AIIM Engineering & Manufacturing Council News

By Richard N. Stover

EMMC SPONSORS ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING TRACK AT AIIM `98
CONFERENCE

This year's Engineering & Manufacturing Conference Track included a full day Pre-Conference on Sunday, May 10th and a full day Conference on Tuesday, May 16th.

The Pre-Conference theme was "Lessons Learned in Implementing EDM/PDM," and included the following speakers: Bob Zagami and John Pugnale from ImageMax, Mike Alsup and Scott Williamson from Align Solutions, Ed LoTurco from PCDOCS, Richard Stover from Document Management Magazine, Martin van der Roest from The van der Roest Group, Dave Shipman from Cimage Enterprise Systems, and Alan Turner from Altris Software.

The Conference Track included a kick-off event by Tom Arant of Technology Management and Bob Zagami of ImageMax entitled "Engineering & Manufacturing from A to Z; What's at the Show," and ended with a User Case Study by Jay Kilby of Cisco Systems entitled "Virtual Documents in a Virtual World." Sandwiched between these events were key related presentations by Bob Scavulo of Noesis, Kari Johnson of Crystal Software, and Adrian Litton of ESRI.

Although not an EMMC sponsored event, Doculabs presented "Document Management in Manufacturing," Tuesday at 10:30 AM at the Solutions Center Theater on the Show Floor.

125 EXHIBITORS SHOW ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING PRODUCTS AT 1998 AIIM SHOW

Complete EDM/PDM solutions, large format scanners, scanning software, viewing and markup software, large format document conversion software and services, micrographics hardware and services, document tracking and filing systems, storage systems, were some of the categories of products that were shown for engineering and manufacturing applications. A complete listing of these vendors with a map showing each one's location was provided on pages 30 and 31 of the AIIM Show Program. In addition, copies of this listing and map were available with copies of this newsletter (since updated here) at several locations throughout the Show including the AIIM International Booth #2227 and the Document Management Magazine Booth #122.

AIIM EMMC SURVEYS USERS FOR DIRECTION

Your EMMC has completed a survey of users to determine the value that the organization can provide to the user community. Created to build a strong membership of engineering and manufacturing users, the AIIM EMMC is looking for the kinds of services that are needed to build a "virtual community" to serve the user needs. The responses indicated needs beyond the traditional trade association services, something that the EMMC is committed to provide. "When we established the Member Councils, we were looking toward some kind of virtual community within a given market vertical, in this case the Engineering and Manufacturing community," according to John Mancini, President of AIIM International. "But we didn't specify what that community should look like. The EMMC can now better define its services, based on this survey."

The survey was conducted during January and February among more than 500 AIIM EMMC user members and was posted on the AIIM Web site. Sixty-two responses were received and compiled to obtain the results. Approximately 30% of the responses were from Document Managers and Records Managers, 20% were from Corporate Management, 15% were from Information Services Management while an additional 13% were from Project Leaders. All indicated a strong need for the EMMC services. Additional strong responses were received from Consultants and Administrative Management.

The companies and organizations represented were Discrete Product Manufacturers 35%, Process Manufacturers 15%, Utilities 10%, Telecommunications 7%, State and Local Governments 7%, Computers and Networking 5%, and Federal Government 5%. Smaller numbers of Architectural/Construction, Design Engineering, Transportation and Software companies were represented in the survey.

Surprisingly, of the companies and organizations surveyed, nearly 80% already have some kind of electronic document management system installed. These include EDM, PDM, imaging and workflow systems. When asked what information management issues they were facing, the majority of the answers were in the following categories: EDM/PDM Capabilities 41%, Enterprise Control of Information 10%, Integration of Document Management with Other Applications 9%, Generic EDM/PDM Implementation Related 9%, Workflow Concerns 9%, and Training & Support 7%. Other issues mentioned included Document Capture, Legacy Data, Document Retention and System throughput. Although many of the companies have document management systems installed, many responses showed a lack of knowledge about EDM/PDM system capabilities, one of the areas that the EMMC wants to address. Of all issues raised in the survey, most showed the need for additional education about product capabilities.

In spite of a low showing in the overall information management issues, the Integration of Legacy Data ranked high in the subjects that needed to be addressed.

These results and more have been compiled and are being reported to the EMMC executive committee and AIIM staff. Definitive actions will be taken and reported to the membership as we continue to build the EMMC organization.

AIIM EMMC BECOMES CO-SPONSOR OF SME'S AUTOFACT CONFERENCE

Based on an EMMC strategy of working with key organizations that have either an engineering or manufacturing focus, the EMMC has reached an agreement with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers to co-sponsor the EDM/PDM Conference Track at AUTOFACT '98. AUTOFACT addresses the problems facing businesses in today's economy. For a global organization to operate as a single virtual enterprise requires overcoming the challenges of manufacturing design & process systems, exploring state-of-the-art approaches & solutions, and seeing how companies streamline workflow, integrate supply chains, and increase profitability. Businesses can no longer operate as separate entities but as integrated links in the evolving inter-enterprise supply chain. Vendors will make-to-order, carry their customers' inventories, and become greater contributors to product design. They will now be measured by their processes, not their products.

Marking its 21st year, the AUTOFACT '98 Conference and Exposition stands as the premier forum providing information technology solutions for the manufacturing enterprise. The world-class Conference commences on September 28-October 1 at Detroit's Cobo Convention Center and introduces the 21st Century Manufacturing Enterprise with tracks featuring enterprise-wide technology solutions and impact management systems. More than 70 sessions, tutorials and plants tours cover technologies and tools such as: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)/Enterprise Management Systems (EMS) and Supply Chain Management; Engineering Document Management/Product Data Management (EDM/PDM); CAD/CAM/CAE; Interoperability; Internet/Intranet/Extranet; Simulation; and Rapid Prototyping. The Exposition takes place on September 29-October 1 and features more than 300 companies occupying some 90,000 net square feet of floor space.

For more information on AUTOFACT '98 Conference and Exposition, please contact SME Customer Service at (800) 733-4763.

WANT TO SHARE IN THE INDUSTRY'S MOST CURRENT ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING KNOWLEDGE? BECOME A MEMBER OF EMMC!

For more information about the Engineering and Manufacturing Member Council, contact Richard N. Stover, Staff Liaison at 602-585-5580 or email to document_management@compuserve.com. Or contact AIIM Headquarters, Joanne Flanagan, Manager of Member Councils at 301-587-8202 or email to jflanagan@aiim.org.

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