Inside your company is a powerful force.

A force that can cut costs, streamline processes, create new products and services, and find and impress new customers all over the world.

Manufacturing

For more information, please visit www.microsoft.com/manufacturing.

© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Microsoft. Software for the people-ready business., and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

0606 Part No. 098-105435

Manufacturing

In a rapidly changing global market, today’s manufacturers face formidable challenges. Companies have to meet the ongoing demand for innovative new products while still increasing operational productivity and reducing product unit cost. At the same time, they have to partner within a global supply chain while fending off competitive pressures to meet high customer expectations.

Manufacturing employees need to have a clear, comprehensive, and enterprise-wide view of their company’s resources. Technology systems need to be integrated so that people can exchange key information quickly and easily. If people can do that, then they can make smart decisions, find new value in existing systems, react to changing customer demands, and take advantage of new market opportunities.

Unfortunately, manufacturers do not have the option of purchasing a simple ‘one size fits all’ solution that instantly delivers improved performance in all areas. Many have tried that in the past, investing heavily in technology but never reaping the hoped-for returns. Technology alone can’t solve business problems.

But given the right tools, people can.

An example of a people-ready manufacturer is Nissan. For the owner of a Nissan automobile, a dashboard knob is just a knob. But to Nissan, each knob represented a challenge; it wasn’t easy for engineers across three worldwide divisions to collaborate, so each division ended up designing its own knobs. A small thing perhaps, but to vigilant Nissan managers,

it represented an opportunity to improve operational and manufacturing practices during a time of ever-increasing competition in the automobile market. And to a company that sells three million cars each year, that’s important.

In response to this challenge, Nissan deployed an array of Microsoft® technologies across its global enterprise. Now, all divisions work from a single domain—an integrated global computer network—so whether on simple things like knobs or on complex production issues, collaborating is much easier. Even mobile Nissan workers can stay in touch through the use of portable computers or smart phones running mobile software. This used to be impossible because of incompatible networks.

With its Microsoft products, Nissan expects to save as much as U.S. $135 million during the next few years, shorten its time-to-market cycle, and improve work processes and customer service. Microsoft technology, says one Nissan executive, “allowed us to finally work as a global company.”

Businesses don’t garner insights or make decisions. Businesses don’t close deals or develop new products or find new efficiencies. People do.

Manufacturing companies excel when they empower their people.

Priorities, organization, motivation, and leadership ready your business for success. But you also have to give your people the right tools, information, and opportunities. Companies that do this are poised for success. We call them “people-ready businesses.”

The role of software in a people-ready business is to harness information, enabling people to turn data into insight, transform ideas into action, and turn change into opportunity.

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“[Microsoft technology] gave us the ability to provide anywhere, anytime access to our mobile work force in a way that was almost identical to being in the office.”

Steve MejiaSenior Manager

Information Systems Nissan North America

Empowering People Through Technology

The age of the business.

readyto improve plant operations.

readyto work.

readyto produce.

readyto innovate.

It’s your people. Are they ready?

People-Ready BusinessSoftware is instrumental to the people-ready business. Software is increasingly how we harness information, the lifeblood of manufacturing businesses today.

To a leader in the petroleum industry like Amerada Hess, providing employees with tools to make informed decisions is standard practice. Amerada Hess is also a company for which environmental protection is more than a legal requirement—it’s a key company value. In the past, different business units used different methods to monitor their environmental compliance. But as the company grew, Hess realized that centralizing its environmental tracking systems would help its people achieve the company’s environmental goals more efficiently.

Hess standardized its departments on Microsoft products that help Hess managers monitor the progress of compliance projects worldwide. The cost of the products was lower than purchasing an off-the-shelf industry tool, and the products’ familiar interfaces made it easy for employees

to learn and use them in their daily work. Improved communication in the field improves employee productivity, and consistently tracking environmental projects improves the community’s perception of Hess as a responsible corporate citizen.

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“[Microsoft] provides Hess with a consistent and comprehensive system to monitor compliance, which will enhance our performance and improve our footprint on the environment, which is a company value.”

Glenn KramerManager

Regulatory Affairs Amerada Hess Corporation

A people-ready manufacturer uses software to amplify the efforts of its employees, allowing them to get their work done more quickly, efficiently, and thus more economically. The key to business success lies in the people who are at the heart of any company.

People manage manufacturing operations, meet with customers and partners, develop new products, and work hard to help their company grow. And the right software can make people more successful by enabling them to do these things better and in ways that were not possible 10 years ago.

Ultimately, people, not computers, account for a winning business.

Business Success, Business Results People running businesses have to deliver success: grow revenue and profits, satisfy customers and stakeholders, and successfully navigate the perpetual winds of change. To help manufacturers succeed, Microsoft has developed the Peak Performance Initiative. By applying the initiative’s principles, manufacturers can use software to help improve performance in four key areas so that their people can:

• Develop new goods faster through demonstrated product leadership.

• Streamline plant-floor and other business processes through operational excellence.

• Increase visibility and access to the global value chain through strategic partnerships.

