title: Real-time enterprise solutions for discrete manufacturing and consumer goods
abstract: Customer satisfaction and a focus on core competencies have dominated the thinking of a whole host of industries in recent years. However, one outcome, the outsourcing of noncore activities, has made the production of goods-from order entry to final delivery-more and more complex. Suppliers, subsuppliers, producers and customers are therefore busy adopting a new, more collaborative approach. This is mainly taking the form of order-driven planning and scheduling of production, but it is also being steered by a need to reduce inventories and working capital as well as a desire to increase throughput and optimize production
keyphrases: real-time enterprise solutions discrete manufacturing consumer goods customer satisfaction core competencies order-driven planning production scheduling working capital reduction inventories reduction