10 Ways to Improve Productivity, IT ERP to Reduce Costs and Enhance Customer Satisfaction
Start moving their IT priorities from the back end to the shop floor, for real-time manufacturing intelligence; and that doing so will create a higher return in business value. This will create optimization opportunities which, until now, have simply been impossible.Still, industry requires shop floor-to-top floor visibility. This enables management by exception, and eases customer and supplier relationships
Organizations that do not share a common view of the exact same information at the exact same time cannot be optimally synchronized. Departments make decisions on the information available to them and soon the right and left hand are well out of synch.
The same metrics, statuses and real-time operational information can ensure that the entire enterprise from the executive team through sales and marketing to operations and procurement are making the best decisions possible based upon the best information available
What IT on shop floor can do ?
1 delivers real-time visibility;
2) provides analytics on key performance indicators (KPIs) to optimize business performance; and
3) enables a real-time collaborative enterprise (stretching to other business units, and to supply chain partners).
Supplier intelligence is equally in demand, though slow in coming. De-emphasize management-centric intelligence and supply chain intelligence, in favor of inside-out manufacturing and supplier visibility
Instantly actionable automated information feeds, versus complex reporting structures;
Real-time shop floor to shop floor collaboration;
Immediate analysis of estimated time to complete production;
Immediate notification of supplier delays;
Shortening decision latency in production;
Proactively managing and optimizing workforce interdependencies;
Real-time resolution of manufacturing change orders;
Remote and local visibility of manufacturing production;
Integrated mobile smart phone access dashboards for anytime, anywhere real-time visibility;
A highly-scalable standards-based manufacturing operations network.
Real-time visibility from the shop floor
The key to all enterprise visibility is real-time manufacturing intelligence; from real-time manufacturing intelligence can be derived such answers as—
Which orders are at risk of late delivery?
When can a customer expect a given order to ship?
Where is the current bottleneck in a given process?
Real-time manufacturing intelligence of course enables reactivity, to historic and real-time information. It further enables proactivity, for example—
By establishing alerts regarding at-risk orders (those in yellow and red in Figure 5). These alerts may be viewed on the dashboard, or, sent via email, instant message, and so on;
In establishing priorities to rectify at-risk situations;
In early problem identification, for example, of missing raw materials, or of unrealistic promise-to-deliver.
Proactivity, in turn, enables agile manufacturing, as a company reacts to new and specialized orders with realistic delivery schedules.
Predictive metricsReal-time data is useful for real-time management. Predictive data is useful for managing company strategies and objectives, hence, the demand, from best-in-class companies for forecasting software applications and what-if scheduling in ERP and MES applications
Forecasting and MES applications typically schedule reports, or create reports on demand; to be truly useful, forward-looking views must sit on the desktop, and be ever-changing with the input of real-time data. Three down-the-road parameters that will change constantly, given what happens today, are—
order completion forecast;
bottleneck identification;
revenue projection.
similarly uses real-time Manufacturing Intelligence to estimate work order arrival at various stages of production (here, painting, inspection, and inspection pending).
In this instance, “Inspection Pending” means that work orders are sitting idle on the shop floor. Management may choose to treat this as an opportunity for improvement; more inspection capacity would keep production flowing ceaselessly, and speed delivery dates. As it is, most of the work orders are green, telling the manager that the backup is not threatening most delivery dates, but for those work orders signaled in red and yellow. But again, this is a projection; as of a week from now, the red order will be late, which enables management to reshuffle the queue today to prevent it.
Likely, the real-time tactical information is best used on the shop floor; forecast information is more suited to management, whose responsibility is company strategies and objectives.
Instant access to KPIs, shop floor analytics
Forward-looking projections, like those detailed above, are strategically important; but ongoing data collection is also vital to continuous improvement.
Continuous improvement methodologies, like Lean and Six Sigma call for keen measurement of existing practices, which serves as a basis for improvement. Six Sigma in particular uses the DMAIC methodology (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control), calling for continuous, meticulous measurement; this has been somewhat the downfall of Six Sigma, in that continuous measurement is usually impractical (particularly when it is hands-on), and DMAIC can take months before enough data is available to analyze and improve a process.
