Also at the SAP World Tour (see previous post), Merck’s IT Account Manager for Vaccine Manufacturing, Dermot McCaul, spoke about his company’s ongoing implementation of SAP’s Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP MII) application.

While not on the magnitude of a Rolling Stones or U2 show, the first stop on this year’s SAP World Tour—today in Chicago—did have one rock star present—former VP and everyone’s favorite global citizen, Al Gore. Gore delivered a wonderful speech on green and sustainable business to the overflow crowd of SAP employees and clients. The bad news: I didn’t hear it, since media were prohibited from covering Gore’s talk.

Ever wonder what happened to Conformia, the California-based PLM software company? Formerly a partner with SAP, Conformia had established a CRADA with FDA, with whom it had organized conferences designed to promote discussion and implementation of Quality by Design. This CRADA group had helped develop the ACE  case study for QbD involving small molecules. The meetings were cross-functional and promoted open discussion. I attended one and saw how valuable they were...then the company suddenly disappeared.