Industrial Manufacturing

Security
EU Cyber Resilience Act: ETSI Advances 17 Standards as Reporting Deadline Nears
ETSI is advancing 17 draft cybersecurity standards as manufacturers prepare for EU Cyber Resilience Act vulnerability and incident reporting requirements beginning September 11, 2026.
Automated manufacturing equipment illustrating SAP MII vulnerabilities highlighted in SAP Security Patch Day August 2026.
Security
SAP August Patch Day Raises the Stakes for Manufacturing Security Teams
SAP Security Patch Day August 2026 delivered 28 new Security Notes, including six affecting SAP MII, putting new pressure on manufacturing security and remediation teams.
A visual representation of supply chain management
Supply Chain Management
Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP MCP Server Lets Agents Move from Supply Chain Insight to Action
Microsoft is positioning Dynamics 365 ERP MCP Server as the bridge between AI-generated recommendations and operational execution. The platform gives AI agents controlled access to real ERP workflows, allowing organizations to move from supply chain visibility toward governed action while maintaining human oversight.
AI is doing more than making enterprise systems smarter. It is exposing weak data, disconnected processes and unclear ownership that were already there.
Automation
AI Reveals Vulnerabilities in the Enterprise Operating Model
Enterprise AI is not held back only by technology. ERP, supply chain, data, security, and people need to work together in a connected operating model that turns trusted context into controlled action.
Glowing blue growth arrow rising over industrial gears and data streams toward a digital city labeled Industrial AI H1 2026, while a holographic human figure stands on cracked factory-floor tiles split by red fault lines, symbolizing IFS growth and the execution challenges beneath it.
ERP Strategy and Planning
IFS Rides Industrial AI to 25% Growth in H1 2026, But The Execution Test Is Just Beginning
IFS reported 25% ARR growth for H1 2026 on the strength of embedded Industrial AI, but a quiet CFO transition and the integration of three acquisitions mean the execution test is only beginning.
Magnifying glass examining holographic AI dashboards above a robotic manufacturing production line, symbolizing scrutiny of agentic AI claims in ERP platforms from SAP, IFS, Epicor, QAD, and Syspro
Analytics and AI
AI Reality Check: Separating Agentic Claims from Manufacturing Substance
Agentic AI announcements now arrive weekly from SAP, Epicor, QAD, Syspro, IFS, and Oracle, but delivered functionality follows a very different schedule. A five-point scorecard shows which manufacturing ERP claims stand up to evidence and which remain adjectives.
ERP transformation risks, implementation delays, governance issues, and recovery strategies during a program assessment
ERP Strategy and Planning
SAP Project Rescue Is Becoming a Warning Sign for ERP Modernization
The emergence of SAP project rescue services is becoming a market signal in its own right. As organizations accelerate SAP S/4HANA migrations, more consulting firms are formalizing turnaround practices designed to recover troubled ERP programs before delays, costs, and governance failures become permanent.
Manufacturing Systems and Automation
SAP’s Korea AI Tour Showed Why Manufacturing AI Starts with ERP Standardization
At the SAP NOW AI Tour Korea 2026, SAP showcased Joule's capabilities in root-cause analysis for profitability and procurement, emphasizing the significance of ERP standardization and data integration for effective AI-driven operations in manufacturing.
Supply Chain Management
Companies Are Racing to Cut Tariff Costs, but Their Trade Software May Be Creating New Risk
As tariff volatility reshapes supply chains and financial planning, many organizations are discovering a new challenge: the software supporting Foreign-Trade Zone operations may be creating compliance, audit, and financial risks. New research highlights why FTZ modernization is becoming an ERP and business architecture priority.
Analytics and AI
Can Agentic AI Work on the Pharma Plant Floor? Pharma AI Startup Katalyze Raises $10.5M to Find Out
Katalyze AI has secured $10.5 million in seed funding to enhance its agentic AI operating system designed for pharmaceutical manufacturing and life sciences, aiming to connect disparate data systems within the sector, thereby improving operational efficiency and compliance.
Supply Chain Management
Is AI’s Next Target the Supply Chain Control Layer? Auger Raises $50M to Test the Stack
Auger, a supply chain software startup founded by ex-Amazon executive Dave Clark, has raised $50 million in Series B funding to enhance its AI platform that unifies existing enterprise systems and aims to automate decision-making within supply chains.
Automation
Epicor’s Conexiom Expansion Pushes AI Automation Deeper into Distributor Workflows
Conexiom has expanded its partnership with Epicor to enhance AI-driven order and invoice automation for distributors using Epicor Eclipse and Prophet 21, aiming to streamline order-to-cash cycles, reduce manual data entry, and improve operational efficiency.
ERPfixers CostMatrix SAP Cost Transparency Solution
Financial Management
ERP Finance Teams Need More Than Blended COGS to Explain Margin Pressure
ERPfixers is targeting a common finance blind spot in SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA environments: the loss of cost-driver visibility once inventory becomes COGS. CostMatrix aims to restore that detail, helping controllers understand exactly what's behind changing margins.
IFS industrial AI and Microsoft
Service Management
IFS Brings Industrial AI to Microsoft’s Executive Demo Floor
IFS showcases its Industrial AI capabilities across Microsoft Experience Centers globally, demonstrating how autonomous agents can enhance asset-heavy operations by managing complex scenarios like packaging-line failures, ultimately highlighting the practical deployment of AI in operational environments.
Supply Chain Management
Infor Aligns Its Agentic ERP Strategy with ‘Enterprise Resource Execution’ Framework
Infor is aligning its agentic enterprise strategy with enterprise resource execution, or ERX, a Gartner-introduced framework for ERP’s next phase that emphasizes real-time sensing, decision-making, and execution through governed AI agents and industry-specific context.
