Oracle’s Business and Manufacturing Suite of MOM Applications

As time marches forward and competition increases, manufacturers around the globe are taking a more modern approach to operations. Like other business areas, this means new technologies and methodologies need to be adopted to reach the higher branches. Over the past decade or so, one of the ways this has manifested is in the form of Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) software applications that help organizations to optimize end-to-end business to manufacturing processes.

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MOM software applications are instrumental in supporting coordinated operations across the overall business and financial software suite and the realities of what is actually happening on the shop floor. The real-time data and processes like production, maintenance, quality, scheduling, and others are becoming ever-more critical to enabling operational capabilities such as product traceability, operational agility, effective quality management, customer responsiveness, and faster time to market. Excellence in these areas is becoming increasingly required for manufacturers in today’s highly competitive market.

As the MOM space is continually evolving, here at LNS Research we feel it still benefits from a guiding hand, which is why we’ve published our Manufacturing Operations Management Solution Selection Guide. It includes detailed descriptions of 20 of the top vendors in the MOM space, and aims to educate manufacturing executives and decision-makers considering an implementation by highlighting vendors’ key solution strengths and attributes.   

Over the past several months we’ve been highlighting each vendor covered in the guide. This week we’re looking at IT behemoth Oracle, and its comprehsive suite of business and manufacturing applications targeted at the manufacturing industries.

An Overview of Oracle’s MOM Software Offerings and Capabilities

Oracle’s MOM software capabilities include several offerings focused on the complete product lifecycle and across the end-customer value chain. The E-Business Suite for Manufacturing enables project manufacturing, outsourcing, configure-to-order, and quality management capabilities for both discrete and process manufacturing. These applications can be used in a pre-integrated way with Oracle MES or also integrated with third-party applications using standard ISA-95 and Web Services conventions. LNS Research sees the Oracle MES as very flexible in its ability to readily handle nearly any mix of manufacturing modes–high volume/low mix, low volume/high mix, flow manufacturing, lot/serial controlled, etc.

Oracle Mobile Supply Chain Applications support mobile receiving, manufacturing, inventory, and shipping activities and assist with effective quality operations. As we see the industry demanding more mobile enabled solutions, we are encouraged by Oracle’s emerging strengths in this area.

Oracle Value Chain Execution capabilities cover comprehensive planning and execution elements that come pre-integrated with Oracle Mobile Supply Chain Management and ERP offerings. The Oracle E-Records offering provides a configurable framework for secure capture, inquiry, storage, and printing of electronic records and signatures in compliance with government regulations.

Large companies that have already invested in the Oracle business technology stack will find Oracle’s MOM capabilities a natural extension. However, LNS Research believes that some companies may prefer a comprehensive MOM software solution that is not so tightly bound to the Oracle ERP and database applications. For some manufacturing users, the autonomy and flexibility of a loosely coupled MOM system may be more in line with their specific business needs.

Overall, Oracle’s breadth and depth of manufacturing software is well suited to meet the needs of today’s globally competitive manufacturing landscape, as the company has been quietly acquiring, integrating, and building strong functionality in its solutions. We are impressed with the breadth of 'business to manufacturing' coverage with the Oracle offerings.

A Closer Look at Oracle’s Comprehensive MOM Application Suite

For more information on Oracle and its MOM software solutions, be sure to access the LNS Research MOM Solution Selection Guide below. It provides an overview of the MOM vendor landscape based on criteria such as specific company sizes served, functionalities, industry and subvertical strengths, geographic footprint, time to solution value, and more. The Guide also breaks down Oracle core attributes by current and emerging strengths and full coverage areas.

The MOM Solution Selection Guide and its full analysis of the top software vendors is available below. If you're an Oracle user or are evaluating the solution, please feel free to share your thoughts or ask questions in the comments section below.