HIGH-POWER COMPUTING AND THE VALUE CHAIN - IT USE IN THE PACKAGED CONSUMER-GOODS INDUSTRY

This article sets out a vision of why and how competitive positioning in the 1990s will exploit a new generation of supercomputing-but at PC prices. This article follows the theme that a large enough quantitative change becomes a qualitative change. The change will be felt in all sectors but this article focuses on the packaged consumer goods industry. Pressures on manufacturers to show real value for money have never been stronger. Brand loyalty is being eroded as buying power diminishes while store-brands and economy labels exploit increasing price sensitivity. In consequence, today's brand leaders must seek radical ways to differentiate their products, provide consistent quality, speed up product innovation, and target their markets. Such improvements will require greater customer intimacy, deeper understanding of the market and faster reactions. To achieve this, 'information intensity' will be applied to logistics, marketing, production and distribution. Low-cost, high-power computing is the enabler. It will catalyse new thinking about the core business processes and the frontiers of the value chain and herald the 'virtual company'.