KPIs and analytics, by product, for a production company.
Determine:
The first product is on-time, of perfect quality, requiring no management intervention.
The second order is not going as smoothly; as this real-time view details, one of fifteen units will be late. The “Manufacturing Summary by Product” chart reveals that the backup is in assembly, which has three units in process and three units pending.
Finally, KPIs and analytics are traceable down to the individual level; with a managed smart infrastructure, names and faces are attached to a work order, such that a given order, no matter how old, is traceable to a given worker (for good or for bad). Most Omnitrol Networks customers allow workers to see their own analytics, and measure their own performance, before management is alerted to any shortcomings. This, those customers find, is key to employee acceptance of the system.
Intra-enterprise collaboration The classic “four-walls operation” is on the decline. Even a self-contained company may have multi-site and global operations, thus involves an extended supply chain in and of itself.
Confirm
business intelligence;
workflow service creation and deployment;
device integration;
event processing engine;
wired and wireless network support on the shop floor;
shop floor-to-top floor service and data integration.
Supplier Intelligence:It is a short leap between manufacturing intelligence and supply chain intelligence; at the heart is real-time shop floor . application network automatically collects work-in-process data and provides the plant floor and manufacturing personnel with real-time dashboards and reports comparing actual to plan, providing immediate analysis of estimated time to complete production. As a result, suppliers can increase throughput, improve on-time delivery, reduce cycle times and minimize idle times.
Predictive and proactive supply chain operations
Outsourcing has shifted the management of excess capacity to the supplier, but disruptions in the supply chain immediately impact manufacturing operations and the ability to deliver on time. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are in place to define expected services, priorities, responsibilities, and penalties.
But the lack of proper objective measurement and reporting tools makes companies hesitant to jeopardize their product quality and manufacturing cycles.
Manufacturers often play both supplier and customer roles in complex supply chain networks. Reducing costs and improving manufacturing operations are key business objectives, but a manufacturer’s ability to reduce risk with its suppliers and to improve on-time delivery with its customers is an imperative that will determine success or failure into the future
Real-time supplier intelligence benefits manufacturers in several ways:
Prioritization—Customers place orders based upon supplier catalog lead times. Suppliers schedule production based upon manufacturing cycle times. In aerospace manufacturing, both of these times can be quite long, so frequently one party or the other will be trying to move delivery dates, which requires reprioritization. Using the fact-based information, these decisions can be made factually with a mutual understanding of the consequences.
Coordination / synchronization—The negotiation of delivery dates is often contentious with each side trying to secure the greatest hedge for its company. The ability to coordinate orders and delivery in a fact-based discussion reduces uncertainty on both sides, leading to maximum efficiency for customer and supplier.
Safety stock—Companies on both sides of the selling transaction hedge against the other’s actions. The supplier publishes catalog lead times significantly longer than true manufacturing times to protect itself from order changes by the customer. The customer carries incremental safety stock to protect itself from a supplier delivery default. Uncertainty has a price for both. As the collaboration resolves some of that certainty and decisions are made based upon fact, both parties become more efficient. The buyer reduces safety stock and the seller shortens catalog lead times—further reducing buyer safety stock requirements.In the case of the aerospace industry, as more companies join the same supplier intelligence network, the ability to coordinate across multiple suppliers for a common aircraft grows exponent
Supplier visibility collaboration and communications
Real-time Supplier Intelligence allows supply chain partners to automate collaboration, which before now has been a labor-intensive, hands-on operation; fielding calls, chasing status, generating daily reports and so on. Remote collaboration has advanced remarkably in only the last decade.
