Cloud Computing for Manufacturers

What is it?

Cloud computing refers to IT-related capabilities which are provided “as a service” (SaaS), allowing users to access technology-enabled services from any Internet connection. (The cloud is a metaphor for the Internet).

Users do so without expertise in or control over the technology infrastructure that support these services. Generally, users either pay a monthly fee or pay on a transaction basis. Cloud computing has two main advantages: cost itself, and the cost savings realized from outsourced maintenance.

More about the advantages

Some companies invest billions of dollars in building and maintaining their core competencies, much of which goes into IT. If these companies can lease out some of the IT capabilities required to maintain these competencies, these companies become leaner and more profitable. They are substantial savings to be realized in the cloud computing model, such as the reduction of internal networks and servers, the elimination of the purchase of the software licenses and elimination of the large amounts of overhead incurred from managing and operating the competencies internally.

Small and midsize companies benefit too. The cloud computing model gives them access to all sorts of applications and systems, which would probably not be in their budget using the traditional software/IT purchase model. It gives smaller companies the same IT power as their bigger rivals.

Another advantage is the application-development speed cloud computing delivers. Customers can spend a lot of time (and money) defining infrastructure, hardware and software requirements for a project. Cloud computing solves a lot of those problems at the outset and allow users to implement sooner, and realize the benefits of their systems sooner.

What’s available?

More and more software capabilities are being offered as a service. For manufacturers, Tuppas offers production scheduling, production performance reporting, OEE, job tracking, quality management, SQC, SPC, ERP, CRM, SCM and KPI dashboards.

I predicted an increase in the number of inquiries we would get about the cloud computing model at the beginning of this year, and I was right. Manufacturers and their suppliers are looking for ways to streamline and become leaner so survive our economic times. Manufacturing SaaS can help them do that.