FEATURE/TR Cutler, Inc. Reports Engineer-to-Order Manufacturers Lag in e-Business Adoption

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE FEATURES)--July 16, 2001-- The e-Business trend that is strongly utilized by many other manufacturing sectors is not adopted among Engineer-to-Order manufacturers. ETO manufacturers, as they are abbreviated, can be differentiated from repetitive manufacturers (who make the same product and create inventory). There is no inventory in ETO manufacturing. Dave Warford, President of Cincinnati-based Encompix, a leading ERP software provider exclusively for Engineer-to-Order companies, suggested that these products require systems that respond to customer requirements, allow collaboration for custom engineering, and manage orders on a project basis. ¶ During the Encompix conference held in late June, Ravi Nayar, partner with Price Waterhouse Coopers presented these findings:

    Machine Tool Builders:

--	Tend to be Slow Adopters of Information Technology
--	Expect Customers to Define eBusiness
--	Have Implemented ERP (or are in process)

    Factors that explain the slow information technology adoption rates include:

-- Cost of technology acquisition

-- Availability of applications better suited for small and medium
    sized firms

-- Total cost of ownership

    The result: limited adoption of e-Business solutions by ETO manufacturers. The Ft. Lauderdale based manufacturing marketing firm, TR Cutler Inc., discovered after a series of extensive interviews, a number of ETO companies still have old DOS, character-based systems, ten to fifteen years old, but you go in the plant and there is the latest million dollar CNC machine. ETO manufacturers are not slow in adopting technology but computer systems technology. Cutler also suggested that automotive and aerospace suppliers are waiting for large key customers or industry groups to impose e-commerce trading standards or exchanges. Until that time, ETO manufacturers are investing in new systems where they can drive basic business improvements:

-- On-time delivery

-- Control over costs

-- Delivery on-budget

-- Improve cash flow

    Access the TR Cutler media kit, including photos, at http://www.businesswire.com/emk/fl-tr-cutler.htm. A photo of Tom Cutler is available at http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.011800/bb9
    A photo of Dave Warford, president of Encompix is also available upon request.