Oakland University Unveils High Tech Transfer Center for Automotive Industry

     First in a Series of Applied Research Projects to Lower Costs, Speed
                 Productivity Improvements for Manufacturers

    ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich., Feb. 28 Automotive suppliers
facing paper-thin margins, reduced demand and, for many, stock valuations cut
by more than half over the past year, have a new ally in Oakland University's
Product Development and Manufacturing Center (PDM Center).
    Dr. Patrick Dessert, director of the PDM Center at Oakland, today
announced that he and his research partners have developed and will help
implement "business-focused research" that makes use of next-generation
manufacturing software at LDM Technologies, a Tier 1 supplier to automakers.
    The project is the first example of applied research that Dessert will
unveil over the next several months.
    Dessert is working with high-tech and automotive companies at the PDM
Center to solve manufacturing problems in the automotive industry.  In this
case, he is working with Integrated Business Systems and Services (IBSS), a
Columbia, S.C., Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software provider, and
Brain North America, a Grand Rapids-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
software provider.
    Together, the PDM Center at Oakland, IBSS, and Brain NA, have configured a
software platform that integrates manufacturing operations to give managers a
complete picture of the manufacturing floor from anywhere in the world in real
time.
    "We don't need new ideas in automotive.  We need to put current ideas to
work and start providing real value.  By partnering with automotive companies,
we're teaching students how to implement ideas that actually do something,
like save money and improve productivity," said Dessert.
    "The students of Oakland University win by gaining a world-class
educational experience; our automotive partners win, by having real problems
solved for them; and our university wins, by being able to point to the real
difference we are making in our community," he said.
    "We have seen many convoluted, custom-built plant floor applications in
automotive that require a small army of developers to keep running and even
more to improve.  In building a workable solution for automotive companies, we
have demonstrated how inexpensive, easy to implement, and easy to use software
can provide value to any automotive customer.  IBSS Synapse software, for
example, is affordable, as well as easy to implement, use and support.  We are
bringing to the automotive industry, through partnership in the PDM Center,
technologies, such as this, and a business case that can help assure
automotive survival into this century," he said.