Business

An Israeli expert is creating a center at Wayne State to help local manufacturers.

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ALAN ABRAMS
Special to the Jewish News

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T

he brainchild of an Israeli-
born and educated infor-
mation systems researcher
could make Wayne State
University's newest business center
into a world player with key links to
the automotive industry.
The Manufacturing Information
Systems Center could also strengthen
links between Israeli and U.S. manu-
facturers, said its director, Dr. Arik
Ragowsky, an assistant professor of
information systems and manufactur-
ing at the WSU School of Business
Administration.
Dr. Ragowsky is one of several
Israeli professors who have brought a
fresh presence to WSU.
The fledgling center (it was
approved by the university's Board of
Governors only last November) has
already received a grant of $125,000
from the Ford Motor Co. However, it
is still shy of the estimated $3-5 mil-
lion it needs for full operation.
Dr. Ragowsky has been at Wayne for
eight years and recently received tenure.
"I wanted to come here because of the
manufacturing industry which is cen-
tered here. I specialized in information
systems for manufacturing companies,"
he said in an interview in his paper-
filled office cubicle in the Detroit-based
university's Business Annex adjoining
the Prentis building on campus.
That building is named in honor
of one of the auto industry's few pio-
neer Jewish executives, longtime
General Motors treasurer and philan-
thropist Meyer L. Prentis.
"When I was about to complete
my doctorate at Tel Aviv University in
June of 1992, I started to look for a
job in the United States. Once a year,
we have an international conference
for information systems, which is a
placement market. I met a representa-
tive from WSU and here I am," said
Dr. Ragowsky.
He had already enjoyed a taste of

Computer usage in manufacturing
is Di: Arik Ragowsky's specialty.

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fame in Israel as a researcher. "For my
masters degree, I investigated the level
of computerization of the Israeli manu-
facturing industry. I found it was very
low — this was in 1986. Based upon
the-findings of my study, the
Association of Manufacturers in Israel
and the government of Israel reduced
the tax on computers used in the man-
ufacturing industry from 38 percent to
4 percent," said Dr. Ragowsky.
He was retained by the Association
of Manufacturers in Israel to help
increase the level of computerization
in the manufacturing industry, and
advised Israel's minister of manufac-
turing on how to improve industry in
Israel.
Dr. Ragowsky saw significant, pos-
itive changes in both areas by the
time he received his doctorate.

Dr. Ragowsky's work in Israel set
the groundwork for his future at
WSU. For his groundbreaking disser-
tation ("A Model for Planning the
Information Systems for a
Manufacturing Organization as a
Function of Their Benefits"), he
developed a model by collecting data
from 310 manufacturing companies

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Not everyone knows how
to use ERP software,
nor, says Dr. Ragowsky,
does everyone need it.

in Israel.
"At each company, we interviewed
either the president or vice president
and asked them about 250 questions.
The results showed that different
organizations may gain different ben-
efits by using the same Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) applications
as a function of their organizational
characteristics," said Dr. Ragowsky.
Manufacturers spend about $10
billion annually on ERP software
packages for purchasing, production
planning, sales, accounting and
human resource functions. Yet ERP
has become a well-publicized and
expensive nightmare for many high-
profile corporations in the United
States that have actually scrapped
their multi-million dollar installa-
tions. Most, if not all, of the prob-
lems stem from promises made, but
not kept, by software manufacturers.
However, users of ERP in Asia
have not encountered such difficul-
ties. The resulting imbalance has put
the U.S. at an economic disadvantage
globally, a problem Dr. Ragowsky and
the WSU center feel a need to address
before the situation becomes even
more critical.
"After I came to the U.S., I collect-
ed data from 200 manufacturing
companies over here and I got the
same results as I did in Israel, based
upon the American sample. I will be
publishing my findings comparing
the results from the two countries. In
spite of the differences in culture and
size, the concept holds for both coun-
tries," said. Dr. Ragowsky.
"Companies that really didn't need
it (ERP) got it and depended too
much upon it. They don't know how
to utilize or maximize it, which is
why 80 to 90 percent of the installa-
tions are failures," he said.
When operational, the WSU cen-
ter will support and encourage
research on ERP which, to date, has
received very little academic research.
"It doesn't work, it is expensive, and
people do not know where to turn,"

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