• Build customer relationships to improve sales and service.

The emphasis may vary, but every manufacturing business must focus on these four outcomes. Whether closing a sale, designing the next great product, or discovering a way to squeeze inefficiency out of the supply chain, success depends on the people in a company.

People Lead and Innovate Manufacturers live and die by their capability to bring new products to market quickly. To succeed in this competitive environment, a company’s people must collaborate with suppliers, engineers, and product designers using shared

platforms to exchange ideas. People who have a talent for leadership can then take these ideas and transform them into innovation.

An overriding goal is speed—getting new products and models to market faster than the competition. Few companies understand that better than Samsung, a worldwide provider of semiconductors, LCD screens, and mobile devices. By 2010, Samsung plans to introduce 20 new product lines, which is ambitious even for a company as successful as Samsung.

But some of Samsung’s management processes were impeding its goals. For instance, product managers had been devising their own systems for running their divisions, so Samsung lacked a standardized way to share information and measure results. Also, data had been stored on as many as 45 separate servers, so executives were hard-pressed to develop a companywide view of projects.

To solve these and other problems, Samsung employed Microsoft technology that improves collaboration and speeds development times for new products. Now, managers have a unified project management system to ensure that research projects are carefully tracked and completed on time. And centralized servers provide managers with a companywide view of projects.

Information is now more accessible to employees, and Samsung estimates that research and development proposals will see a 50 percent increase in the number of delivered projects. For Samsung, Microsoft technology will play a key role in its product innovation.

“The Microsoft [approach] is much more flexible than the other alternatives on the market. We were able to make adaptations so that it meets our needs.”

Joon Mo Son Director

Project Management Organization Samsung

Software Amplifies the Impact of PeopleHow Work Gets Done

People Drive Operational Excellence Manufacturers can excel by focusing on operational excellence—running their business better than the competition and at lower cost. Companies that build their success on operational excellence provide ready and easy-to-use technologies to empower their people to be highly efficient.

Technology can offer increased visibility into business processes—everything from tracking sales to plant-floor operations—visibility that managers can use to make decisions faster and improve productivity. For example, Arcelor Ghent, a unit of Arcelor SA, the second largest steel producer in the world, worked with Capgemini, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, to implement a solution that automates and integrates a variety of business processes, ranging from invoicing to steel production.

Built on Microsoft technologies, the new solution enables managers to monitor processes through one system, in one place, even though some of these processes are controlled by older computer programs that run on disparate and previously unconnected systems. As a result, managers gain valuable information that they can use to streamline operations and improve quality control—all from an IT environment that’s now more reliable and simpler to administer.

People Strengthen Value Chain Partnerships Technology enables people to maintain the critical agility that’s required for their companies to adapt to ever-changing market conditions. An important part of that agility involves working closely with suppliers and industry partners to reduce time-to-market, to manage inventory and replenish parts as needed, and to share financial responsibility and risks if markets shift.

With the right hardware and software, people can manage complex relationships with multiple partners to produce quality, error-free products, and higher profitability. Microsoft industry partners have developed software solutions that are built on a standard Microsoft platform and help people collaborate and manage these relationships both within and across enterprise boundaries.

For example, with 100,000 employees and facilities in more than 100 countries, Switzerland-based ABB has relationships with several thousand suppliers. These suppliers provide materials and services to support the company’s five divisions: power products, power systems, automation products, robotics, and process automation.

To help the people who maintain vital relationships with so many vendors, ABB worked with HP, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, to build a new infrastructure based on Microsoft technologies. By integrating and automating processes for planning, reporting, and executing transactions, the company can exchange data more efficiently between its plants and suppliers. As a result, ABB cut its average order-processing costs, reduced transaction time, and realized material cost savings—all of which are strengthening the company’s competitiveness.

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“We need to ensure that contracted suppliers can provide materials quickly and easily so that together we can engage in collaborative planning, electronic transactions, and online reporting. Now, people have a much clearer view of what’s happening along the supply chain.”

Herbert BrecheisHead of Supply Chain Management

Information Systems ABB

“With [the new solution], our IT managers have one tool to monitor all processes, which is so much more efficient than making them examine several systems before they can come to a conclusion.”

Pieter Moors Technology and Standards Manager

Arcelor Ghent People Build Customer Relationships Any manufacturer can benefit from a deeper connection with its customers. But to achieve these connections, the manufacturer’s employees must have the tools to meet their commitment to serve customers well. Microsoft software is helping manufacturers by consolidating information across and within enterprises, which leads to improved customer service and lasting customer relationships.

Weyerhaeuser, a forest-products giant best known for producing paper products and building materials, promotes customer service by making inventory information available to sales agents. Microsoft technology helped move the company toward achieving its goal of “first-call service” for the more than 10,000 customers who call Weyerhaeuser to order plywood, nails, and even plumbing and electrical components. With the new system, a salesperson can usually fill a customer’s order at the time of the initial call, without having to call the customer back when additional product information or pricing can be found.

