THE HOLY GRAIL>>>>>>>>>>Agile Software, which sells applications to describe and configure complex
products, is proposing to make an XML-based open standard for supply-chain
collaboration in the electronics industry. Some observers think this could
deliver the "Holy Grail" of supply-chain planning: full, real-time information
sharing regardless of different software and platforms.
"It's very pragmatic ... basically a standardization of information everybody
has," said Bill Swanton, vice president of manufacturing strategies at AMR
Research, in Boston. "I think it's going to catch on really well because the
electronics folks have never felt standards have to be built from the ground
up."
Agile announced in mid-December that it is teaming up with the National
Electronics Manufacturing Initiative, contract electronics manufacturer
Solectron in Milpitas, Calif., and semiconductor distributor Marshall
Industries in El Monte, Calif., to propose an XML-based standard for
companies to exchange product information such as bills of materials or
engineering change orders.
"I'd like to see industry-wide support for this," because it would eliminate vast
amounts of busywork to deliver and decode various formats of bills and
product reports, said Ken Ouchi, CIO of Solectron.
|
