IFS Acquires 360 Scheduling
 On
September 30, 2010, IFS announced it has signed an agreement with the
owners of 360 Scheduling Ltd. to purchase 100% of the shares of the
company. The purchase price will be paid in cash. The acquisition will
further strengthen IFS' market position in the targeted service and
asset management sector, especially mobile workforce management.
360 Scheduling, based in Nottingham (UK) and with sites in France and
the U.S., is one of the world's leading providers of mobile workforce
scheduling and optimization software. The company offers 360 Scheduling,
a highly scalable SOA optimization framework which delivers very
advanced mobile workforce scheduling for both on-premises and "cloud"
(software-as-a-service) deployment.
High-quality field service is key for IFS customers owning or
supporting capital assets. 360 Scheduling enables these businesses to
meet delivery commitments, substantially reduce costs and achieve
operational control of their field service workforce.
360 Scheduling has an attractive customer base of more than 45
customers in the UK, France and the U.S. IFS intends to offer the 360
Scheduling product both as an integrated part of IFS Applications and as
a standalone solution. Economy of scale and synergies will be realized
by 360 Scheduling utilizing IFS' international infrastructure as well as
having similar industry focuses.
Did You Miss FIATECH's Tech Tuesday
Webinar on PBS - Listen On-Demand
Last
month, Kenny
Ingram, IFS Global Product Director, and Christian Klingspor,
IFS Global Product Manager of Engineering and Maintenance presenting
about project-based solutions (PBS) during FIATECH's Tech Tuesday Webinar Series.
If you missed it, you can listen on demand from the link below!
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Why Project-Based Solutions Are Replacing ERP For Improved
Support Of The Project Life-Cycle
For over a decade,
project-centric organizations have been struggling to reap
the same benefits the manufacturing industry has experienced
with integrated ERP systems. This is primarily because
traditional ERP systems were developed to support short,
repetitive production cycles tied to a master schedule,
whereas project-centric companies generally have custom,
build-to-order projects with long lead times, multiple
subcontracts, complex material requirements and are tied to
a work breakdown structure.
While ERP systems could support
many of the corporate functions of a project-centric
organization, such as finance and HR, these companies were
often forced to develop in-house applications, or heavily
modify their ERP solution in order to support their more
complex business processes. Enter the Project-Based
Solution, which combined the integrated enterprise benefits
of ERP, but are designed specifically to support the complex
business processes of project-centric organizations.
This webinar examines the
fundamental differences between traditional ERP and
Project-Based Solutions and provide case examples of how
project-centric organizations like yours are reaping the
benefits. It also demonstrates how Project-Based
Solutions provide a strong foundation for supporting the
integrated project lifecycle and ISO standards, such as
15926.
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Top
Free White Paper:
ERP vs Project-Based Solutions - Which is Right
for You?
Project Based Solutions (PBS) is a new type of ERP
for complex, engineer-to-order companies and
companies facing rapid change. And these days, most
companies do face change and their legacy ERP
systems strain to keep up. Is PBS a better choice
for you than traditional ERP? Read
More!
Podcast: Seven EAM Selection and Implementation Tips
In this month's episode
of the IFS Radio Network, you'll hear seven tips, in ten minutes, by six
IFS experts... all with one goal of leaving you better informed on what
it takes to select and implement EAM for
 maximum
benefit. Topics include the importance of integrated project management,
PAS-55 support, lean maintenance, usability, the use of EAM to support
aftermarket service and maintenance contracts and more! This podcast
ought to be of intense interest to companies in asset-intensive
industries like utilities, oil and gas or process manufacturing.
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"There
is a lot of research going on now in HCI,
basically focused on creating usable systems
and how the human brain best captures data
and able to handle information when
presented. Just an example, if you were to
have a thousand control points, and you
wanted to represent them in a graphical
window and wanted to point out the ones that
are behaving in an unexpected way, you could
let every control point be represented by a
vertical line... But if you then say that
something is in an alarm stage, you make the
line red and turn it horizontal instead of
vertical."
