IQMS Pinnacle User Conference Keynotes Reinforce Stand Taller Initiative Aimed at Empowering Manufacturers to Maximize Their Competitiveness

The integral roles of technology, teamwork and training in driving a manufacturer’s success were key themes of the keynote presentations at the IQMS Pinnacle User Conference. The discussions were part of the broader IQMS Stand Taller initiative, which is aimed at maximizing manufacturing customers’ competitiveness and provides a foundation for educational sessions throughout the event.

With 500-plus customers in attendance, Pinnacle 2018 marks the largest user event for IQMS, a leading manufacturing ERP software and manufacturing execution system (MES) authority. The conference is being held, November 12-15, 2018, at the Aria Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. It brings together manufacturing executives, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and MES technical experts, and industry thought leaders in 60 sessions examining manufacturing technology and business best practices, as well as how to get the most out of IQMS software.

IQMS Product and Service Offerings Support Customer Growth

In their keynote presentations, IQMS CEO Gary Nemmers and IQMS CTO Dan Radunz outlined advances in providing the products, services and training to foster manufacturing customers’ growth. In particular, Radunz highlighted several technical developments, including:

  • IQMS Web BI, which features rich, cloud-based business intelligence and visualization functionality from Oracle to help manufacturers gain greater insights into their data, now includes more than 25 out-of-the-box dashboards to facilitate analysis.
  • The new Track and Trace module can research 10 million records in 30 seconds—providing manufacturers with the data, insights and intelligence to easily and accurately react and respond to recalls and meet industry regulations and quality audits.
  • Real-time production and processing in the IQMS system support additional protocols to support gathering data from machines on the shop floor.
  • A new Inventory Activity Cost Journal (IACJ), which is being previewed at Pinnacle, will combine transactional and accounting data to facilitate additional financial visibility.

Additionally, both Nemmers and Radunz provided updates on IQMS hosted and managed cloud services, which take advantage of Amazon Web Services and Oracle Cloud capabilities. Nemmers noted that cloud uptime has reached 99.99%. Meanwhile Radunz observed that if IQMS hosted or managed cloud customers are faced with a natural disaster, IQMS now can have these manufacturers up and running in an alternate data center within hours.

In his presentation, Nemmers examined other investments the company is making to empower manufacturing customers. He observed that IQMS has significantly expanded its professional services organization in addition to rolling out the IQMS eLearning program, a web-based training platform with self-paced courses designed to help customers maximize their retention. Noting that many of IQMS customers have an international presence, Nemmers said that the company also is expanding its partner network to support manufacturers’ operations across Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

“In recent years, we’ve invested $35 million in product development, but we recognize that manufacturers’ success is also tied to how effectively they build organizations that drive innovation, customer loyalty, and profitability,” Nemmers said. “Through our Stand Taller initiative at IQMS, we are taking a 360o approach to empowering our manufacturing customers with the software, services, education, and best practices to compete more effectively in the global market.”

Creating a Culture of Excellence

Presentations by IQMS executives were complemented by guest keynotes that focused on helping manufacturers create cultures of excellence within their organizations.

Day One of Pinnacle featured retired Air Force Lt. Col. Waldo Waldman, a Hall of Fame Speaker, decorated fighter pilot, and author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Never Fly Solo. In his presentation, Never Fly Solo! The Power of Partnership to Reach New Heights in Business and Life, discussed how to build trust and work as a team to create a winning and sustainable business in today’s highly competitive world of rapid and constant change. Lt. Col. Waldman observed that in a market of operational excellence, complacency kills. He also highlighted the importance of leading by example and being able to get as well as give feedback, noting that innovation starts with conversation.

Day Two of Pinnacle opened with a keynote by Dr. Steven Squyres, a James A. Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences at Cornell University and the acclaimed principal investigator for the science payload on the Mars Exploration Rover Project. In his session, The Mars Project, How Design & Innovation Got Us There, Dr. Squyres discussed scientific discoveries made by the twin robotic explorers, Spirit and Opportunity, which required a team of 4,000-plus highly motivated engineers and scientists. He also recalled how the team created the rovers, from initial conception through development and the design process. Additionally, he shared manufacturing lessons learned as the team overcame technical challenges through advance testing and situational problem solving to enable more than a decade of exploration on Mars.

About IQMS

IQMS is a manufacturing software provider that uniquely combines ERP and MES functionality to give manufacturers a comprehensive end-to-end suite for running the business, backed by the real-time performance and scalability that companies demand. Developed specifically for mid-market repetitive, discrete and batch process manufacturers, IQMS provides robust capabilities for addressing strict customer and regulatory certification and compliance. IQMS achieves this by delivering traditional ERP functionality for accounting, sales orders, material requirements, inventory, and purchasing, plus extended native features for CRM, human resources, production scheduling, shop floor control, warehouse and quality modules. With offices across North America, Europe, and Asia, IQMS serves manufacturers around the world. For more information, please visit https://www.iqms.com.

Engage with IQMS at:

Website: IQMS.com

Twitter: @IQMSerp

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/IQMS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IQMSerp

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/IQMSerp

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+IQMSerp