Presentations to Include Real-Life Customer Examples From the Pharmaceutical, Automotive and CPG Sectors: Microsoft Corp today announced that, along with 14 of its leading manufacturing partners, it will host the final of this year's conference-summits focused on collaboration, innovation and performance in the manufacturing industry. The event, which will be held at the Hotel Meridien Montparnasse in Paris on 11 Dec 2006, is being supported by Accenture, Avanade Inc, Dassault Systemes, HP, Iconics Inc, Infonizer ApS, Meridio, OSIsoft Inc, Pcubed, Pertinence, RPMCar, Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D), TxT e-solutions SpA and Wonderware. Delegates interested in attending the event will have the option to attend any of the three following industry-focused parallel sessions: pharmaceutical and process industry; automotive and discrete manufacturing industry; or consumer packaged goods (CPG). They will also be invited to debate some of the key issues the industry is facing today, including the following: - Globalization. How are manufacturers meeting the challenge of being global companies and fulfilling ever-changing and complex market demands? - Collaboration. Can a collaborative environment help to reduce costs and time-to-market? - Regulations. How can technology be used by manufacturers to optimise product innovation and business performance, and the sharing of information while conforming to industry regulations? - Operational performance. How can companies integrate better their different systems to help providing the best information necessary for decision makers to drive their business and competitive edge? Presentations throughout the event will examine the idea of technologies as tools that enable people to perform at their best within the manufacturing industry. A focus will be made on the areas of product life-cycle management, supply chain, production and client relations. In addition, delegates will hear real-life examples from all three industry segments. Pcubed will present a case study about Ford, and Wonderware representatives will offer lessons learned from their work with Roche Diagnostics and Pernod Ricard. Francois Richard, Manufacturing Industry lead at Microsoft EMEA, said, "We are extremely delighted to be hosting this event in Paris, the heart of Europe, as we discuss issues that are of interest to the global manufacturing community. Today, consumer goods manufacturers need to comply not only with their country-specific trade regulations, but also with EU and environmental policies, and FDA, USDA and HACCP requirements. While this may represent an obstacle in bringing innovation and improving business performance, technology can help people to work effectively in accordance with these regulations while continuing to innovate in their field. "Automotive manufacturers today are finding themselves under a lot of pressure to speed-up design cycles and reduce costs while improving time to market and their customer insight. Furthermore, many companies have subsidiaries, suppliers and partners located in different regions and business success depends on teams working effectively together and having access to the right information at the right time. By setting up an IT system that favours collaboration and sharing information, people will be able to achieve this. We are hosting this event to help facilitate this." Rudiger Dorn, worldwide industry lead at Microsoft for pharmaceutical industry, said, "The pharmaceutical industry has moved its focus from treating illnesses to providing wellness for the global community and this has opened many new business opportunities. As such, innovation has fast become a key factor in succeeding in this marketplace. We're hoping that the event will reveal some ways in which this can be achieved through the use of technology."