Manufacturing:<br>Rethinking How I.T. And People Are AssembledManufacturing:<br>Rethinking How I.T. And People Are Assembled

The network also gives Emerson a foundation to participate in online auctions. The company projects more than $60 million in savings on about $325 million in auction purchases this year. "Information is giving more power to the buyer than to the supplier," Peters says. "From an economic standpoint, the buyer has more power than the supplier these days."

Snap-on Inc. is using IT to give the buyer a different kind of power. The maker of high-end hand tools and automotive-diagnostic equipment is developing an IP-ready torque wrench that will contain a memory chip and a wireless IP-based transmitter. The wrench will send installation data to a garage's PC system, which will print out details for the customer.

Credit IT with helping to foster that idea. In June, VP and CIO Al Biland sat through 15 days of strategic-planning sessions. At one session, another executive told of a chain of auto-service centers that was being sued after wheels fell off its customers' cars, even though its mechanics contended that the torque settings adhered to manufacturers' specifications. That sparked the idea among Snap-on's IT and tool experts to create an IP-ready device that could tighten nuts to spec and help generate documentation that could protect garage operators against litigation.

Biland sees more such collaborative efforts in the future. "We have to challenge the old assumptions of which products have technology components and which ones don't," he says. "This opens up a range of possibilities about the workshop of the future."

Snap-on and other manufacturers are starting to see how IT can improve not only business processes but also products themselves.

Photo of Al Biland by Sacha Lecca

INDUSTRY LEADERS Rank Company Revenue in millions Income (loss)
in millions IT
employees 13 Lockheed Martin Corp. $23,990 ($1,046) 5,335 21 Snap-on Inc. $2,096 $19 340 23 Haworth Inc. $1,500 — 280 29 3M Co. $16,079 $1,430 2,600 47 Menasha Corp. $1,112 — 150 50 Emerson $15,480 $1,589 1,055 61 Chamberlain Group — — 67 66 Armstrong World Industries $3,135 $93 — 94 Xilinx Inc. $1,016 ($114) 245 156 Standard Register Co. $1,196 ($49) 605 161 General Electric $126,000 $13,684 12,000 162 Southwire Co. $1,200 -- 67 165 Acuity Brands Inc. $1,983 $41 190 167 Mail-Well Inc. $1,653 ($136) 150 179 GenCorp Inc. $1,486 $128 150 192 Honeywell International Inc. $23,652 ($99) 2,100 199 Parker Hannifin Corp. $6,149 $130 901 221 HON Industries $1,792 $74 150 238 Texas Instruments Inc. $8,201 $205 1,100 269 WL Gore & Associates Inc. $1,230 $215 305 278 Tyco International Ltd. $36,400 $3,970 6,000 284 Flowserve Corp. $1,918 ($1,497) 200 290 Unifi Inc. $1,131 ($45) 70 300 Northrop Grumman Corp. $13,558 $427 22,000 304 Superior Essex $1,747 ($2) 110 317 Harsco Corp. $2,107 $72 80 320 Ametek Inc. $1,019 $66 70 324 SPX Corp. $4,114 $173 425 325 Shaw Industries Group Inc. -- -- 360 331 Eaton Corp. $7,299 $169 1,500 336 Boeing $58,198 $2,827 14,250 351 Steelcase Inc. $3,090 $1 370 369 Owens Corning $4,762 $102 140 419 Ingersoll-Rand Co. $9,682 $246 3,830 424 Agco Corp. $2,542 $23 330 426 Leggett & Platt Inc. $4,114 $188 180 430 Johns Manville Corp. -- -- 160 431 MeadWestvaco Corp. $8,100 $38 800 434 Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. $2,280 ($162) 52 437 Pactiv Corp. $2,812 $165 330 439 Riverwood International Corp. $1,250 ($78) 70 445 APW Ltd. $1,268 ($232) 85 449 Sonoco Products Co. Inc. $2,606 $92 160 464 Nucor Corp. $4,139 $113 110 465 Sealed Air Corp. $3,068 $157 400 467 Illinois Tool Works Inc. $9,293 $806 1,400 482 Owens Illinois Inc. $6,013 $357 220 483 ITT Cannon -- -- 84 485 International Game Technology Inc. $1,199 $213 96 490 Varco International Inc. $1,268 $83 80 493 Corporate Graphics International Corp. $1,113 $6 225 494 Tecumseh Products Co. $1,399 $43 130 Financial data is from public sources and company supplied.
Revenue is for latest fiscal year.
Employee data is from information 500 qualifying survey.