Supply Chain Management
DeepFabric Takes Aim at the Manual Work Still Slowing Supply Chains
DeepFabric has launched its AI agent platform aimed at automating manual coordination tasks in supply chain operations, offering over 50 specialized agents that improve efficiency and reduce costs for enterprise clients, while emphasizing the importance of human oversight in the process.
ERP Strategy and Planning
What Does It Take to Win the Next Energy ERP Cycle? SAP, Oracle, IFS, Infor Offer Different Answers
Excerpt: SAP, Oracle, IFS, and Infor are offering different answers to the next energy ERP cycle as oil, gas, utilities, renewables, and energy services companies modernize around assets, field execution, AI, and changing operating models.
Manufacturing AI
Manufacturing Systems and Automation
Epicor Takes Its ERP AI Bet to Europe’s Factory Floor
Epicor has launched Epicor Prism in the UK and parts of Europe, introducing embedded AI agents within its ERP system to facilitate easier data interpretation and decision-making for manufacturers, while also addressing ERP customization challenges.
Applied Materials finance transformation using SAP Taulia Dynamic Discounting for supplier payments
Business Process Management and Automation
Applied Materials Is Finding Finance Transformation in Faster Supplier Payments
Applied Materials is using SAP Taulia Dynamic Discounting as part of its Agile Finance program to accelerate supplier payments, improve supplier liquidity, and build a scalable, AI-first finance operating model. The initiative shows how enterprise working capital programs can evolve from transactional efficiency tools into strategic platforms that deliver both supplier value and measurable financial returns for large manufacturers.
ERP Strategy and Planning
WEINIG Group Unifies Global ERP on Dynamics 365
WEINIG Group, a leading manufacturer in the wood processing industry, partnered with Hitachi Solutions to consolidate a highly decentralised ERP landscape into one global Microsoft Dynamics 365 solution hosted on Azure. By moving from more than 80 separate ERP systems to a unified platform, WEINIG gained shared financial services, better inventory visibility, and common processes and data to support informed decision-making across its international operations
Financial Management
Linde Engineering Sharpens Project Financials with Dynamics 365
Linde Engineering partnered with Hitachi Solutions to deploy Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Project Operations, modernising how it manages project costs, billing, and revenue. By moving to a cloud-based, project-focused ERP, the engineering business gains clearer visibility into profitability across complex plant projects and a more controlled, consistent approach to financial management.
ERP Strategy and Planning
Marabu Builds a Global ERP and CRM Platform on Dynamics 365
Marabu, a leading manufacturer of printing and hobby inks, partnered with Hitachi Solutions to replace fragmented legacy systems with a unified Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform for ERP and CRM. Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service, Finance, and Supply Chain are being rolled out across multiple countries, harmonising processes, improving data quality, and creating a scalable foundation for Marabu’s international growth.
Honeywell Announcements
Analytics and AI
Honeywell Pushes Industrial AI into Control Rooms and OT Cybersecurity
Honeywell launched Experion Cognition, an AI-driven control system to enhance autonomous operations in industrial control rooms, while simultaneously expanding its OT Cybersecurity Suite to bolster defenses against advanced cyber threats, illustrating a strategic focus on integrating AI with operational resilience and security.
Financial Management
Plastic Energy’s Dynamics 365 Finance Transformation
Plastic Energy, a leader in advanced plastic recycling, partnered with Hitachi Solutions to implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance as a cloud-based platform to support rapid global growth. Using Hitachi’s Essentials for Finance accelerator, the team delivered a multinational rollout across ten countries in nine months, enabling standardised processes, faster reporting, and better financial insight for its circular-economy operations.
ERP Strategy and Planning
Enabling The Royal Mint’s Sustainable Precious Metals Programme with Dynamics 365
The Royal Mint partnered with Hitachi Solutions to design and implement a new cloud-based Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management platform to power its world-first Sustainable Precious Metals programme. The ERP solution tracks e-waste from intake through processing to finished products, supporting circular economy goals while improving agility, data management, and security.
Analytics and AI
AI and Automation in Invoice Processing
Hitachi Construction Machinery America used Microsoft Power Platform AI Builder and Power Automate to automate supplier invoice processing into Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, significantly reducing manual AP effort. By streamlining how invoices are received, read, validated, and posted, the organisation now automatically processes around two-thirds of invoices with near-perfect accuracy.
ERP Strategy and Planning
Rotork Transforms Global ERP and Customer Operations with Microsoft Dynamics 365
Hitachi Solutions has been recognised as the 2025 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance Partner of the Year, highlighting its leadership in delivering innovative ERP and finance transformations on the Microsoft cloud. This recognition showcases the company’s proven expertise in helping customers modernise financial operations, optimise business performance, and realise greater value from Dynamics 365 Finance.
Supply Chain Management
IFS Is Building the Operations Layer Around Industrial AI
IFS’s Softeon acquisition is only one part of a broader push to connect warehouse execution, logistics optimization, MRO, asset management, and ERP around Industrial AI.
Manufacturing Systems and Automation
Sage X3 Hopes to Help Manufacturers See Trouble Before It Hits
Sage announced enhancements to Sage X3, aimed at helping manufacturers and distributors improve operational visibility, reduce manual tasks, and expedite decision-making through embedded AI and operational intelligence.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing Systems and Automation
Why Manufacturing AI Succeeds or Fails at the ERP Layer
Manufacturers' ambitions for AI are hampered by the lack of a coherent operational context within their ERP systems, as successful AI implementation requires reliable data governance and structured decision-making that connects insights to actionable outcomes.
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