Stories about: Manugistics

Mattel, the £2.8 billion (AU$6.9 billion) toy company, last week put its IT and supply chain systems under pressure again when it issued its third product recall, this time of 848,000 Barbie accessories and Fisher-Price toddler toys that could contain lead paint.

Certain IT initiatives fall into the "bet the company" category. Setting up an ERP system from SAP AG is one such choice. These complex undertakings carry both greater opportunities and greater risks than other enterprise software projects. Done right, an SAP deployment can transform an organization by streamlining operations, cutting costs and opening up new business opportunities. Done wrong, it can become a multiyear nightmare.

SSA Global and Manugistics set to be acquired. What CIOs really think of vendors. Auscert 2006 preview.

Vendor consolidation has reached the supply chain software market with retail specialist JDA Software announcing plans to acquire Manugistics for $US211 million.

On the racetrack, as in all forms of business today, speedy delivery separates the winners and losers. Using the right tools can give an SME outsider the front running in business just as it can on the track.

As supply chains stretch around the world, companies look to tweak supply chain management systems.

Manufacturers dream of a finely tuned supply chain, with finished goods landing softly on distributor and retailer loading docks at exactly the right time in precisely the right quantity. That can't be done, of course, without accurate demand forecasting -- which still tends to be based on intuition, last year's sales numbers, and spreadsheet war games between sales and marketing groups. For most, the dream remains distant.

When the economy surged in the late 1990s, office furniture maker Haworth rode the wave. A booming demand for new office space plus several acquisitions propelled the 52-year-old company to US$2 billion in sales in 2002, making it the world's second-largest designer and manufacturer of office furniture.

SAP has landed one of its meatiest and possibly toughest contracts ever -- literally speaking.

A wireless inventory system that's worked for tracking cattle is winning converts in the retail industry, but it's the suppliers who are getting prodded to adopt radio frequency identification.

Manugistics Group and IBM have entered into an alliance to market supply-chain management software, hardware and services.