Business Management Systems – Tools to Manage Complexities
Published on : Monday 30-11--0001
Companies with manufacturing works are constantly looking for many ways to drive efficiency using streamlining practices and keeping the prices down while keeping the client services and efficiency up.
Manufacturing companies are continuously looking for many ways to increase profitability and competence. They always search for ways to manage inventories in a better way with improved quality, increased productivity, and decreased lead times. It requires coordination amongst the entire business endeavor from starting till the end. Everybody works together so that they can reply quicker and efficiently against competitors, demands and supply chain issues. Let’s take a quick look at some key business software terms:
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) is an extensive term that vendors use for describing software which offers managers a way of viewing company-owned assets in a holistic way. The objective of EAM is to allow managers to be in charge and pro-actively organise operations for efficiency and quality. In the past, EAM was known as maintenance scheduling software. The EAMs help operations through automating request upgrades, standard maintenance or replacement.
EAM is the finest solution for enterprise-grade asset management available in the market. It provides you the power of improving capital asset management in different ways, which increase reliability, improve analytical maintenance, guarantee regulatory compliance, lessen energy usage, as well as help sustainability initiatives. Accessible in the industry-specific editions, this also provides you matchless flexibility on the particular industry requirements, which can turn the asset management of a company into an aggressive benefit.
EAM Solutions help you in:
- Preservation – Scheduling preventive maintenance as well as assign the resources to get the best results.
- Uptime – Discover why and where the capital assets could fail as well as organise alternatives.
- Risk Management – Forecast equipment reliability troubles so that you can stop them from taking place.
- Inventory – Lessen purchasing costs and inventory as well as bring together the warranty-related claims.
- Strategic Planning – Deal with all your assets to meet your corporate performance objectives.
Pool Asset Management (PAM)
Pool Asset Management (PAM) helps the organisation in managing the pool assets through graphical planning boards. Its examples consist of beamers, laptop, vehicles, etc. By using the PAM, the planner can demand, issue, restore and finally settle down the services given using graphical planning boards.
Pool Asset Management is incorporated in Customer Service (CS) and Plant Maintenance (PM) functions. The PAM integration in current customer service and plant maintenance functions minimises the training efforts.
Features
To exhibit requests as well as plan pool assets, one can utilise a capability planning table. You may use the capacity planning table for the following tasks:
- Scheduling of pool asset requests
- Reserving a pool asset
- Sending confirmation e-mails to the pool asset requester
- Issuing and returning pool assets
- Completing the services, and
- Oversee the repairing to pool assets.
Steps associated in PAM:
- Creating demand
- Demand Planning and Graphical Planning Board
- Issuing pool assets
- Returning pool assets, and
- Settlements.
Manufacturing Execution System (MES)
Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is the controlling system, which manages and monitors work-in-process for different factory floors. An MES can keep track on all the manufacturing data with real time, getting up-to-date data from machine monitors, robots, and employees. Even though, MES is used as a self-contained system, they are more and more integrated with the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. The objective of any MES is to enhance productivity as well as reduce cycle-time, which is the total time for producing an order. Through integrating MES with ERP software, the factory managers may be positive about making sure to deliver quality products in a sensible and cost-effective manner.
Now in particular, manufacturing excellence relies on streamlining the operations on a plant floor as well as right through the supply chain. On the other hand, conventional Manufacturing Execution Systems have a tendency to concentrate mainly on a plant floor, having minimal integrations beyond the given four walls.
Today, the manufacturers had to change their operations through automation, execution and management of performance of the global business procedures across value chain. It means that end-to-end integration about procedures spanning production, supply chain, maintenance, quality, and distribution as well as labour operations – irrespective of where the operations and facilities are physically situated.
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
The concept of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) considers the whole vision of efficiently managing as well as connecting all the information associated with the procedure and data creation required to design, manufacture, validate, maintain, uphold and ultimate removal of the manufactured goods.
Generally used as the Umbrella concept, which consists of engineering CAD, this PLM is a facilitating framework that helps connect, systematise, control, manage, follow, consolidate and integrate all the data related to mission-critical, which affects the products. PLM provides a procedure to streamline communication and collaboration between the product stakeholders, design, manufacturing, engineering, quality as well as other main disciplines. PLM assists in tracking information associated with safety and controlling the components particularly in automotive, aerospace, medical devices, nuclear and military industries. These industries have led the way for the regulation of CM (Configuration Management) that developed into Electronic Data Management Systems (EDMS) that further progressed into Product Data Management (PDM).
The important fundamentals of PLM consist of:
- Allows item-focused task projects
- Allows process management and workflow for approving alterations
- Constructs as well as controls material bills for product structure records
- Controls multi-user protected access like "electronic signature"
- Data exports for the downstream ERP systems
- Identifies material content for ecological compliance
- Incorporates custom and built-in parts and documents metadata
- Managing design and procedure documents, and
- Provides an electronic file depository.
Warehouse Management System (WMS)
Warehouse Management System (WMS) is the software application, which helps in day-to-day operations of the warehouse. Different WMS programs allow centralised management in tasks like tracking different levels of inventory and stock locations. A WMS system can be a standalone application or an element of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.
A WMS is used for controlling and tracking the storage and transfer of the materials in the warehouse. This system involves many procedures which are significant while shipping, getting or putting away different materials as well as integrates with the other systems during the supply chain for making sure data transparency right through your business enterprise.
In the fully-integrated solutions, you will get raw materials in your WMS, consumed by the Material Requirement Planning System as well as finished goods deposited in the WMS. A WMS can help tracking of different products through moves as well as cycle counts whereas in the warehouse, and finally picked and dispatched to either a shipping system or a Transportation Management System (TMS) to route the trucks. All the time, your Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) will track the orders, sales, values, and invoices for all the systems.
Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is used to supervise information, materials, and finances when they move during the procedure from suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers. SCM involves coordination and integration of these flows within as well as among the companies. The ultimate objective of any efficient SCM system is to decrease inventory, having assumption that the products are accessible when required. Having the solution for any successful SCM, highly developed software systems and web interfaces are opposing the Web-based Application Service Providers (ASP) that promise to offer parts or all the SCM services for companies that rent their services.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is an active management for supply chain activities for maximising customer values and gets a sustainable viable benefit. It represents the conscious efforts through the supply chain companies to develop as well as run supply chain in the best possible way. Supply chain activities deal with everything from the product development, production, sourcing, logistics, and the information system required to coordinate all these activities.
The organisations framing the supply chains are “linked” together using physical flows as well as information flows. The physical flows entail the movement, transformation, and storage of materials and goods. They become the most evident piece of supply chain however information flows are equally important. Information flows help different supply chain partners and coordinate their enduring plans as well as control the everyday flow of materials and goods up & down with the supply chain.
Conclusion
It’s important to have software that fits into your industry as well as your business. Companies realise that all business industries are dissimilar and therefore they offer options specially designed to understand the main challenges. Different companies offer different alternatives for the manufacturers and fulfill their particular requirements for managing all business procedures.
-Dharmesh Tolia
Captions:
- Delhi-based Mobineers Info System is one of the many companies providing ERP services.
- EAM graphic by Norm Poynter, a noted management consultant.
- Practices by which performance management can be achieved. Source: Public Health Foundation (PHF).
- Asset Management Readiness Assessment. Source: Westin Engineering Inc.