One major announcement at OpenWorld this week concerned a new cloud manufacturing ERP application, which is Oracle's answer to the likes of Plex Systems, Kenandy and Rootstock. The software is "coming soon" according to Oracle's website, which does provide an FAQ document containing some important details, such as the scope of functionality:

Discrete Manufacturing
Inventory Management and Receiving
Cost Management
Supply Chain Orchestration
Supply Chain Financial Orchestration

Benefits include an intuitive, tablet-optimized user interface; support for contract manufacturing in the form of real-time visibility into production at a contract manufacturer site; easy deployment and configuration; support for more than 30 languages; complete data isolation; and global support, according to the document.

Counterpoint: Oracle is not presenting Manufacturing Cloud ERP as a replacement for E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft or JD Edwards. From the FAQ:

We purposely did not do a side-by-side comparison with our other Manufacturing solutions because each of Oracle's Manufacturing solutions has a robust set of Manufacturing features that offers different benefits and features. The best way to find the solution that is right for your organization is to contact your Oracle sales representative.

Manufacturing Cloud is a new code line built on Fusion Middleware, and not a migration of code from those existing products, as Oracle application development EVP Steve Miranda confirmed on Twitter.

 

 

As it has to date with Fusion applications, Oracle is pushing a "coexistence" strategy for Manufacturing Cloud, where customers would adopt it in conjunction with their existing on-premises ERP systems. Suggested approaches, from the FAQ:

 

Move corporate financials and indirect procurement to the cloud first, then next order management and last manufacturing & planning.
Migrate one division at a time with the entire Cloud Suite - Financials, Order Management, Procurement, Manufacturing & Planning - while leaving the rest of the business on the existing ERP.

Predictive analytics are becoming more and more important for manufacturing operations. Predictive and BI are "woven into the fabric of your business processes so that you can work naturally and intuitively," Oracle says. But more details of these capabilities, such as additional license costs or dependencies, weren't specified.

The Bottom Line

As Oracle's FAQ says in a somewhat roundabout way, Manufacturing Cloud isn't currently a full replacement for any of its on-premises manufacturing ERP systems. It's also not yet generally available. Oracle will likely fill in some details at OpenWorld sessions this week, but for now some important questions remain unanswered.

They should be addressed at some point, however. "Manufacturing is one of Oracle's key industries," says Constellation Research founder R "Ray" Wang. "They have been strong in high tech manufacturing and in consumer packaged goods. Customers need to find a path forward in the cloud."

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