CIM 97 EXHIBITION pushes process

The UK industrial market for information technology products and services has been estimated at £3.1billion in 1997. And among the leading spenders are companies in the process industries. According to a survey carried out by Benchmark Research on behalf of CIM show organiser Independent Exhibitions, spending on IT by process companies will reach £1.5billion this year.

Despite this, even Independent Exhibitions accept that many IT vendors are not effectively addressing the needs of the process manufacturers. The survey was used to evaluate demand for a new process segment to the CIM show.

Independent's Mark Napier said: `Fierce global competition is making increasing demands on process companies in terms of time-to-market, profit margins and plant flexibility. To meet these demands, the process industries are substantially increasing their IT investments, and process-specific IT solutions deserve an event of their own.'

His views were echoed by Yukikazu Natori of Mitsubishi Chemical: `The IT industry has to establish specific relationships with the industry to improve their knowledge. It's getting better, but software suppliers still seem very far from the requirement. It's a global problem.'

What then is CIM 97 offering to the process industries? Immediately identifiable in Hall 3 of the NEC should be the Process Industry Centre. This will be offering an extensive educational programme covering many sectors of the process industries. Sponsored by SSI and the IChemE, with KPMG acting as consultants, the centre is hosting a series of seminars each day covering areas such as pharmaceuticals, bulk processes, food and drink, and textiles.

Apart from closely related areas of the show (such as the Control Systems Integration event - see panel), CIM 97 features more companies than ever before offering specific solutions for processors.

System 21 Process, for example, is claimed by its developer JBA (enter 410 on enquiry card) as a `complete IT solution for the process industry'. It is aimed at the `mixed mode' manufacturing techniques - discrete, repetitive and process - that feature in the likes of the food, cosmetics, toiletries, paints, inks, plastics and paper industries.

JBA's manufacturing product manager, Karen Marsh, says: `unlike discrete manufacturing, the process industry has co-products and by-products, and needs to measure wastage over a number of processes. System 21 addresses these demands and provides manufacturers with true mixed mode manufacturing.' The system incorporates process routes, rather than traditional bills of materials with separate operation and route information.

While JBA recognises the fundamental differences between `processing' and `manufacturing', another exhibitor, ForgeTrack (enter 411), has also identified a need for effective project management in processing. According to ForgeTrack's managing director Chris Loxley-Ford, `with the trend amongst an increasing number of manufacturers towards the use of multi-disciplined and cross-functional production teams, project management software becomes an effective method for the senior management team to monitor and control resource allocation and work-in-progress.'

ForgeTrack's Primavera software suite is being highlighted at CIM 97 and includes the P3 Project Planner module. This `high end project management tool' is in use at companies such as Glaxo Wellcome, Exxon Chemicals and Kv+rner John Brown, and can handle up to 100 000 activities. For medium sized projects up to 10 000 activities there is the Suretrak Project Manager module, while the recently introduced Primavera Webster can provide a tabular or barchart overview of the user's work across corporate intranets and the worldwide web.

The impact of the worldwide web will be felt all around CIM this year, of course, and its influence can already be seen in the updating of successful products such as the Prospex scheduling system from Proasis (412). The new Prospex Scheduling Workbench has been totally re-engineered. Written in Java, it is, says Chris Taunton, Proasis' md, `developed to be web-enabled from day one'.

Also on the Proasis stand is its close working partner, Gensym (413). The leading supplier of intelligent system software through its G2 development tool, Gensym is showing ReThink, described as an advanced process modelling toolkit.

One of the users of Proasis' Planning Workbench - a system that is said to take inventory and production planning well beyond the capabilities of traditional MRP/ERP systems - is McDougalls Catering Foods, whose logistics manager Richard Ford is speaking at the CIM Process conference.

Also at the conference, Barry Mailes, project leader at brewers Hall & Woodhouse, is presenting a session on `Improved production, planning and scheduling in the drinks industry'. Producer of Badger Dorset bitter, Tanglefoot beer and the Rio and Panda ranges of soft drinks, Hall & Woodhouse has implemented the MFG/PRO enterprise resources planning (ERP) package integrated with the Preactor finite scheduling system. Both these applications are supplied by Minerva (414), one of the largest distributors of MFG/PRO from the US company QAD.

Another drinks company investing in a CIM solution is Orchid Drinks, which numbers Aqua Libra, Purdey's, Monsoon and Jive among its brand names of sparkling herbal drinks. Orchid has spent £110 000 on the Fourman software suite developed by Leeds-based MAPS (415). Production planning was the crucial area for improvement for Orchid and `the MAPS software will address the exceptional complexity of our production planning,' says Orchid director Mike Corrigan. `We needed to bring both flexibility and method to our systems,' he goes on. `Stock control is complex since we often buy raw materials by tonnage but sell in litres. The Fourman modules will allow us to update material requirements on a real-time basis.'

As Orchid replaces its present system with Fourman modules, MAPS says that full-blown MRP will evolve as the software becomes integrated into general working practice.

For those still bewildered by the three-letter acronym syndrome that is endemic amongst the IT community, help is at hand for at least one TLA. Sanderson (416) has two complementary computer-based training packages offering MRP II training. Although the two packages fulfil very different functions, both offer substantial time savings over class-based training.

Sanderson's offering for the process sector is Formul8, an integrated manufacturing, planning and control system specifically designed for the food and formulation sector.

More specific process applications can be found on the stand of D&H Computer Services (417). This company is launching two new products. Unitas adds office and administration technology to the company's two main software systems, the Bliss and Marpacs MRP II business control systems for the general process and metals processing industries respectively.