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interoperability among manufacturing applications. While the hurdles that exist in the current
environment are considerable, there is significant need -- as well as potential benefit -- for an
industry-led, multi-disciplinary, and perhaps government-facilitated effort to provide direction
for the development and promulgation of ERP and related standards.
The notion of topsight for improving interoperability among specific applications is not new. The
Black Forest Group, a diverse assembly of industry leaders, launched the Workflow Management
Coalition (WfMC), which has produced a suite of specifications for improving interoperability
among workflow management systems. A similar ERP-focused standards strategy effort would
strive to better understand the diversity of operations and operations planning in order to improve
interoperability among ERP and related systems.
For a topsight effort to succeed in an arena as broad as ERP, particularly one that is standards-
based, there must be a cross-representation of
consumers, complementors, incumbents, and
innovators [Shapiro, C., and Varian, H. R.,(1999)].
As consumers of ERP systems, manufacturers and their trading partners face the risk of being
stranded when their systems do not interoperate. The lack of interoperability in manufacturing
supply chains can have significant costs [Brunnermeier, S., and Martin, S., (1999)], and those
costs tend to be hidden. More accurate cost structures must be developed for information goods,
particularly for buy-configure-build software applications. Unlike off-the-shelf software
applications, ERP systems are more like traditional assets, in the business sense, with capital
costs and ongoing operational costs.