Peter Thorne, managing director, Cambashi, commented, "Our new US operation strengthens our research and analysis of engineering, plant floor, supply chain and enterprise applications.  Julie's expertise and reputation strongly positions us to partner with clients seeking insights into IT for Industry Networks." 

Allan Behrens, business development director, Cambashi, observes that both Cambashi's and Industry Direction's clients are asking for information and analysis on how to obtain value from investments in applications that take an integrated view of a global industry network, from shop floor to top floor, from product innovation to customer shipment and recycling.

International coverage

Cambashi's clients are international companies with headquarters all over the world.  More than 90% of its revenues come from such companies.  An increasing proportion of clients is based in the USA and to serve these clients better Cambashi is opening a new location in Massachusetts. 

Julie Fraser will spearhead this initiative.  Having over 20 years experience in industry and marketing, she was an early activist in the Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) International, worked for AMR, and was most recently senior principal in Industry Directions, a Massachusetts-based industry analyst firm. 

Industry support

Tony Affuso, chairman and CEO of Siemens PLM Software, commented, "We have worked with both Cambashi and Industry Directions for many years, and together we have all helped chart the course of manufacturing and PLM as it has evolved from a set of point solutions to its current standing as a strategic enterprise software platform.  Just as the combination of the former UGS with Siemens set a new agenda for PLM as we begin to unify the product and production lifecycles, this new combination promises to create an ever stronger and more strategic voice for our great industry.  This is an exciting development and we congratulate Cambashi and Industry Directions for having the vision to make it happen." 

Russell Johns, senior director, industry & product marketing, Infor, stated, "I believe that Cambashi is absolutely right in its assertions and by building this new service, led by Julie, will bring pragmatism and clarity to its clients as they determine how to make the right investments for their own organisations." 

Domain coverage

Cambashi research suggests that the next ten years will see a wave of re-investment in software applications.  Industry is adopting new strategies to give greater value to customers, such as mass customisation and globalization.  Rather than investing in business initiatives that provide everything within one enterprise, a more common approach is to create an industry network that combines resources to satisfy customers.  Industry will need new software applications to help operate these networks so that they add value for the customer rather than simply shift costs around the chain. 

Ten years ago, enterprise resources planning (ERP) integrated previously disparate applications in corporate accounting, manufacturing planning and distribution planning.  Today, software applications like ERP, supply chain management (SCM), product lifecycle management (PLM) and manufacturing execution systems (MES) will need to provide visibility of resources and progress on customer orders across the entire network. 

Cambashi believes that new infrastructure technologies such as service oriented architecture (SOA) will enable smaller application components to work together to support unique and adaptable business processes.  This will provide an attractive alternative to older monolithic and potentially inflexible applications.

About Cambashi

Cambashi, based in Cambridge, UK, provides independent research and analysis of the business reasons for the use of IT in industry, world-wide.  Its specialist fields include engineering and enterprise applications and the infrastructure to enable industrial firms to use IT effectively.  Cambashi publishes market size estimates in the Engineering Applications Market Observatory.  Its clients vary in size from small to large and include most of the leading software vendors and many pioneering IT users.  Cambashi is a member of CATN, an international association of consultants.

www.cambashi.co.uk