InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
December 8, 1997
PeopleSoft Inks Deals For Manufacturing Apps
Domino's, Toyota to manage supply chainBy Tom Stein
Under a multimillion-dollar deal, the Toyota unit will roll out the PeopleSoft manufacturing software to its eight plants over the next two years. "We're undertaking a project to commonize and unify our systems," says Roy Vasher, general manager of IS at the Toyota unit, in Erlanger, Ky. "For manufacturing, we were using a bare-bones, homegrown system. PeopleSoft will provide us with more sophistication on the planning side, and will allow us to reduce the manpower needed to manage the
production process and avoid a lot of manual paperwork."
The Toyota deal helps validate PeopleSoft's $225 million purchase of supply-chain vendor Red Pepper Inc. Red Pepper's real-time planning and scheduling engine, which is included in PeopleSoft's manufacturing software, was key to Toyota's decision. "We can use it to analyze our production schedules and simulate different production scenarios and what-if planning," says Vasher.
Domino's, in Ann Arbor, Mich., expects the manufacturing software to help it better serve its 5,700 stores and 25 distribution centers by giving the company a more complete view of its supply chain. That, Domino's officials say, will let the company produce raw materials and distribute them more quickly and more cost effectively. The pizza maker already uses PeopleSoft's human resources applications, and plans to install financial and distribution software modules.
But PeopleSoft still has some catching up to do. Bobby Cameron, an analyst with Forrester Research in Cam
bridge, Mass., says rivals SAP, Oracle, and Baan offer more mature, functionally rich manufacturing products, adding, "PeopleSoft still needs toenrich its order handling and fulfillment capabilities."
eopleSoft Inc., best known for its human resources and financial software, is making headway in the manufacturing arena. The enterprise applications vendor last week scored two major contracts-Domino's Pizza Inc. and Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America-for large-scale deployments of PeopleSoft's manufacturing application.
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