Manufacturing IT investment steadies after plunge

A Microsoft product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jul 3, 2003

Results of a survey announced at the Microsoft Manufacturing Partner Summit reveal that IT spending is levelling out near 1998 levels after falling from its 2000 peak.

Results of a survey announced at the Microsoft Manufacturing Partner Summit reveal that IT spending is levelling out near 1998 levels after falling from its 2000 peak.

The survey completed by Benchmark Research also shows that 30% more managers in manufacturing expect business growth this year than expect a decline.

During the Microsoft sponsored survey, researchers questioned IT and business managers from 1050 UK manufacturing companies of all sizes and types.

They found the top IT priority for a majority (55%) of manufacturers is to get full value from their existing investment.

Only 18% said new systems were a priority.

The majority of those aiming to get more from their systems believed that better visibility for existing data was the best way to do this.

Three quarters of them also said they needed better reporting and data analysis.

"As a proportion of manufacturing GDP, spending on IT is still above the trend line between 1993 and 1998, before the millennium effect set in", said Guy Washer, Managing Director of Benchmark Research.

"So users clearly still believe that IT can deliver business benefits, but now they are making tactical investments to get more value from data produced by existing systems.

Rather than spending on entirely new systems they want better visibility of existing information across the organisation and along the supply chain".

According to 83% of line managers, the main problems facing production and distribution operations include supply chain visibility.

Among IT managers, 75% also said this was a pressure point and the same number thought information flow along the supply chain was an issue.

When asked what was hindering visibility along the supply chain, integration problems and technological barriers were each named by 45% of IT managers.

Integration and networking were also placed among their immediate investment priorities.

"The results indicate users are aware that information is not reaching the right people quickly enough in a form that they can use", said Guy Washer.

"They now want ways to deal with this and are prepared to invest in solutions that allow them to take information from MRP and ERP to desktop software that everyone is able to use".

Send to a friend Send to a friend
Print this page Print this page
Bookmark this page Bookmark this page

Not what you're looking for? Search the site.

Back to top Back to top

Google Ads

 

Contact Microsoft

Contact Microsoft

Company profile and news

Related Stories

Contact Microsoft

 

Newsletter sign up

Request your free weekly copy of the Engineeringtalk email newsletter ...

Sign up now Sign up now

Browse by category

All suppliers A - Z

A Pro-talk Publication

A Pro-talk publication