Manhattan Associates Software Review

An Independent Supply Chain Management Software Review

Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Atlanta Georgia, Manhattan Associates ("Manhattan") (NASDAQ: MANH) is a leader in supply chain execution software. The company has concentrated almost exclusively on helping companies streamline their supply chains to achieve cost savings. To maintain their leadership status, the Manhattan Science Advisory Board brings together their PhDs and supply chain management (SCM) experts with industry thought leaders and international researchers from outstanding academic institutions, such as MIT, Columbia University and Georgia Tech, to discuss advances in the underlying science, address new economic developments and identify fruitful areas of research.

Manhattan's first warehouse management (WM) product, initially referred to as PkMS, propelled the company into being a Warehouse Management System (WMS) market leader. The Warehouse Management software product is now called (take your pick) WM for IBMi, Warehouse Management for iSeries or WMi, and runs on IBM's iSeries systems, catering to customers seeking IBM hardware and management infrastructure. Since then the company has added two additional Warehouse Management software products. One is positioned for the small to medium size business (SMB) and is part of their SCALE products built on Microsoft.net technologies. Warehouse Management Open Systems (WMoS) is their flagship WMS, addressing the needs of larger, more sophisticated customers. WMoS current version is built on Manhattan's SCOPE technology platform that also includes a transportation management offering.

Manhattan's WMoS closest competitor is RedPrairie's WM/D, and both are at the top of their game with the broadest and deepest of Warehouse Management software functionality. Both continue to advance their offerings, addressing the features required by the largest and most complex customers.

With the acquisition of Logistic.com, Manhattan acquired a Transportation Management System (TMS) solution called Transportation Lifecycle Management. Evant was acquired in 2005, expanding Manhattan's supply chain management solutions into planning, forecasting and inventory optimization. Despite these two acquisitions, Manhattan is more inclined to drive innovations in-house, unlike many other warehouse management system (WMS) vendors that opt to grow through acquisition.

In 2010, Manhattan Associates invested over $40 million in product research and development. Their 2010 revenues were $297 million and the 2011 guidance range is $325 to $334 million. For the last three years, the company's revenues have been below their highest revenues of $338 million in 2007. Manhattan has remained profitable with a strong balance sheet. Virtually all 2,000 employees work directly with Manhattan's 1,200 customers through research and development, training, implementation and ongoing support.

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