Over the last week, I’ve had the opportunity to moderate two different panels with a total of five different Plex customers. One panel was during Plex’s PowerPlex user conference (in Detroit) and the other was at the Manufacturing & Technology Conference & Expo (in Chicago). Their very real, personal comments regarding their journey with cloud ERP were noteworthy.

Plex employees always get to play with the coolest toys. Last week at PowerPlex, Barrie Vince was watching over 4 sets of smart glasses shown above: Google Glass Explorer, Vuzix M100, Epson Moverio BT200, and Recon Jet.

PowerPlex has become firmly established on the Spring conference circuit among the cognoscenti and assorted curmudgeons that fancy themselves as sages of the enterprise world. The company has rightfully earned its place as the only cloud manufacturing suite player with deep functional capabilities that cater for the small and medium businesses in the Rust Belt and beyond.

It's a year since Cindy and I discussed gender diversity at PowerPlex. Now is a good time for an update.

Nick Jones, corporate operations, Aaron Thomas Packaging explains how persistence pays in getting on the Plex UX program.

One of the highlights of my visit to Detroit was the trip to Shelby Township and the MFC Netform factory. MFC Netform is primarily a maker of powertrain parts for the automotive industry using flowforming processes.

I had two moments of self-doubt this week in Detroit where I attended Plex’s user conference. Was I safe walking down the riverfront from the Marriott at Renaissance Center (or the more contemporary name, RenCen) to the Cobo Center, which buzzes with visitors from around the world at the annual North American International Auto Show? And was I out of mind waiting all alone in deathly quiet for several minutes at the platform for the People Mover?

I spent a few days at Plex’s user conference in Detroit this week. For me, the backdrop was the invigorated city as I describe here. That amplified the many upbeat conversations and presentations I witnessed at the event.

DETROIT, MICH., April 27, 2016 – Plex Systems, the leader in cloud ERP for manufacturing, today announced the 2016 Plex Impact Awards winners: Firstronic, MFC Netform and MPI Corporation.

DETROIT, MICH., April 26, 2016 – Plex Systems, the leader in cloud ERP for manufacturing, today announced new Plex Insight applications, expanding the company’s suite of reporting, analytic and benchmarking tools.