This ingenious idea combined with Hollerith’s business sense enabled IBM to hold the monopoly of the commercial use of this technology for many years. The early logistics software also originated from IBM. COPICS (Communication-Oriented Production Information and Control System) was the most well- known standard software package of the 1960s, and for a long time was the standard for further developments in this field. See also [IBM81]. This software was designed, in particular, to meet the needs of the major industries of that period — mechanical engineering and automobile construction. Finally, IBM was, and still is, a multinational manufacturer of mainframe computer systems.