American Partners with Pilot, JBA
American Software, the Atlanta-based ERP vendor, has entered into partnerships with Pilot Software and JBA International.
American will use Pilot’s OLAP technology as the basis for its Intelliprise data marts for the AS/400 market. Meanwhile, JBA plans to integrate its own ERP solutions with American Software’s Flow Manufacturing software.
Intelliprise is American Software’s integrated supply chain management and ERP solution. It includes an integrated data warehouse that provides an "out of the box" set of data marts. Pilot’s Decision Support Suite – ported to the AS/400 by Ridgeland, Miss.-based Venture SystemSource – will be the OLAP foundation of these data marts. The first of these data marts, Channel Performance, is available now and consists of pre-defined key performance indicators that measure customer satisfaction, product profitability and sales performance.
James Edenfield, president and CEO of American Software, says Pilot’s OLAP engine will enable American to rapidly deploy Intelliprise data marts, using a three-tier approach: operational data to data warehouse to data marts.
"By helping customers quickly deploy business intelligence capabilities, this advanced approach provides the perspective to make more strategic decisions and the business speed that leads to rapid results," Edenfield says.
While Pilot is helping to extend American’s Intelliprise, American is in turn helping to extend JBA’s ERP solution with its Flow Manufacturing software. Flow manufacturing, as a concept, is a demand-driven manufacturing approach to "pull" materials through production based on customer demand, rather than "push" materials through production based on a preset schedule. The result is typically improved efficiency through reduced product cycle time and leaner inventories.
American’s Flow Manufacturing software can be used with any ERP package and will now be the preferred flow manufacturing solution for JBA’s System 21 package.
An AMR Research (Boston) Enterprise Applications Alert notes that "for manufacturers, the combination of JBA’s System 21 and American Software’s Flow product establishes a competitive manufacturing capability in an industry that has already internalized the impact that Flow Manufacturing can have on delivery performance and overhead management."
Bob Paul, JBA’s VP of worldwide product marketing, says the combination of System 21 and Flow Manufacturing "means companies will find they have a fully integrated, automated system that continually drives disciplines into place by standardized procedures across teams and sites."
The combined solution will be particularly useful for JBA’s automotive industry customers, according to Karin Bursa, VP of marketing at American Software.