Weyerhaeuser also developed a solution based on Microsoft technologies that tackles the complex logistics of getting

Weyerhaeuser products—located at 74 distribution centers across North America—into customers’ hands. Giving its people the tools they need to satisfy customers offers Weyerhaeuser an important edge in a competitive industry that is constantly battling thin margins.

“It’s a little like Lance Armstrong shaving two ounces off his bike. Anything that can give us an edge and make our people more productive and lower our costs is an advantage to us.”

Ed Jones Director of Finance and Planning

Residential Wood Products Weyerhaeuser

People—and the businesses they run—are not constrained by the four walls of their corporate headquarters or factories. They work with partners, they meet customers, and they work on the road. Success in the manufacturing environment requires building strong, flexible connections within this dynamic network—connections that allow people to adapt quickly to change and harness it to meet business objectives.

Airstream has harnessed a technological change to improve its warranty service. The venerable flagship of the $2 billion RV and bus-manufacturing giant Thor Industries, Airstream implemented a custom automated solution based on Microsoft technology that processes warranty claims in just minutes, compared with weeks, using a paper-based system.

Using a program that can connect to many networked systems, the new solution allows dealers to interact with customers, manufacturers, and parts makers in near real time. As a result, Airstream dealers have reduced the time spent processing customers’ claims by about 90 percent.

Through its Peak Performance Initiative, Microsoft helps people gain insight through advanced analysis services, drive innovation through collaboration, and improve performance through increased visibility into operations across the manufacturing value chain. Innovative software can take advantage of employees’ capabilities and knowledge to accelerate business results, and it can provide the flexibility that lets a company adapt to changes in partners, products, and the business climate.

Why Microsoft? Microsoft is dedicated to developing products for the many sectors of the manufacturing industry—everything from oil and gas and high tech to automotive and aerospace. These products offer best-in-class performance along with great value. Our promise to you of effective, manageable, cost-effective software rests on four foundations:

Familiar and Easy to Use Microsoft software, touching the majority of business people in the world, is familiar and accessible to people at all levels of your organization, as well as to your partners and customers. From tools for developers to systems and infrastructure for IT professionals to applications for your employees, Microsoft software vastly reduces training time and makes people more productive more quickly.

Widely Used and Supported Microsoft makes some of the world’s most widely used and supported software, ensuring that our customers will always find it easy to get the help they need to solve technical issues and have questions answered. In addition to our Microsoft technical support services, a worldwide network of developers, support professionals, and thousands of certified partners means you always have access to the expertise you need.

Integration That Works Manufacturers everywhere already have spent large sums on technology, creating a pool of technology that is expensive to abandon but also costly to maintain and make available throughout an enterprise. Microsoft is at the forefront in developing tools such as Web services that can connect and stitch together far-flung data sources that until now were isolated from one another. Moreover, our software is designed to work together seamlessly, reducing integration hassles.

Software That’s Innovative At Microsoft, we are committed to developing software products that help manufacturing employees reach their full potential. We will continue to create new products that allow a business to evolve and adapt to an increasingly complex marketplace. Our commitment to and leadership in industry-standard technologies such as Web services ensure that companies who use Microsoft products have access to the widest possible array of technology partners and software platforms.

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“Microsoft [technologies] bring Airstream not just the technological architecture that allows for its growth, but an easy-to-use system that is readily embraced, even by company associates who haven’t grown up with technology.”

Dicky RiegelPresident Airstream

People Harness ChangeHow Business Connects

The Impact of Software in Manufacturing

From outsourcing to insourcing, from government regulation to globalization, the future for manufacturing companies is, as always, uncertain and ever-changing. Manufacturers demand the flexibility to harness change as a competitive advantage. Innovative software from Microsoft and a worldwide network of partners establish a flexible technology platform that supports existing business needs while providing the foundation to meet tomorrow’s opportunities. Empowering the people at the heart of every business to thrive and succeed—working alone, as well as together—is essential for business success in this age of fast-paced change.

Moving forward, Microsoft is improving the ways that people interact with software—from the more intuitive user experiences in the 2007 Microsoft Office system release and the Windows VistaTM operating system to advances in how system administrators can more securely and easily update and maintain hundreds of systems. Additionally, Microsoft has worked with industry leaders to develop and promote computing standards that ease the computer-to-computer interactions and integration that help drive the flow of information throughout business.

At Microsoft, we are committed to developing software products that help people and businesses reach their full potential.

We will continue to create new products that push the boundaries of what’s possible. Having spent more than U.S. $6 billion on research and development in the most recent fiscal year (FY05) and with a commitment to spend more than $40 billion during the next five years, Microsoft continues to lead the industry in software research. We are committed to advancing technology to better support and empower the way that people work, live, and play. Microsoft. Software for the people-ready business.TM

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To find out more about Microsoft solutions and programs for manufacturing, visit www.microsoft.com/manufacturing.

Looking to the Future Is your business ?

For more information, please visit www.microsoft.com/manufacturing.

© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Microsoft. Software for the people-ready business., and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

0606 Part No. 098-105435