Cloud Computing

Article from international magazine

Title: Is cloud computing ready for manufacturing?

The software-as-a-service model is well established in some enterprise software markets. There are plenty of suppliers in the foray like salesforce.com, NetSuite, i2 technologies etc. the latest developments in this regard, as given in the present article, talk about the usage of cloud computing in functions like shop floor control, supply and demand planning, etc. the article talks about several players who are venturing into this field of developing a SaaS model for manufacturing operations. Considering the gamut of the data which has to be collected pertaining to the raw materials, process times, lead times and many such details, a data warehouse model or a software which integrates all these in a single location for faster understanding and decision making.

As per SaaS vendors their ultimate success depends the some critical challenges like making it easier for their applications to integrate with all the applications companies currently rely to run their businesses and delivering solutions that can be easily configured to support any company’s unique business processes.

The article also talks about the “multi-tenant” architectures that allow the vendor to centrally store configurations unique to each user company while maintaining one single version of the software. This will be done by avoiding predefined data structures rather than certain rules and workflow settings to adapt the software.

It also being used to support some unique business models: selling via retail locations where foot scans would be conducted and orders placed via web kiosks, with manufacturing and fulfillment handled in a matter of days. Orthera is one such company based in San Mateo, California which custom configures its products for each customer, based on a scan of the customer’s feet taken at retail partner locations.

The article mentions about a SaaS-based electronic kanban solution at...