The 2009 MA/ME reader poll reveals that plant floor to enterprise systems integration is continuing, but projects are being stretched out and scaled back as budget and standards challenges loom.
Maybe a recession is just a good time to integrate. How else to explain, during one of the worst economic recessions in memory, the fact that both U.S. and European manufacturers are continuing to integrate their plant floor systems with higher-level business systems?
And not only is the integration work continuing, but also some progress is being achieved in the extent to which factory floor devices are being interconnected. In the United States, for example, more manufacturers this year are saying they have linked a higher percentage of devices than last year, not a small feat, considering the difficulty of the work required and the economic context in which companies find themselves.
More important, perhaps, there are far fewer project delays this year due to issues around complexity and organizational and cultural challenges.
These are just some of the findings of the latest Managing Automation reader poll on plant floor to enterprise business systems integration, the magazine's seventh study since 2001. Nearly 250 readers in the United States and 100 readers of MA's sister publication in Europe, Manufacturing Executive, voiced their opinions on the state of integration in their companies, their business and technology goals associated with integration, and the challenges they face in accomplishing the work.
Last year, in this magazine's first comparison of U.S. and European manufacturers' integration activities, European industrial companies reported greater progress in plant floor to enterprise business systems integration than their U.S. counterparts, but similar business and technology goals as well as organizational and cultural challenges.
