What do forward looking companies consider in their plans and developments?

At the turn of the last decade (1980s) Nestle senior management recognised that global competition was increasing with many new contenders entering the market. Regulations, particularly in Europe were changing and the economic performance of many countries would continue to be uncertain. Our principle customers were becoming more demanding and developing their own global and regional strategies. Responding successfully to these pressures demanded new strategies and providing a technology framework as an enabler for business transformation was one of the key components. Integrated operations requires synchronised business and manufacturing which needs to leverage investments in `office´ technologies and sharing common standards for message transactions, master data, bar code, ticketing and scanning. ANA standards, EDI and integration technologies are the glue which now binds customers and suppliers together; achieving this same glue in production operations will help bring about a new vision of manufacturing. The next generation of manufacturing enterprises and their supporting information systems will be very different from the legacies of the past. Nestle UK is quickly learning how to achieve business benefits through the use of a new and modern business information system, its installed computer network infrastructure and integration of business and operational processes. For Nestle UK, the next generation of manufacturing enterprises are now being constructed