In a recent Supply Chain research report distributed by TEC at www.technologyevaluation.com , they described the 3 main technologies used by manufacturing and distribution companies to automate their businesses and streamline their processes.  They explain how these decision support systems worked together to guide and protect them through the up-swings and down-turns of the economy.  These 3 “mission critical” systems included ERP (enterprise resource planning), SCM (supply chain management) and APS (advanced planning and scheduling).