Kenandy Manufacturing Cloud
Description
Lawrence S. Gould:
"At the core of the Kenandy Manufacturing Cloud is traditional ERP functionality: inventory management (including subinventory management to support distributed operations); engineering management (such as bill of materials); production (i.e., work order management.); purchasing (including support for a range of order types and terms); and resource planning. The type of company that they think the package is best suited for is in the $15-million to $300-million range. (Yet while interviewing Kurtzig and Butters, a bell rang in the distance. Kenandy had just made a sale—to a $500 million company.)
This conventional ERP stuff is combined with the capabilities of social networking, mobile computing, and scalable worldwide, multi-lingual software deploy-ment. All in the cloud. Specifically, on the Force.com enterprise cloud computing system from eponymic Salesforce.com. Call it a “social manufacturing” platform. Or call it, says Kurtzig, the next wave of cloud applications where social media and multi-tenant systems combine with core enterprise application functionality to replace time-worn ERP systems developed decades ago.” The software is always up to date, doesn’t require costly maintenance upgrades, and doesn’t involve the complexities of computer servers, software, and distributed communications. Subscriptions cost $150/user/month. (Minimum 10 users; paid in advance.)
Cloud computing itself solves another problem inherent in last-generation ERP. Kurtzig posits that today’s manufacturing companies have moved from vertically integrated operations, where the company did and made everything to make something, to global, horizontally integrated operations, where different companies, suppliers, and partners of some sort work together to make that something. The problem, she says, is that ERP has not made that transition. Cloud-based ERP has, though, by virtue of its ability to be accessible to any subscriber with a computer running a web browser.
Cloud is not the only new feature in Kenandy. It’s so intuitive that people can learn it in a few hours—without reading a manual. (The company has yet to finish writing a user manual.) The system is straightforward and hover-over help is available for every data element that appears on a screen in Kenandy. From those data elements, users can quickly drill down for more data. A single screen display accesses purchase orders, line items, and approval information. This display makes it easy to create, update, track, and close purchase orders, convert MRP-planned orders and miscellaneous purchase requisitions into purchase orders, and maintain supplier information." (http://www.autofieldguide.com/articles/manufacturing-meets-social-networking)
More Information
- Kenandy joins a short list of vendors offering manufacturing-oriented ERP through the cloud: Epicor, Infor, Plex Systems, Rootstock, SAP
- Social Business Design