Supply chain management maturing for the middle manufacturing ground?

Manufacturers in the mid to big league looking for better supply chain visibility that doesn’t require overly complex planning and optimisation functionality that’s also easy to use and not too expensive to implement or run look set to get what they want. Analyst Gartner’s latest supply chain systems research, in which the firm ranks supply chain software vendors and their systems in terms of product and initiative vision and ability to deliver, shows SAP and Manugistics now creeping into the ‘leaders’ position, held back only by the currently weak market. Gartner ranks SAP highest, stating that its “execution problems have been solved [while] some of its modules have matured to equal best-of-breed solutions for some industries.” It also praises the company’s initiatives to integrate CRM (customer relationship management) and PLM (product lifecycle management) functionality, as well as its relatively large installed base in Europe and advises users to consider APO (SAP’s advanced planning and optimisation). Manugistics, also in the leaders quadrant with SAP, comes in for favour notably for the effort the firm has put into integration, enabling more rapid implementations, but also for its APS (advanced planning and scheduling) and TOC (Theory of Constraints) support, through the acquisition of STG. The latter is what’s given the firm it’s range of systems to help particularly in complex and assemble-to-order environments. The only warning: watch Manugistics “ongoing struggles with revenue growth and profitability”. Beneath these, Gartner positions i2, AspenTech, Oracle and Adexa. Of i2, it comments that while industry capabilities are “deep, potential users should reassure themselves over its declining revenues and worrying management turnover. AspenTech it places high, but notes the clear process industry only leaning, and advises watching for functionality that’s live versus that still in development. Then, for Oracle Gartner notes the high number of recent ‘go lives’ and its simpler if not overly robust functionality, while for Adexa it simply notes management and marketing changes and, beyond commenting that high tech and textiles are its sweetest spots, sits on the fence. Others that it ranks include Agilisys (formerly SCT), Invensys/Baan, IFS, Intentia, JD Edwards, Logility, PeopleSoft, Sqynquest and webplan. The list of other potentials that have not been considered is long, and the omissions presumably have to do with the completeness and/or scope of their offerings. For potential users that really do want better supply chain visibility without the complexity of planning and optimisation, go onto our product search engine.