ARC Advisory Group Presents New Collaborative Production Systems (CPS) Manufacturing Model at GE Fanuc Users Conference.

New Model Provides Direction To Manufacturers In Applying the Principles of Collaboration Between Operations Management and Automation Control

GE Fanuc Solutions Align and Support the CPS Model, Signifying Focus On Providing Complete, Plant Floor To Enterprise Solutions For Customers

ST. LOUIS -- GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a unit of GE Enterprise Solutions, has announced its support for the ARC Advisory Group's new manufacturing model, entitled Collaborative Production Systems. ARC presented this new model at Discover 2007, the GE Fanuc Annual Users Conference being held this week in St. Louis, Missouri. The new model, with the acronym CPS, is designed to provide a new, holistic vision for how companies view their manufacturing and production operations and how those operations can best collaborate with the rest of the enterprise.

Dubbed a "next generation" model that helps combine ARC's popular Collaborative Process Automation Systems (CPAS) and Operations Management models, the Collaborative Production System model outlines not only systems infrastructure, but also the requirements, functions, people and processes needed for manufacturers to achieve operational excellence. "GE Fanuc provides solutions that align with this model to deliver the consolidation of process control, automation/visualization and Production Management functionality that connect into enterprise and supply chain systems," commented Bill Estep, Vice President of Control Systems for GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms.

According to Craig Resnick, Research Director, ARC Advisory Group, "Collaborative Production Systems prevent assets from being niche islands of information, and ensure that all assets are delivering their maximum return on investment to the manufacturers and their shareholders. Collaborative Production Systems also eliminate manufacturers' internal barriers that may exist between, for example, plant floor and IT personnel."

The new ARC model provides direction to manufacturers regarding how to apply the principles of collaboration to ensure that each production system is contributing valuable relevant information to each other, which enables the best possible management decisions to be made. The CPS architecture provides a real-time unified perspective to support enterprise-wide operations management, which makes collaborative manufacturing possible.

"There are aging systems out there that are nearing their end of life," said Steve Ryan, Director of GE Fanuc's Proficy Process Systems business. "And, the people who knew how to run and operate those systems are retiring. There is a need to update systems that can be managed and maintained by the new workforce and to take businesses successfully forward for the next 10 to 15 years. It's no longer very effective to update or maintain a single controller at a time. By and large, businesses are looking to tie their control systems into their business information systems, but to do so intelligently. The CPS model can help them define their path to success."

CPS represents the increasingly distributed nature of applications, according to ARC. It creates opportunities for manufacturers to improve performance in the areas of asset and equipment reliability, automation and information context, knowledge worker enablement, plant performance intelligence, and common actionable KPIs that link manufacturing performance to business goals.

"CPS recognizes that a comprehensive portfolio is not enough," said Sheila Kester, GE Fanuc Director of Production Management Solutions. "It recognizes that focusing on business problems is not enough. It is about delivering results and recognizing it is a collaborative world with many facets and functions. The traditional walls and boundaries that have existed between systems and between functions are coming down or blurring. And the result is all about improving our customers' operational excellence. No one is a better position to deliver on that promise than GE Fanuc."

CPS also acknowledges that manufacturing companies face multiple challenges from the "flattening" of the world, according to ARC. Companies are shifting their focus to flexible customer-centric manufacturing that can deal with demand fluctuations. Flat world drivers demand manufacturing excellence, which places greater pressure on these companies to achieve operational excellence.

"ARC is a strong advocate of manufacturers adopting solutions that subscribe to the CPS model," said ARC's Resnick, "which will go a long way to removing the barriers between Operations Management and Automation Control, and is pleased that GE Fanuc has chosen to support the CPS model with its portfolio of solutions to manufacturers."

"GE Fanuc's focus is on providing complete, plant floor to enterprise solutions to our customers," said GE Fanuc's Estep. "Our teams have been transforming our business and solution portfolio over the years to better serve our customers. We share the vision for breaking down the barriers associated with the traditional 'layered' production environment with thought leaders such as ARC. The CPS model and our solutions are closely aligned to deliver value to manufacturers globally. Dissolving the walls and eliminating boundaries that our customers have faced between Operations Management and Automation Systems is exactly what we have been focusing on with our solutions, and the ARC CPS model clearly articulates the next generation model for those seeking operational excellence."

About GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms

GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a joint venture between General Electric (NYSE:GE) and FANUC LTD of Japan, is a high-performance technology company and a global provider of hardware, software, services, expertise and experience in automation and embedded computing, with products employed in virtually every industry, including manufacturing automation, defense, automotive, telecommunications, healthcare and aerospace. GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms is a worldwide company, headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, and is part of GE Enterprise Solutions. For more information, visit www.gefanuc.com.