Major enterprise software and automation vendors may be lamenting the recession's impact on manufacturers' technology spending, but not all technology providers are feeling the pinch - yet, anyway.
A handful of small vendors, most with best-of-breed products that target specific manufacturing pain points, report they are enjoying rapid growth and profitability despite the global downturn. Providers of finite production planning and scheduling, business intelligence, manufacturing-specific ERP, and industry-specific product lifecycle management tools are among those bucking the downbeat economic news.
"So far, our solid growth has continued into 2009, and we haven't seen a slowdown," said Mike Novels, president and CEO of Preactor International, a U.K. based vendor of finite planning and scheduling software.
"Manufacturers are not going for big-bang ERP implementations, but they are investing in trying to improve what they have and in cutting costs and better serving customers. Our production scheduling tools can help with that."