Extended enterprise resource planning (ERP) software (or sometimes referred to as ERP II, the term coined by Gartner), extends ERP information to other interested users presumably with no barriers to data flow (see Enterprise Applications—The Genesis and Future, Revisited). Such an enterprise system would provide extensive business management functionality (e.g., real-time production monitoring, warehouse management, job shop tooling, quality control, supply chain planning, execution and connectivity, customer relationship management [CRM], preventive maintenance, and so on), that was previously available only through multiple vendors' solutions. It would also involve a single database solution with integrated modules to deliver improved implementation, ease-of-use, and efficient administration for manufacturing companies.
The system would be a complete enterprise solution with the provider even being able to offer its customers one-stop-shop development for programming, sales, implementation, and support services. This would in turn help manage the rapidly changing business environment of today, as there would, for example, be a survey of current business practices, an analysis detailing areas of improvement, an assessment of the use of the current system, all of which becomes an advocate for software enhancements to better serve the customer.
In other words, such an integrated broad system would expand the business intelligence (BI) of the enterprise solution by helping businesses better capture data, track operations, and improve overall efficiencies.
How many traditional ERP vendors, including the largest ones, have natively built-in real-time production monitoring, warehousing management, time and attendance capture, and complete quality management systems?
Well, almost none when it comes to integrating ERP and parts of a manufacturing execution system (MES), which, as per the Manufacturing Enterprise Systems Association (MESA International) definition is essentially any system that uses current and accurate data, triggers, and reports on plant activities as events occur. From electronic production management systems to shop-floor data capture, MES functions manage operations from point of order release into manufacturing to point of product delivery into finished goods.
The possibility of integrating and providing all elements of a complete manufacturing solution, at least from a same source if not exactly as a single computing platform, has always been tempting, and possibly lucrative, but never delivered, not even by once mighty automation provider Invensys, who once had under its roof Baan, Marcam, Avantis, and Wonderware, respective ERP and MES products, yet never delivered together (see The Name and Ownership Change Roulette Wheel for Marcam Stops at SSA Globa—Part Three: Last-Ditch Effort by Invensys).
Thus, IQMS (www.iqms.com), a privately held, Paso Robles, CA (US)-based developer of EnterpriseIQ, a well attuned extended-ERP system for small and mid-size plastic processors and like repetitive manufacturers, might be unique in the entire ERP arena, and not only within its mid-market realm, by providing the powerful IQ RealTime Production Monitoring module to ensure plant efficiency by identifying poor machine performance before it becomes a problem. The module provides automatic tracking of production by hardware being wired directly to production machines, while a special user screen (e.g., touch screen, capable of simplifying data entry) can be created for shop floor personnel to provide virtually real-time data flow to and from the shop floor (i.e., to bring the production and ERP information together). Both office and plant personnel should thereby know via a color-coded screen exactly what is happening with each machine (i.e., "yellow" would indicate that the machine is down, while "green" would mean it is in production).
Real-time information that can thereby be captured would be: cycle times, machine efficiency, scrap percentage. The machine operator can enter timely production, backflush raw materials, print labels, change cavitation of the mold on the fly as necessary, assign labor, record rejects with user-defined codes, enter downtime with user-defined codes, and view internal and external documents (e.g., part production, setup control, material staging, quality control, overall plant performance, etc.). All the above information chunks increase data integrity and reduce transaction costs, given the complete access to the ERP functionality as to automatically update production schedule and generate production reports. Without such a module, gathering actual production information is typically a time consuming, tedious, and highly subjective task, while the reconciliation of the actual data on the floor with the planned data in ERP is often delayed for days, if not weeks, with the resulting lack of actionable information.
The examples of potential benefits from intrinsic integration of ERP with the plant floor and of achieving near real-time information are multiple. For one, such a system could enable many data entry functions that are traditionally performed in the office to be transferred directly to the manufacturing floor, so that the material personnel would transact the issue of resin to and from machines on-line instead of turning in the material transfer paperwork to be entered the next day by the office. Further, the material could be classified as regrind immediately within the system, giving production planning a real-time inventory situation of resin.
Production counts would be automatically updated with the IQ RealTime Production Monitoring system and verified by machine operators, giving supervisors constant feedback on how their shift is performing. Production reports for completed jobs would then be generated and analyzed the day after the run is complete, whereby this process would typically lag production by few weeks.
All of this should bring the production floor and financial and planning departments closer together because they would be working shoulder to shoulder instead of passing outdated papers back and forth. This could in turn also encourage discussions regarding improvements on how to do things internally instead of both teams continuing to live in their separate worlds, whereby there would be no cognizance by the "office staff" when some machine would go down or the production would be far off the target for some shift.
The system even offers touch screen time clock capabilities to input labor and automate timecards. Incidentally, the optional IQ Time & Attendance module is a broad time clock system that also eliminates the need for a third-party time clock system typically implemented by ERP competitors (i.e., normally by partnering with the likes of Kronos) and minimizes time required for labor data input.
The product generates payroll timecards or output files for external payroll systems (since the native integration with the IQ Payroll module is currently available only in the US), and it also generates more accurate job costing information by allowing labor tracking to specific tasks. The module provides links to labor reporting for production reporting or job costing in JobShopIQ, IQ Project manager, and IQ Preventive Maintenance modules, as required. IQ Time & Attendance also supports visual scheduling of shifts and supports multiple devices for login purposes, such as keyboard, "swipe" readers, and biometric scanners.
