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Oracle Delivers Flow Manufacturing Solution

29 July 1998

Oracle Delivers Flow Manufacturing Solution for the Automotive Industry

    DETROIT, July 29 -- As part of its commitment to bring
targeted information solutions to the automotive industry, Oracle Corp.
last night hosted the Oracle(R) Automotive Executive Forum, the
first in a series of events planned to educate executives about
industry-specific Oracle solutions.  This forum focused on Oracle Flow
Manufacturing, a manufacturing process that allows manufacturing operations to
reduce cycle times and lot sizes through an innovative system that uses Kanban
planning and replenishment to release materials when needed, instead of
relying on inaccurate, forecast-driven MRP releases.  Flow manufacturing helps
to reduce cycle times, streamline processes, and increase customer
responsiveness throughout the automotive supply chain.
    Oracle Flow Manufacturing was created with the assistance of automotive
suppliers who comprise Oracle's Global Customer Advisory Board. One of
Oracle's key Automotive customers, Eaton Corporation, provided a keynote at
the event that discussed the specific challenges of automotive manufacturing,
including just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing and supply chain management.
    "With more than 100 product families at Eaton, we are challenged to
rapidly respond to variations in demand, while maintaining cost
competitiveness through minimized inventory," said Bill Schmitt, Director,
Information Technologies, Global Programs, Eaton Corp.  "As an early Oracle
Automotive customer, we have advised Oracle's development team on the
technology and industry requirements to deliver an application for flow
manufacturing."
    Other featured speakers at the forum included Dave Caruso, director,
Enterprise Planning Strategies, Advanced Manufacturing Research and Vance
Snyder, senior manager, Automotive Practice, Ernst & Young.  Topics discussed
included the importance to the automotive industry of mixed-mode
manufacturing, an important method for automotive OEMs and suppliers, who
often have several different kind of manufacturing processes in place.
Currently, Oracle Applications provides a complete mixed-mode manufacturing
solution to the automotive industry.
    "Oracle is the first ERP solution with the ability to concurrently deploy
all major manufacturing methods, and these capabilities are essential to
automotive manufacturers seeking to continuously improve operational
efficiency in a competitive industry," said George Kadifa, senior vice
president, Oracle Industrial Sector, Americas.  "Oracle will continue to
develop automotive-specific functionality, and will host forums such as this
one to ensure that automotive manufacturers learn about the newest methods
available to improve their business."
    Oracle Corporation is the world's leading supplier of software for
information management, and the world's second largest software company.  With
annual revenues of $7.1 billion, the company offers its database, application
server, tools and application products along with related consulting,
education and support services, in more than 140 countries around the world.
    For more information about Oracle, please call 650-506-7000.  Oracle's
World Wide Web address is (URL) http://www.oracle.com/.

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