Event
Summary
Thru-Put Corporation, the Supply Chain Management (SCM) division of MAPICS,
Inc., has released Thru-Put Manufacturing 5.1, the e-business version
of its Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software for mid market
manufacturers. New in this version are Internet collaboration capabilities,
access to Capable-To-Promise (CTP) information, and Profitable-To-Promise
(PTP) functionality, which purports to improve asset utilization and allocation.
Since its founding in 1993, Thru-Put has developed APS solutions based
on the Theory of Constraints (TOC) for the complex discrete-part manufacturing
industries.
Market
Impact
Internet collaboration is all the rage and SCM vendors are web enabling
client/server-based applications in an effort to retain current customers
and entice prospective ones. As an independent entity, Thru-Put established
a niche in APS software for the mid market complex manufacturing industries,
an achievement which made it the logical choice for Atlanta-based MAPICS.
MAPICS acquired Thru-Put indirectly through its purchase of Pivotpoint,
Inc. in January 2000. Although the company is working to integrate Thru-Put
APS with its AS/400 enterprise application suite XA, it continues to operate
Thru-Put as a separate division based in San Jose, CA.
Its
web capabilities are welcome enhancements, but are hardly a differentiator
in themselves. CTP has been available for over a year from many competitors
such as i2 Technologies and Adexa; while PTP, a relatively new buzzword,
has already been addressed by some leading vendors, most notably Oracle
Corporation.
In
concept, Profitable-To-Promise (PTP) allows companies to calculate costs
associated with alternative order promising, thereby quantifying the effects
on profitability. Unfortunately, profitability decomposed into an individual
order level may not be what most manufacturers are interested in. In seeking
to assign a dollar cost to each individual order, many of these algorithms
fail to see the forest for the trees. This is because promising an order
often involves complex considerations that defy representation by a mathematical
formula. With these considerations in mind, we view MAPICS' claim at having
added "industry leading PTP functionality" to its new release with cautious
skepticism.
User
Recommendations
Users should understand thoroughly how MAPICS' PTP functionality works
before allowing it to influence a buying decision. Unless it offers real
cost visibility for improving overall profitability and asset utilization,
PTP is little more than a novelty. In contrast, CTP can offer tangible
guidance in promising orders since it relies on factors that are more
easily quantified such as finished goods inventory, planned shipments,
and manufacturing capacity.