Witness –
the collaboration capabilities typical now in product lifecycle management and design applications;remote collaboration capabilities available through WebEx, LiveMeeting and so on; the ease of collaboration through virtual and cloud networks. Virtual companies are increasingly common, and do not even require a headquarters
Use of hosted, subscription-based solutions to reduce costs of solution deployment and management
Dedicated servers and server space, as the provider maintains both;
Software upgrades (the software is upgraded without cost or disruption); Ongoing maintenance—usually more than two thirds of the total cost of ownership
Organizations that do not share a common view of the exact same information at the exact same time cannot be optimally synchronized. Departments make decisions on the information available to them and soon the right and left hand are well out of synch.
The same metrics, statuses and real-time operational information can ensure that the entire enterprise from the executive team through sales and marketing to operations and procurement are making the best decisions possible based upon the best information available
What IT on shop floor can do ?
1 delivers real-time visibility;
2) provides analytics on key performance indicators (KPIs) to optimize business performance; and
3) enables a real-time collaborative enterprise (stretching to other business units, and to supply chain partners).
Supplier intelligence is equally in demand, though slow in coming. De-emphasize management-centric intelligence and supply chain intelligence, in favor of inside-out manufacturing and supplier visibility
Instantly actionable automated information feeds, versus complex reporting structures;
Real-time shop floor to shop floor collaboration;
Immediate analysis of estimated time to complete production;
Immediate notification of supplier delays;
Shortening decision latency in production;
Proactively managing and optimizing workforce interdependencies;
Real-time resolution of manufacturing change orders;
Remote and local visibility of manufacturing production;
Integrated mobile smart phone access dashboards for anytime, anywhere real-time visibility;
A highly-scalable standards-based manufacturing operations network.
Real-time visibility from the shop floor
The key to all enterprise visibility is real-time manufacturing intelligence; from real-time manufacturing intelligence can be derived such answers as—
Which orders are at risk of late delivery?
When can a customer expect a given order to ship?
Where is the current bottleneck in a given process?
Real-time manufacturing intelligence of course enables reactivity, to historic and real-time information. It further enables proactivity, for example—
By establishing alerts regarding at-risk orders (those in yellow and red in Figure 5). These alerts may be viewed on the dashboard, or, sent via email, instant message, and so on;
In establishing priorities to rectify at-risk situations;
In early problem identification, for example, of missing raw materials, or of unrealistic promise-to-deliver.
Proactivity, in turn, enables agile manufacturing, as a company reacts to new and specialized orders with realistic delivery schedules.
Predictive metricsReal-time data is useful for real-time management. Predictive data is useful for managing company strategies and objectives, hence, the demand, from best-in-class companies for forecasting software applications and what-if scheduling in ERP and MES applications
Forecasting and MES applications typically schedule reports, or create reports on demand; to be truly useful, forward-looking views must sit on the desktop, and be ever-changing with the input of real-time data. Three down-the-road parameters that will change constantly, given what happens today, are—
order completion forecast;
bottleneck identification;
revenue projection.
similarly uses real-time Manufacturing Intelligence to estimate work order arrival at various stages of production (here, painting, inspection, and inspection pending).
In this instance, “Inspection Pending” means that work orders are sitting idle on the shop floor. Management may choose to treat this as an opportunity for improvement; more inspection capacity would keep production flowing ceaselessly, and speed delivery dates. As it is, most of the work orders are green, telling the manager that the backup is not threatening most delivery dates, but for those work orders signaled in red and yellow. But again, this is a projection; as of a week from now, the red order will be late, which enables management to reshuffle the queue today to prevent it.
Likely, the real-time tactical information is best used on the shop floor; forecast information is more suited to management, whose responsibility is company strategies and objectives.
Instant access to KPIs, shop floor analytics
Forward-looking projections, like those detailed above, are strategically important; but ongoing data collection is also vital to continuous improvement.
Continuous improvement methodologies, like Lean and Six Sigma call for keen measurement of existing practices, which serves as a basis for improvement. Six Sigma in particular uses the DMAIC methodology (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control), calling for continuous, meticulous measurement; this has been somewhat the downfall of Six Sigma, in that continuous measurement is usually impractical (particularly when it is hands-on), and DMAIC can take months before enough data is available to analyze and improve a process.
KPIs and analytics, by product, for a production company.
