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JD Edwards models the supply chain

Alorie Gilbert CNET News

Published: 24 Apr 2003 09:37 BST

JD Edwards has released a new software program designed to help manufacturers and distributors get a better handle on inventory and logistics.

The new product, called Supply Chain Business Modeller, can gather data residing in the various, incompatible business systems of a company, its suppliers and its customers and centralise it in a single data warehouse where it can be sliced and diced, the Denver-based software company said on Wednesday.

Armed with more information and reports, businesses theoretically will make better decisions about production schedules, shipments and other important tasks.

The new program also aims to reduce the cost of tapping business data stored across different systems, including JD Edwards' own business management applications.

Companies spend up to $7 on labour and services to stitch together incompatible systems for every $1 they spend on software, according to a JD Edwards representative. The Supply Chain Business Modeller should lower those costs, the representative said.

JD Edwards competes with SAP, Oracle and PeopleSoft in the software market for manufacturers. Microsoft, the new rival on the block, introduced a beefed-up version of its logistics software on Tuesday with the release of Great Plains 7.5. The updated version of the software, which Microsoft acquired in its 2001 purchase of Great Plains, adds new features to its set of supply chain, inventory and distribution applications, Microsoft said.

Prices for JD Edwards' Supply Chain Business Modeller were not immediately available.

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