Lenox refines IT support/plant-floor interaction.(IT In The China Shop)

Manufacturing Business Technology, January, 2005

At Lenox China, Lawrenceville, N.J., IT on the factory floor comes in the form of a "plant analyst." Preferably, plant analysts are Microsoft-certified network engineers or administrators, and they serve as IT tech support for Lenox's hybrid manufacturing operations. They spend most of every day on the factory floor, not in the IT department.

Rich Santoriello, senior applications manager at Lenox, is careful to point out that they are "PC guys with great troubleshooting ability, not server guys. The server guys are in the corporate office."

The distinction is part of a hard-won lesson that began when Lenox first put in its manufacturing execution system (MES), and it became clear that IT and operations needed to redefine the way they interacted....

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