Progress Toward the Perfect Lean Market

New Year: New Possibilities

Slim down. Eliminate waste. Get Lean. For many, it’s the perpetual New Year’s pledge, both professionally and personally. For manufacturers, this year is no different; and for QAD, 2007 will mark our continued progress toward a vision for the industry’s Perfect Lean Market.

The principles of Lean are on the hearts and minds of manufacturers everywhere and the benefits of practical applications can be seen as companies use ERP technology to automate business processes across systems, improving operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. But the Perfect Lean Market is about more than speeding production and “slimming down” through eliminating waste in the production process. In the Perfect Lean Market, information flows freely not only across systems, but also departments, plants, continents—in effect, the whole enterprise.

A September 2006 study by Aberdeen Group notes that while many “are enthusiastic about the benefits that can be derived by ‘Leaning out’ manufacturing operations” there is still “a large performance gap between those companies that are simply using Lean techniques on the shop floor versus those that have built a culture based on Lean thinking throughout the enterprise and in particular, the supply chain.ⁱ ” In the Perfect Lean Market, ERP technology enables rather than hinders a lean enterprise. But, when the idea is to remove obstacles to the flow of information, simplicity becomes paramount and a clear vision for the conditions of a frictionless enterprise becomes crucial.  We see the Perfect Lean Market as characterized by three main conditions: clarity, agility and unity:

• Clarity characterizes the way information is communicated.
• Agility demonstrates responsiveness to change.
• Unity reflects trading partners’ collaboration.

With a vision for the Perfect Lean Market, manufacturers can use ERP technology to achieve clear communication and visibility into data. They can choose software to help improve responsiveness to changes in the marketplace. Perhaps most significantly, they can use ERP solutions to help the supply chain compete as a unit, for collective benefit.

Extending the Reach of your Enterprise

As we march toward the Perfect Lean Market for manufacturers, we’re making good on our word to broaden the QAD product suite, providing you the best, most comprehensive solution set built specifically for manufacturers. QAD President and Founder, Pam Lopker said it best at the recent Explore EMEA customer conference held in Prague, Czech Republic last November, “As we deliver on our commitment to the demand-driven manufacturing enterprise, it’s gratifying to extend the capabilities of our solutions without adding complexity, as well as to make progress on our vision of a Perfect Lean Market by helping to streamline the manufacturing supply chain.”

New and enhanced QAD products deliver enterprise performance, from the shop floor to the international marketplace for maximum communication and collaboration:

• QAD CRM: QAD Sales Force Automation helps your sales force work smarter and create customer relationships that drive revenue. QAD Marketing Automation builds pipeline by helping you target the right markets and execute campaigns profitably.

• QAD Transportation Management: A fully integrated suite of transportation management applications―QAD Freight Management, QAD Global Trade Management and QAD Trade Compliance―that ensure efficient, cost-effective distribution and global compliance.

• QAD Enterprise Asset Management: Cut plant maintenance costs and uncover hidden revenue streams buried in your enterprise assets.

• QAD Supply Visualization: QAD SV enhances supply chain clarity to unify manufacturers and suppliers for mutual advantage.

• QAD Demand Management: A powerful solution for meeting changing customer needs while reducing costs.

QAD’s recent acquisitions of Precision Software and FBO Systems, Inc. provide additional breadth to the QAD product suite as well as mark an important milestone in our long-term relationship with customers. As you benefit from applications that are clearly designed for the best results you are also given the flexibility to maintain competitive advantage.

The acquired Precision Software provides our customers the best in transportation-related applications. Precision products handle transportation management, denied party screening and export documentation. Precision Software is in use at some 900 sites in over 57 countries.

Likewise, Enterprise Asset Management company, FBO Systems brings capabilities in plant and equipment maintenance, MRO procurement and capital projects management. These capabilities address the needs of customers in all six of QAD’s key vertical markets.

QAD is committed to helping you extend the reach of your enterprise to compete powerfully at both the local and global levels. These developments formalize and strengthen the longstanding partnership between QAD and Precision, and QAD and FBO Systems. More importantly for customers, these actions further enhance your QAD Enterprise Applications and continue to pave the way for the Perfect Lean Market.

Maximizing the Value of your Investment

To help embrace the Perfect Lean Market, QAD Global Services works in seamless collaboration with customers to support their global operations. Through our network of regional support centers and over 400 consultants worldwide, we’re able to develop and deploy teams quickly to meet customer needs anywhere in the world. A committed partnership combined with the right consulting, support and learning will ensure that your ERP system drives optimal performance and you remain ahead of the industry curve.

QAD Consulting delivers solid industry expertise, proven best practices and unmatched implementation capabilities that ensure on-time deployment, fast ROI and maximum long-term benefit from your QAD Enterprise Applications.

QAD Learning offers a comprehensive array of cutting-edge educational services to ensure that your IT professionals, end users and decision makers have the knowledge they need to translate your software investment into higher productivity and profitability.

QAD Support is a worldwide team of solution and technology experts, dedicated to helping your QAD Enterprise Applications run smoothly. Quick problem resolution is conveniently accessible 24 x 7 through our global network of regional support centers, extensive knowledge base, and online support.

QAD Global Services enables customers to achieve their business goals by identifying sources of current demand and determining where new profitability exists.

Partnering for Success
The Perfect Lean Market will be realized through partnering with vendors, customers and suppliers for the collective benefit of the industry. It will require new technology and new ideas and will bring about new possibilities for the Lean enterprise.

Driven by our passion for the manufacturing industry, QAD’s goal is to help you join in our pursuit of this vision. Along with a commitment to remove unnecessary elements of complexity from core business processes, The Perfect Lean Market will require solutions that make it easier to manage overall compliance requirements and that consolidate resources to increase predictable performance. We’re taking proactive steps to deliver these solutions today as we continue to roadmap the products that will meet your capability needs and functionality requirements in the future. Teamed with a services organization that is dedicated to addressing and achieving your business goals in a partnership fashion, QAD is excited at the progress being made toward the Perfect Lean Market: the future of the global supply chain.