- Ander Lif, IFS AB Global Director for
Industry and Product Marketing |
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IFS Welcomes New
Customer - Torresol Energy
 IFS
welcomes new customer Torresol Energy, a leader in the
concentrated solar power (CSP) sector. Torresol Energy
has selected IFS Applications to manage the entire
lifecycle of its engineering projects and to maintain
its solar thermal energy plants.
Torresol Energy's
objective is to become a worldwide leader in the solar
thermal energy industry. Every new project that the
company develops, regardless of its location - Southern
Europe, Northern Africa, the Middle East or the United
States - will introduce new technologies. The goal is to
make CSP a viable, ecological and sustainable
alternative to traditional power sources.
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Wellpet Continues to Reduce Customer Lead Time with IFS
Applications
IFS, the global
enterprise applications company, announced today that
WellPet has successfully gone live with IFS Applications
at its Indiana manufacturing plant.
WellPet, developer, manufacturer and
marketer of premium natural pet foods, has been running IFS Applications
at its corporate office since 2004. But a recent merger left the
business running two separate ERP systems. In order to streamline
processes and gain real-time visibility in WellPet's manufacturing
facility, management decided to replace a legacy ERP system run at its
Mishawaka, Indiana manufacturing plant with IFS Applications.
The solutions that were implemented were
IFS Manufacturing, IFS Distribution, and an integrated automated data
collection through IFS partner Radley Corporation.
"This IFS Applications implementation
will allow us the ability to automate our lot traceability procedure
within our manufacturing plant, automate real-time performance metrics,
improve production scheduling efficiencies and reduce lead times to
customers," WellPet Vice President of Operations Beth Wilson said.
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Babcock Signs with IFS to Support Additional Operations
Last month, IFS signed a
deal with Babcock Pty Ltd, part of Babcock International
Group PLC, the engineering support services company.
Babcock Pty Ltd is a leading engineering
design, systems integration and support contractor specializing in the
provision of engineering design services, systems integration, project
management and in-house testing for Australian defense customers.
Operating out of two locations in
Australia, Adelaide and Perth, the Babcock team is now implementing an
integrated business system that will enable further efficiencies by
reducing duplication, automating processes and ultimately provide an
overall view of how the business is performing at any one time.
"The team was coping with disparate
systems to process everything from purchase orders to updating progress
reports. We knew that to support and grow the business over the coming
years we needed a new integrated system, as part of our ongoing
investment and development of the business here in Australia. It was
clear IFS understood our business and our industry very well and
provided an excellent solution for our needs," said Patrick Donovan,
Babcock's Systems & Equipment Managing Director, whose team is involved
in the development.
The first phase of the project is under
way with the implementation of IFS components for financials, HR,
contract management, distribution, project management and service
applications. The second phase of the project, which will include the
implementation of complex MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) and
workshop operations components, will start early in 2011.
Babcock has been an IFS customer globally
for ten years. IFS Applications is currently being used in Babcock
operations in the UK, the United States and Canada, and the company
expects to roll out IFS in other countries over the coming years.
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Events: Meet IFS October and December
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Upcoming Events |
ConFab Consulting Event
October 23-25, 2010 in Reno, NV
Booth #5No
matter if you are a beginning consultant, have a
growing consulting firm, or are a senior consultant
in your field, Confab offers powerful keynote and
breakout sessions and exhibits to help consultants
increase their skills and knowledge, as well as
networking where consultants make business
connections and collaborate with other consultants.
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POWER-GEN International
December 14-16, 2010 in Orlando, FL
Booth #1041
Recently celebrating
20 years of serving the power industry, POWER-GEN
International is the industry leader in providing
comprehensive coverage of trends, technologies and
issues facing the generation sector. As the need to
operate more efficiently and cost-effectively
becomes increasingly important, no other event
bridges challenges with solutions like POWER-GEN
International. Each year, more than 1,200 companies
from all sectors of the industry exhibit, with more
than 18,000 attendees.
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Free Web-Based Tool Simplifies CMMS/EAM Evaluation
Process
Are you
looking for a CMMS or EAM solution but don't know where
to begin? Try the
Plant Services
CMMS/EAM Software Review tool, an industry-unique, web-based
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David Berger, principal of
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