Friedman Expands Frontier
ERP software provider Friedman Corp. (Deerfield, Ill.) has added shop floor functionality to its AS/400 ERP Frontier suite with the announcement of a strategic alliance with .exe Inc. (Milwaukee). Through this alliance, exe will integrate Crossroads--its suite of manufacturing execution products--into Frontier.
Crossroads will act as a bi-directional interface for Frontier customers. Frontier data will be sent to Crossroads, which will show the data to employees on the shop floor. Crossroads will also generate any transactions on the shop floor and send them back to Frontier.
"We have pretty good expectations," says Richard Grilli, president of .exe. "Friedman customers have a great need for the shop floor functionality that we are providing."
According to Grilli, Friedman will sell Crossroads as a separate option to Frontier customers. Currently, Crossroads is compatible with ERP solutions from companies such as MAPICS Inc. (Atlanta) and SSA (Chicago). Future Crossroads compatibility is planned for solutions from a number of additional ERP vendors, including J.D. Edwards (Denver) and SAP (Chesterbrook, Pa.).
--J. Martin