nMetric Argues that Manufacturing Software Can Tell Management What They Need to Know; Most Manufacturing Software Does Not Live Up to Expectations.

Business Editors

COSTA MESA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 24, 2003

nMetric today announced that its 4C@Site integrates planning, scheduling and execution into a single, cohesive, synchronized process. Only when these three functions are interactively coordinated on an event-by-event basis can management find out what it needs to know is happening on the shop floor.

"Most manufacturing software doesn't live up to expectations because it fails to integrate planning, scheduling and execution," informs nMetric CEO Tom Carpenter. "Planning conveys what you want to do, then hands off to manufacturing. Scheduling tries to meet the plan but doesn't communicate back to Planning or know what is happening now. Execution monitors what you are doing and have done but doesn't anticipate future needs."

According to Carpenter, to proactively manage Work In Process (WIP), real time tracking must continually update WIP, including machine/human resources, materials and capacity. It must also update and coordinate with the schedule as well as update job status. Only by integrating tracking with scheduling can the system account for emerging conditions that might impact commitments, alert management and suggest alternatives.

"Without immediately knowing the consequences of shop floor events and new demands on manufacturing, commitments are based on best guesses," Carpenter argues. "Live scheduling and tracking must feed event-driven messaging, updating all interested parties to conditions affecting customer commitments, internal operations and material demands. Our 4C@Site assures more productive supply chain communications among the entire team."

Carpenter continues, "Scheduling is critical to knowing capable-to-build. Only by integrating scheduling and execution can manufacturing operations and sales organizations work together to know exactly what can be produced and delivered when needed. Sales can finally determine if a rush order is really possible!

"In today's competitive markets, such information is a necessity," Carpenter emphasizes. "By accelerating work and order flow, management fosters increased revenues. Inventories, WIP and otherwise, drop. Optimizing manufacturing resources boosts operational margins and delays capital investments."

4C@Site assures that everybody in the supply chain, including management, sales, production, partners and customers, know if an order will ship on time or be late and know it ahead of time. Hot spots are located before the fact so production can compensate. Firefighting and miscommunication are eliminated, reducing chaos on the shop floor.

About nMetric

nMetric's manufacturing software affordably combines scheduling and manufacturing execution and integrates it with any enterprise planning system. 4C@Site features live real-time scheduling; continuous tracking and monitoring of resources, operations and related activities; event-driven messaging; and live "capable-to-build" analysis. It instantly confirms the shop floor's ability to produce specific order delivery requests. Forward-looking, 4C@Site proactively reveals contention for resources, monitors the entire production process and sends message alerts when upcoming events could create delays. Company headquarters are at 3070 South Bristol Avenue, Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626. Phone is 888/561-9700. Website is www.nmetric.com.

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