Smart Manufacturing Blog

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The Power of Mobile ERP: 3 Benefits for Manufacturers

Plex Team August 24, 2016

Mobile ERP is about more than just using phones and tablets to access data. It’s a two-way experience in which machine-to-machine communication is as relevant as human communication. Mobile ERP enabled by the cloud provides these three benefits:...

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Oracle Hoping NetSuite Purchase Will Provide Entry to Cloud ERP Market

Jim Shepherd August 2, 2016

If there was any remaining doubt that the ERP market has shifted to the cloud it was dispelled last week when Oracle announced its intent to buy NetSuite for $9.3B. Despite already owning four different ERP products the company has clearly recognized that native, multi-tenant SaaS products like NetSuite, Plex, Workday, and Salesforce.com are the future of enterprise software....

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Supplier Expands Production with Manufacturing ERP Software

Plex Team August 1, 2016

Putting customers first is a mantra that FloraCraft takes to heart. The company has built its 70-year reputation as the world’s largest fabricator and supplier of Styrofoam™ brand foam products for the craft, floral, display, and special event industries on this guiding principle. Jim Scatena, FloraCraft’s President and CEO says it’s this philosophy that has helped his business remain so…

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Proud to Be One of Detroit’s Best and Brightest Companies

Plex Team July 27, 2016

For the eighth consecutive year, Plex Systems, a leader in cloud ERP for manufacturing, has been named one of Detroit’s Best & Brightest Companies to Work For®. This honor is particularly meaningful to us because it is based on input from the Plex team, who shared their opinions through an anonymous survey on Plex’s communications, work-life balance, education offerings, diversity,…

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The Manufacturing Digital Transformation: Connecting the Shop Floor

Andrew Hughes July 25, 2016

The constant hum of excitement about the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is becoming louder and more intelligible every day. It is now clear that we are well passed the initial hype (even if that is not the case in most consumer-facing IoT) and opportunities for forward thinking manufacturers are real. The initial benefits are in two areas: analytics and connectivity. But analytics and all…

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Debunking Cloud Myths: All Cloud ERP Is Not the Same

Jim Shepherd July 20, 2016

Mint Jutras, an ERP industry analyst firm, may have said it best: “All SaaS is cloud computing, but not all cloud computing is SaaS.“ There are huge benefits with systems made for the cloud versus those that are simply hosted in or converted to the cloud, and understanding those differences is important in an environment where software vendors do everything they can to confuse buyers....

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How Cloud ERP Drives Manufacturing Innovation

Plex Team July 13, 2016

Manufacturing has always been driven by innovation, from the first production line to modern sensors and robotics. Today, wearables and other connected tools are poised to transform how things are made. A central force in this transformation is cloud ERP—which now reaches all the way from materials in the supply chain to the employees and equipment on the plant floor to the hands of the customer…

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Debunking Cloud Myths: Total Cost of Ownership

Jim Shepherd June 29, 2016

I always welcome conversation about this statement – “ERP is much cheaper to run if I just own the software instead of renting it in the cloud.” It’s an opportunity to expose the true cost of legacy software ownership. TCO analysis is too often limited to comparing one-time license costs to ongoing subscription costs, ignoring more significant ‘ownership’ costs that add up....

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How Manufacturers Survive and Thrive in Turbulent Times

Plex Team June 13, 2016

Uncertain economic times have one of two effects on the manufacturing psyche. Many companies hunker down and ‘weather the storm’ by limiting technology investment until the chaos subsides, trying to time their investment to high-growth periods. Very difficult to do....

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How Manufacturers Survive and Thrive in Turbulent Times

Plex Team June 13, 2016

Uncertain economic times have one of two effects on the manufacturing psyche. Many companies hunker down and ‘weather the storm’ by limiting technology investment until the chaos subsides, trying to time their investment to high-growth periods. Very difficult to do....

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