The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) party includes more than just Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Manufacturers are joining the on-demand fiesta with planning and scheduling applications. These solutions offer a variety of benefits but are particularly important for four different profiles of manufacturers.
SaaS for Manufacturing
On-demand software is rapidly gaining both mind-share and market-share. As stated in the McLean Report research note "Software-as-a-Service Experiences Rapid Growth," SaaS solutions are beginning to address the requirements of industry verticals.
SaaS-based manufacturing solutions are emerging as viable competitors to products from established vendors, such as i2 Technologies, Oracle, and SAP. SaaS solutions are most commonly used for:
- Supply chain visibility.
- Transportation management.
- Supplier and contract negotiation.
Vendors are rapidly creating SaaS modules to address other manufacturing issues, such as:
- Supply chain execution.
- Shop floor planning.
- Demand planning.
- Production scheduling...
