PeopleSoft announces Supply Chain Management 8.8

PeopleSoft, Inc. has announced PeopleSoft Enterprise Supply Chain Management (SCM) 8.8. The solution will include new functionality designed to enable manufacturers to increase the speed and agility of production, and provide an enhanced “Total Ownership Experience”, says the company.

“Shrinking margins, increasing supply chain complexity, fluctuations in demand, and skyrocketing customer expectations are resulting in major challenges for manufacturers. From the plant floor to corporate operations, PeopleSoft SCM continues to deliver unique solutions that enable customers to run demand-driven enterprises,” said Carol Ptak, global industry executive and vice president of PeopleSoft Manufacturing and Distribution.

PeopleSoft Enterprise 8.8 Supply Chain Management will be generally available in December 2003.

PeopleSoft Enterprise SCM 8.8 will include new functionality that supports best practices across manufacturing and customer order management processes. Highlights include: ‘Real-Time Analytics’, wherein a new Manufacturing Scorecard instantly delivers production information directly to a manager’s desktop, providing real-time analysis of throughput, inventory, quality and actual manufacturing costs.

‘Serial Genealogy’ tracks specific component parts within finished goods to enable quick identification of products that may include a flawed set of parts, while ‘Yield-by-Operation’ improves production planning by accounting for materials lost during each stage of the manufacturing process.

PeopleSoft Enterprise ‘Customer Order Management’, meanwhile, offers ‘Enhanced Promotion Flexibility’, which enables managers to quickly and efficiently manage trade promotions and measure success across specific channels. ‘Self-Service Pricing’ allows managers to instantly adjust pricing for products to reflect changes in demand or shifts in marketing strategies. The cross-docking functionality matches received goods with outgoing orders, enabling orders to be fulfilled immediately without incurring stocking costs, says the company.

In May of 2003, PeopleSoft introduced the Total Ownership Experience initiative, which it says addresses all aspects of the enterprise application lifecycle, dramatically improving the way organizations implement, maintain, and use enterprise software. PeopleSoft Enterprise SCM 8.8 will deliver on the Total Ownership Experience by incorporating more than fifty enhancements that improve usability and drive user productivity, says the company. For example, the solution will include new installation wizards, templates, and a library of pre-built integration points to speed implementation.