ASPs For Metalworking: Software You Can Use But Don't Have To Buy

Modern Machine Shop, Nov, 2000 by Mark Albert

An example is creation and maintenance of a Web site for a job shop. The outsourcing ASP basically takes over the entir operation, designing Web pages as well as supplying the Web servers and Web links. The shop does not need to have any hands-on involvement with the Web site, except to interact with customers that use the Web site for e-mail or other transactions.

The spectrum of outsourced services ranges from Web site management and messaging to high-end enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management. Interliant, Inc. (www.interliant.com) and NaviSite www.navisite.com) are two examples in this class.

Typically, the outsourcing ASP takes existing software products and offers them on a subscription basis. The ASP tailors an application to the customer's requirements, purchases the necessary software and hardware, and the customer signs a contract, usually multi-year, to receive the application as a managed service.

Outsourcing allows the customer to focus on delivering strategic business value, leaving day-to-day operational issues in the hands of the ASP. The job shop intent on presenting a Web site, for example, need not have that one employee who is both its computer-guru and its best NC programmer involved with Web site chores.

As an ASP model, outsourcing may be the most difficult to define or characterize because it covers such a wide range of applications, and providers offer very different levels of service.

Leveling The Playing Field

It would appear that ASPs represent a major opportunity for small independent shops or small units of large companies to use many of the software tools that were once available only to large plants or corporations. In many situations, this opportunity should put the small company on equal footing with its larger competitors. It may even give the small company an advantage as it picks and chooses the best application to meet a challenge without tying itself to one or the other technology choices.

But it's still very early. This article only touches on some the ASP offerings of most interest to the metalworking industry. Other applications are surely out there. (We haven't talked about remote training through an ASP, for example). New ASP ventures are appearing at a remarkable rate. Each one seems to have a different twist on the concept. For sure, not all of the ASP models have been conceived yet, and which ones will prove to be the most viable in the long term is a guess.

However, it is not too early to start exploring what ASPs can do for your shop. All of the ASP models are based on the concept of lowering the cost of entry and reducing risk. That's enough for many shops to jump right in.

Quotes To Go

It's an impressive list: BMW, Boeing, Ericsson, Ford; Fuji, Mazda, Pratt & Whitney, Renault, Siemens and Toyota, to name a few. All of these, global companies are customers of Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. (Herzeliya, Israel), which is a supplier of high-end systems for, simulating and optimizing manufacturing operations across an extended enterprise. Sounds like software for the big guys.