The above illustration would depict great first steps toward the manufacturer's nirvana of making every batch a great batch, or, in the plastic processors' language, to ensure shot-to-shot and run-to-run repeatability. At least, if they can eliminate the terrible runs and lift the ranking of every run, the result would be a significant financial gain (for more details, see Process Manufacturers—Great Batch, Every Batch).
The system would be a complete enterprise solution with the provider even being able to offer its customers one-stop-shop development for programming, sales, implementation, and support services. This would in turn help manage the rapidly changing business environment of today, as there would, for example, be a survey of current business practices, an analysis detailing areas of improvement, an assessment of the use of the current system, all of which becomes an advocate for software enhancements to better serve the customer.
In other words, such an integrated broad system would expand the business intelligence (BI) of the enterprise solution by helping businesses better capture data, track operations, and improve overall efficiencies.
How many traditional ERP vendors, including the largest ones, have natively built-in real-time production monitoring, warehousing management, time and attendance capture, and complete quality management systems?
Well, almost none when it comes to integrating ERP and parts of a manufacturing execution system (MES), which, as per the Manufacturing Enterprise Systems Association (MESA International) definition is essentially any system that uses current and accurate data, triggers, and reports on plant activities as events occur. From electronic production management systems to shop-floor data capture, MES functions manage operations from point of order release into manufacturing to point of product delivery into finished goods.
The possibility of integrating and providing all elements of a complete manufacturing solution, at least from a same source if not exactly as a single computing platform, has always been tempting, and possibly lucrative, but never delivered, not even by once mighty automation provider Invensys, who once had under its roof Baan, Marcam, Avantis, and Wonderware, respective ERP and MES products, yet never delivered together (see The Name and Ownership Change Roulette Wheel for Marcam Stops at SSA Globa—Part Three: Last-Ditch Effort by Invensys).
Thus, IQMS (www.iqms.com), a privately held, Paso Robles, CA (US)-based developer of EnterpriseIQ, a well attuned extended-ERP system for small and mid-size plastic processors and like repetitive manufacturers, might be unique in the entire ERP arena, and not only within its mid-market realm, by providing the powerful IQ RealTime Production Monitoring module to ensure plant efficiency by identifying poor machine performance before it becomes a problem. The module provides automatic tracking of production by hardware being wired directly to production machines, while a special user screen (e.g., touch screen, capable of simplifying data entry) can be created for shop floor personnel to provide virtually real-time data flow to and from the shop floor (i.e., to bring the production and ERP information together). Both office and plant personnel should thereby know via a color-coded screen exactly what is happening with each machine (i.e., "yellow" would indicate that the machine is down, while "green" would mean it is in production).
Real-time information that can thereby be captured would be: cycle times, machine efficiency, scrap percentage. The machine operator can enter timely production, backflush raw materials, print labels, change cavitation of the mold on the fly as necessary, assign labor, record rejects with user-defined codes, enter downtime with user-defined codes, and view internal and external documents (e.g., part production, setup control, material staging, quality control, overall plant performance, etc.). All the above information chunks increase data integrity and reduce transaction costs, given the complete access to the ERP functionality as to automatically update production schedule and generate production reports. Without such a module, gathering actual production information is typically a time consuming, tedious, and highly subjective task, while the reconciliation of the actual data on the floor with the planned data in ERP is often delayed for days, if not weeks, with the resulting lack of actionable information.
The examples of potential benefits from intrinsic integration of ERP with the plant floor and of achieving near real-time information are multiple. For one, such a system could enable many data entry functions that are traditionally performed in the office to be transferred directly to the manufacturing floor, so that the material personnel would transact the issue of resin to and from machines on-line instead of turning in the material transfer paperwork to be entered the next day by the office. Further, the material could be classified as regrind immediately within the system, giving production planning a real-time inventory situation of resin.
Production counts would be automatically updated with the IQ RealTime Production Monitoring system and verified by machine operators, giving supervisors constant feedback on how their shift is performing. Production reports for completed jobs would then be generated and analyzed the day after the run is complete, whereby this process would typically lag production by few weeks.
All of this should bring the production floor and financial and planning departments closer together because they would be working shoulder to shoulder instead of passing outdated papers back and forth. This could in turn also encourage discussions regarding improvements on how to do things internally instead of both teams continuing to live in their separate worlds, whereby there would be no cognizance by the "office staff" when some machine would go down or the production would be far off the target for some shift.
The system even offers touch screen time clock capabilities to input labor and automate timecards. Incidentally, the optional IQ Time & Attendance module is a broad time clock system that also eliminates the need for a third-party time clock system typically implemented by ERP competitors (i.e., normally by partnering with the likes of Kronos) and minimizes time required for labor data input.
The product generates payroll timecards or output files for external payroll systems (since the native integration with the IQ Payroll module is currently available only in the US), and it also generates more accurate job costing information by allowing labor tracking to specific tasks. The module provides links to labor reporting for production reporting or job costing in JobShopIQ, IQ Project manager, and IQ Preventive Maintenance modules, as required. IQ Time & Attendance also supports visual scheduling of shifts and supports multiple devices for login purposes, such as keyboard, "swipe" readers, and biometric scanners.
The above illustration would depict great first steps toward the manufacturer's nirvana of making every batch a great batch, or, in the plastic processors' language, to ensure shot-to-shot and run-to-run repeatability. At least, if they can eliminate the terrible runs and lift the ranking of every run, the result would be a significant financial gain (for more details, see Process Manufacturers—Great Batch, Every Batch).
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