By Dennis Michalis

Welcome to the premiere issue of The Extended Enterprise. This bimonthly bulletin from Glovia International will keep you informed about the many exciting developments that are happening with us, Fujitsu, the glovia.com product suite, and our customers and partners.

In this first issue, we are focusing on responsiveness and a new approach we call Demand-Driven Manufacturing. More and more of our customers are succeeding, even in these difficult market conditions, because they have synchronized their operations to actual demand. They have become lean by eliminating excess inventories and making only products that have already been sold or accurately forecasted to sell. They have become agile and responsive, keeping pace with constant changes in demand and supply.

We have included a feature article on Demand-Driven Manufacturing that explains the concept and what you can do to transform your business. Since Supply Chain Management is essential to becoming more responsive, we have included information about the new enterprise-wide supply chain planning and order management functionality now available with glovia.com. You can also learn how new collaboration and integration solutions will help you become demand-driven by instantly sharing critical information internally and with your partners.

To see how other glovia.com users are gaining a competitive advantage by becoming demand-driven, be sure to read the Customer Case Study on Daktronics. Daktronics, one of the world's largest manufacturers of electronic scoreboards and large screen video display systems (I can just about guarantee you've seen their products – if only on television) has made great strides in becoming more responsive by using glovia.com.

If you would like more in-depth information on this innovative approach to manufacturing, please read our new white paper, Visibility, Flexibility, and Control: Responding to Change in Demand-Driven Manufacturing, in our Thought Leadership section.

We are hearing from many of you that you either plan to upgrade your glovia.com system or add new functionality in 2004. Whatever your level of ERP expertise, please give our article How to Make Your ERP Implementation Go More Smoothly a read. We always want you to make the most of your Glovia investment and a little upfront planning can make for faster returns.

In other developments, you will see that we are making changes to improve how we communicate with you, including an upgrade to our Global Customer Support web site to make it easier and more intuitive to use. You can also check out the newly revamped Glovia International User Group web site as well as register for the upcoming 2004 Conference.

These efforts, in tandem with the launch of The Extended Enterprise, are in response to your requests and have been designed with your needs in mind. I invite you to contact me any time if there is anything we can do to improve our partnership with you.

We are greatly anticipating the year ahead and look forward to working with you to make it a very prosperous one. The next issue of The Extended Enterprise will be out shortly after the New Year. In the meantime, stay in touch and have a very happy holiday season.

Sincerely,

Dennis Michalis
President and CEO, Glovia International