Determine:
The first product is on-time, of perfect quality, requiring no management intervention.
The second order is not going as smoothly; as this real-time view details, one of fifteen units will be late. The “Manufacturing Summary by Product” chart reveals that the backup is in assembly, which has three units in process and three units pending.
Finally, KPIs and analytics are traceable down to the individual level; with a managed smart infrastructure, names and faces are attached to a work order, such that a given order, no matter how old, is traceable to a given worker (for good or for bad). Most Omnitrol Networks customers allow workers to see their own analytics, and measure their own performance, before management is alerted to any shortcomings. This, those customers find, is key to employee acceptance of the system.
Intra-enterprise collaboration The classic “four-walls operation” is on the decline. Even a self-contained company may have multi-site and global operations, thus involves an extended supply chain in and of itself.
Confirm
business intelligence;
workflow service creation and deployment;
device integration;
event processing engine;
wired and wireless network support on the shop floor;
shop floor-to-top floor service and data integration.
Supplier Intelligence:It is a short leap between manufacturing intelligence and supply chain intelligence; at the heart is real-time shop floor . application network automatically collects work-in-process data and provides the plant floor and manufacturing personnel with real-time dashboards and reports comparing actual to plan, providing immediate analysis of estimated time to complete production. As a result, suppliers can increase throughput, improve on-time delivery, reduce cycle times and minimize idle times.
Predictive and proactive supply chain operations
Outsourcing has shifted the management of excess capacity to the supplier, but disruptions in the supply chain immediately impact manufacturing operations and the ability to deliver on time. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are in place to define expected services, priorities, responsibilities, and penalties.
But the lack of proper objective measurement and reporting tools makes companies hesitant to jeopardize their product quality and manufacturing cycles.
Manufacturers often play both supplier and customer roles in complex supply chain networks. Reducing costs and improving manufacturing operations are key business objectives, but a manufacturer’s ability to reduce risk with its suppliers and to improve on-time delivery with its customers is an imperative that will determine success or failure into the future
Real-time supplier intelligence benefits manufacturers in several ways:
Prioritization—Customers place orders based upon supplier catalog lead times. Suppliers schedule production based upon manufacturing cycle times. In aerospace manufacturing, both of these times can be quite long, so frequently one party or the other will be trying to move delivery dates, which requires reprioritization. Using the fact-based information, these decisions can be made factually with a mutual understanding of the consequences.
Coordination / synchronization—The negotiation of delivery dates is often contentious with each side trying to secure the greatest hedge for its company. The ability to coordinate orders and delivery in a fact-based discussion reduces uncertainty on both sides, leading to maximum efficiency for customer and supplier.
Safety stock—Companies on both sides of the selling transaction hedge against the other’s actions. The supplier publishes catalog lead times significantly longer than true manufacturing times to protect itself from order changes by the customer. The customer carries incremental safety stock to protect itself from a supplier delivery default. Uncertainty has a price for both. As the collaboration resolves some of that certainty and decisions are made based upon fact, both parties become more efficient. The buyer reduces safety stock and the seller shortens catalog lead times—further reducing buyer safety stock requirements.In the case of the aerospace industry, as more companies join the same supplier intelligence network, the ability to coordinate across multiple suppliers for a common aircraft grows exponent
Supplier visibility collaboration and communications
Real-time Supplier Intelligence allows supply chain partners to automate collaboration, which before now has been a labor-intensive, hands-on operation; fielding calls, chasing status, generating daily reports and so on. Remote collaboration has advanced remarkably in only the last decade.
Witness –
the collaboration capabilities typical now in product lifecycle management and design applications;remote collaboration capabilities available through WebEx, LiveMeeting and so on; the ease of collaboration through virtual and cloud networks. Virtual companies are increasingly common, and do not even require a headquarters
Use of hosted, subscription-based solutions to reduce costs of solution deployment and management
Dedicated servers and server space, as the provider maintains both;
Software upgrades (the software is upgraded without cost or disruption); Ongoing maintenance—usually more than two thirds of the total cost of ownership
