, the report noted, and the company is in the midst of building out industry expertise in the process industries.
Wipro, based in Bangalore, India, enjoys a global footprint, with more than 50 industry-based centers of excellence and 72,000 employees worldwide. Wipro has established technology partnerships with Cisco, HP, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Sun Microsystems, and, in addition to its pact with GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, has created manufacturing alliances with Selectica, Apriso, OM Partners, and SmartOps, according to the company Web site.
For GE Fanuc, which has deep roots in the discrete manufacturing arena but has also built an integrated, process-oriented control system, the Wipro relationship adds the lure of additional industry expertise to GE Fanuc's offerings in the CPG and pharmaceutical domains.
"This is a significant step towards increasing reach as well as establishing complementary expertise in execution," said Ed Martin, GE Fanuc's Chief Marketing Officer, in a statement. "Wipro Technologies is a well-respected provider of implementation services in production management." That, coupled with GE Fanuc's Proficy offerings, creates a strong offering for customers, he said.