ARC Advisory Group's Performance Driven Manufacturing Conference and Industry Standards Summit Will Feature Industry Leaders Sharing Best Practices.

DEDHAM, Mass. -- Top industry visionaries will share their experiences and best practices for optimizing manufacturing operations at ARC Advisory Group's Ninth Annual Forum, "Performance Driven Manufacturing: Best Practices for Optimizing Your Human and Physical Resources". The forum will be held January 31 - February 3, 2005 in Orlando, Florida. Andy Chatha, ARC's President and Founder, com-ments, "Adopting best practices in all business and manufacturing operations is vital to maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. This forum provides an exceptional opportunity to learn from the experiences of your peers as well as network with a unique blend of manufacturers, suppliers, and industry organizations."

Optimization of Human and Physical Assets Is Key Theme

The agenda will cover a broad range of topics critical to optimizing your manufacturing operations, including two often overlooked topics: how to transform your people into knowledge workers and how to optimize your capital equipment. Forum topics include the following:

--Best Practices for Empowering Your People

--Best Practices for Optimizing Your Physical Resources

--Best Practices for Collaboration Between IT and Operations Organizations

--Best Practices for Achieving Interoperability Across the Enterprise

--Architecture for the Plant and Factory of the Future

--Emerging Technologies for Driving Performance

Organizations Join Forces in Industry Standards Summit

The Industry Standards Summit will include joint working group sessions hosted by OMAC, OPC Foundation, ISA99 Cyber Security, ISA88 and World Batch Forum, ISA95 Interoperability, and Microsoft Manufacturing Users Group (MS MUG).

Industry Executives from Top User and Supplier Companies Will Present

Both the manufacturer and supplier communities are well represented at the forum. Speakers include:

--Toyota Motor, Wil James, Vice President of Manufacturing

--Rolls Royce, Michael Stubbs, Head Manufacturing Engineering 

--Pfizer, Paul Greene, Director Drug Product Automation

--Nestle Purina Petcare, Mark Buettner, Dir., Elec. & Controls Engineering

--Bayer Technology Services, Norbert Kuschnerus, Head Process Mgmt. Tech.

--Rohm and Haas, Dan Rozinski, MES Project Leader

--Weyerhaeuser, Dick Peterson, Senior IT Architect

--DuPont, Ray Walker, Principal Consultant

--Shell, Herman Storey, Advisor Automation Engineering

--Boeing, Wayne Hixson, Mgr., Advanced Mfg. & Information Systems

--3M, Ashok Nangia, Process Control Technology Leader

--Unilever, Andrew McDonald, Global Auto. & Control Technology Manager

--UPS, Bill Moir, Corp. Electrical Engineering Manager

--Hershey Foods, Jim Ramsey, Dir. Mfg. System Optimization

--Dow Chemical, Ed Sederlund, Process Automation Product Manager

--International Paper, Joseph Rahme, Senior IT Manager

--ExxonMobil, Sandy Vasser, Facilities I&E Manager

--Air Products & Chemicals, Richard O'Reilly, Global Mgr., Process Tech.

--Millennium Specialty Chemicals, Maurice Wilkins, Dir. of Automation

--U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, David Sanders, Director of Critical Infrastructure Protection & Cyber Security

Many more executives will speak. Please refer to our website for an up-to-date list of speakers: http://www.arcweb.com/events/forums/0205.htm#spkr

Emerging Solutions Showcase

New industry solutions for manufacturing will be showcased at the Emerging Solutions Showcase. This is an excellent opportunity for executives to assess the potential for emerging applications in production management, interoperability, Industrial Ethernet, wireless, cyber security, asset management and more.

For more information on the forum and to register, please call 781-471-1122 or visit http://www.arcweb.com/res/forumorl.

Founded in 1986, ARC Advisory Group has grown to become the Thought Leader in Manufacturing and Supply Chain solutions. No matter how complex your business issues, our analysts have the expert industry knowledge and first-hand experience to help you find the best answer. We focus on simple yet critical goals: improving your return on assets, operational performance, total cost of ownership, project time-to-benefit, and share-holder value. Further information can be obtained from ARC, Three Allied Drive, Dedham, MA 02026, 781-471-1000, Fax [phone], E-mail [e-mail], Web www.ARCweb.com.