The Dozen 2003Manhattan Associates Inc.AtlantaThe road to the promised land of operational excellence is long and perilous. Ghosts of failed systems haunt the supply chain management (SCM) landscape. Problems solved only seem to reveal problems unknown. Firebrand revolutionaries rail at the imperfect state of affairs. Burned-out shells of B2B IPOs creak in the howling wind. The survivors know that they are but one high-profile disaster away from adding to the wreckage. Success takes courage, dedication, concentration, and, as it turns out, humility. Manhattan Associates, founded in 1990, wisely didn't try to solve it all overnight. The company's founders began chipping away at the problem of supply chain execution within the confines of the U.S. clothing manufacturing industry. Beginning with PkMS, the company's core engine initially targeted for IBM AS/400 (now iSeries) platforms, Manhattan Associates attacked inefficiencies in how suppliers managed warehouses and moved goods through distribution channels. Eleven years later, the publicly traded concern boasts more than 800 employees and as many customers at over a thousand facilities worldwide. And it has been continuously profitable, quite a feat given what troubled times have done to others. "Technology is very important," said CEO Richard Haddrill in an interview with TWST.com "However, reliability and functionality of the products are even more important." This alignment of priorities has served Manhattan Associates well in a sector where resilience is critical and failure can mean millions. The company has steadily added products to PkMS to enable, among other things, BI-style reporting, analysis, monitoring, and measurement — and extension beyond the walls to collaborative relationships. A technology partnership with Microsoft is guiding Manhattan Associates' implementation of XML in the direction of BizTalk Server and .Net, although the company held its cards close by trumping up a similar relationship with Sun Microsystems. Supply Chain Becomes StrategicLed by Haddrill and a board that includes founders Alan Dabbiere and Deepak Raghavan, Manhattan Associates has brought aboard seasoned personnel who can enable the company to accelerate its pace toward a dominant competitive position in supply chain execution in a range of industries. It has pulled new and existing technology pieces together to create x-SCE, "the first real suite for supply chain execution," in the company's view — and many analysts agree. The future will add "intelligent response" and self-healing technology to support the event management cycle. Customer demands for variety, competitive imperatives to reduce latency, and globalization have made SCM strategic. Manhattan Associates' rise is well-timed to provide leadership in facing down the challenges. MAJOR MOVES IN 2002· Created Extended Supply Chain Execution (x·SCE) strategy, introducing a suite of industry·focused solutions · Released new version of PkMS, focusing on collaborative management of distribution centers INTELLIGENT ENTERPRISES· The Limited uses WMS to support a complex distribution environment with multiple platforms and systems · Mikasa employs PkMS to support its supply chain, reducing delivery time by more than half
|
 |
Most Popular This Week
IE Weekly Newsletter
Subscribe to the newsletter
| |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
