Manufacturing Solution Comparison, Selection, and Evaluation

Manufacturing consists of a variety of production approaches ranging from discrete, process, mixed-mode, and engineer-to-order to make-to-order, etc. In this competitive world, manufacturers cannot rely on just the high quality of their products, on-time delivery, or innovative product design to stay ahead of the competition—they must move beyond these attributes. As manufacturing industries mature, the rules of the game change. Manufacturers are confronted with increasing globalization, more competition within specific industries, and constant changes in customers demand and expectations.

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Manufacturing companies are faced with a great number of challenges, such as how to

increase operational efficiency without jeopardizing the quality of the product;
innovate without increasing the cost of the product;
shorten the product life cycle and keep go-to-market times on schedule;
be flexible about manufacturing the product according to customer requirements;
provide customers with real-time visibility into global operations from product manufacturing to shipping details;
incorporate all regulatory and compliance standards within operations;
link products manufactured globally without creating gaps between processes, systems, and services;
collaborate between manufacturers and suppliers globally (to pass on products' rapidly changing requirements);
communicate and direct changes in product engineering, demand, and process without losing creditability; and
create a harmonized network of production and logistics facilities capable of providing the right quality and quantity, at the right time, and at the right price globally.

The list of challenges can seem endless, but the objective for manufacturers is to find answers that will meet these challenges head-on. To overcome these issues, numerous software solutions are available with features and functionality that can help meet the needs of manufacturers. A few industry-specific solution areas that can help centralize information for quick access with respect to global operations are enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, supply chain management (SCM) systems, manufacturing operations management (MOM) systems, or manufacturing execution systems (MESs). For project collaboration and managing the product life cycle, it's important to have project portfolio management (PPM) systems and product lifecycle management (PLM) systems. For successful execution, visibility into multiple sources and departments is important, and can be accomplished by integrating ERP with quote-to-order (Q2O) and SCM applications.

Benefits of Using Software Solutions for Manufacturing

An SCM solution linked with an ERP system can remove idle time from manufacturing processes and create a lean environment for manufacturing facilities, providing them with the right materials across production, warehouse, and distributions centers. This can provide a manufacturing plant not only with quality operations, but can also reduce overall costs and reduce the cash-flow cycle.
ERP solutions help manufacturing companies by establishing a common place to store all the day-to-day process information so that any department within an organization can pull data from one source and link it with its own key business metrics. This provides a clearer picture of what's happening overall within the manufacturing plant.
A Quality Management module is needed for manufacturing plants to build the product right in the first place, thereby reducing the returns from customers, lowering warranty costs, and ultimately resulting in more satisfied customers. Also, quality management creates a means of complying with regulations and maintaining product integrity within the industry.
PPM and PLM help resolve the challenges of project and product management, as these systems help manufacturing companies launch their new products faster by synchronizing the manufacturing process with the engineering processes. Real-time information can be shared between production teams, in the event that the manufacturing process is modified by the engineering design department, with changes or enhancements to design specifications, helping with the launch of new products.
MOM systems are capable of facilitating improvements in asset usage, helping bring costs down by allowing each asset within a manufacturing facility to be used to full capacity.
Analytical functionalities within MES and SCM systems help remove manual reporting processes and automate the entry of plant floor data into ERP applications. This in return provides decision makers with real-time data in terms of metrics for performance, uptime and downtime, and quality.

THE RISKS OF A FLAWED MANUFACTURING SOFTWARE SELECTION PROCESS

Manufacturing companies that don't communicate the appropriate data to each other can see a negative impact not only on the bottom line, but also on the growth of the organization. It is important to have an ERP solution that not only communicates between departments, but goes beyond the factory or plant walls to communicate with vendors or suppliers, for a complete picture of what's happening with a customer orders or material shipments.
Any disconnect within the process can expose the manufacturer to unforeseen costs. Supply Chain modules have to be tied closely with Quality Management modules to create a synchronized process flow of finished goods.
A manufacturer that can't easily convert efficiency gains into financial gains will not know how it is ahead of its competition. Doing this can only be achieved with the help of technology solutions that align job responsibilities with specific actions and recommendations that will bring greater efficiency to manufacturing processes.
If no tool is in place that allows collaboration between the engineering and manufacturing teams, it will be very difficult to communicate new product design information. As well, the process of bringing the new product to market will be prolonged. It's imperative to have the product life cycle support manufacturing processes to help reduce constraints within the manufacturing cycle.
Not having a closed loop of communication between the manufacturer and its suppliers/vendors/customers can result in either surplus inventory or insufficient quantities of product to ship, due to shortages in materials. This can also affect on-time delivery to customers and hurt a manufacturer's bottom line. It is important that all the modules in the application communicate information upstream and downstream so that all decisions can be made on time—without the organization's losing focus on its major objectives. At all times, it is necessary for a manufacturer to have a closed loop of communication amongst its suppliers/vendors/customers to obtain full visibility of the value chain.

Why use the Manufacturing Evaluation Center?

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