PeopleSoft to acquire Salerno
PeopleSoft will announce the acquisition of privately held management software maker Salerno Manufacturing Systems for an undisclosed amount.
Under the terms of the purchase, PeopleSoft has moved all nine Salerno employees, including development, support, and sales staff, to its offices in Southfield, Michigan, PeopleSoft executives said.
Details of the purchase were not disclosed.
Salerno's flagship SPM+open software will be integrated with PeopleSoft's next version of its software suite PeopleSoft 7.5. The new product will be renamed PeopleSoft Quality, and will be available in the first half of 1998, according to the company.
PeopleSoft Quality will allow engineers to collect data, have statistical process control, and quality data analysis. "It also allows users to have post quality analysis, providing charts on how well your [manufacturing] process is going," said Rob McKelligan, vice president of product strategy for PeopleSoft. "The whole focus of the product is on material quality."
McKelligan admitted that his company is relatively new to the manufacturing market compared to its competitors, Baan, SAP, and Oracle, but he said the acquisition of Salerno brings a proven product and the expertise needed for the company to establish itself in this space.
"We're always looking for an angle we can get that manufacturers will want to employ," McKelligan said. "We want to find something that will set ourselves apart."
The acquisition caps the end of a week that had PeopleSoft reporting earnings of $28 million, or 23 cents per share, for the third quarter--above analysts' expectations.
The purchase also comes a year after PeopleSoft's purchase of Red Pepper Software in a $255 million stock transaction.
In addition to providing management for manufacturing, PeopleSoft hopes to leverage Quality to provide process measurement to other PeopleSoft applications. Company officials said customers are interested in monitoring the quality of materials in other areas of PeopleSoft's operation, such as receiving and shipping.