As promised last March (CI No 1,878) Cincom Systems Inc has launched the Unix version of its integrated manufacturing software, Control:Manufacturing. The most obvious change is that the product sports a clutch of graphical tools, all running under Microsoft Corp Windows. The user gets access to everything through the control desk applications application, programmers get a swish Windows-based Developers Workstation and executives get a new Decision Support/Executive Information System. The Cincinnati, Ohio company originally said it would convert its software to run on HP 9000 Series 8000 machines under HP-UX Unix and that Hewlett-Packard Co had signed a joint development and marketing agreement. A similar deal has now been struck with Digital Equipment Corp, and the manufacturing software is available immediately for the Ultrix version of Unix with support for DEC’s OSF/1 following in the second half of the year. The portfolio will be further expanded in the future as extra Unix variants are supported; no names yet, except to say that the company is not rushing to implement under IBM Corp’s AIX: most customers who are interested in a Unix version are looking for prime open system vendors, says UK marketing manager David Miller, adding that AIX is not usually towards the top of the list. Other new features include international support, not only handling languages, but also country’s financial and accounting vagaries and European value-added tax (Intrastat) reporting. Finally, the company was proudly showing of its multi-site support; the software’s ability to handle communications between remote plants ordering and producing parts. While this feature is already implemented in the most recent version of Control:Manufacturing for the DEC VMS and IBM versions, its presence in the Unix version means that the new decision support software can collect, summarise and present manufacturing data from across the enterprise. The support software, together with the graphical front ends will appear on the older systems within the next six months, the company says.
