All Posts in the Category "Manufacturing"...
Don’t play chicken with your supply chain
Did you get all the chicken wings you wanted to accompany your Super Bowl experience? Thank the NHL. Did they cost more than last year? Blame ethanol. Several weeks ago, the National Chicken Council issued a warning that production was down this year due primarily to rising feed prices. Rumors of a chicken wing shortage spread like wildfire.
Double-CIick to Schedule
Schedulers have been a part of enterprise resources planning (ERP) and manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) software systems for many years. Recently, new technology is offering increasingly sophisticated systems that apply advanced logic to the scheduling process. However, many companies still find their systems are unable to come up with a schedule that maximizes use and efficiency while ensuring that all work is completed on time.
Thinking Small
April 2013 Consulting.
Advice and Assistance for Manufacturers.
The assumption that bigger is better has been with us for many years and is built into many of our management systems and assumptions.
Innovations to Improve Your Manufacturing
The Society of Manufacturing Engineers just announced the “Innovations That Could Change the Way You Manufacture,” winners for 2013. The new and emerging technologies on this list are already making a difference in manufacturing today. Manufacturers can adopt the materials and processes to reduce costs and develop innovative products that will keep U.S. manufacturing strong.
Distinguish Yourself as a Supply Chain Expert
Five week APICS CSCP study program: January 28 – February 25, 2012.
With the APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) program, you can take your career and organization in a new and exciting direction.
WIP in Flow Production
February 2013.
Advice and Assistance for Manufacturers.
Traditional (discontinuous or batch) production management is mostly a matter traffic control. The key to reducing WIP is managing work flow and paying attention to input/output balance.
Alternative Attitudes
Publicity and promotion are all about getting attention. It’s distressing that hyperbole can plant seeds of doubt in the minds of operations professionals and turn them away from systems and approaches that could be of great benefit. While ERP products aren’t the perfect answer to every manufacturing challenge, they are powerful and useful tools for many companies.
Testing the Waters
The largest companies are global, and they rely on doing business in multiple geographies to support their operations and growth. Smaller businesses, however, often will limit themselves to their local regions because exporting seems daunting. Certainly there are hurdles to exporting, but a great deal of help also is available.
Work in Process
January 2013.
Advice and Assistance for Manufacturers.
Work-in-process (WIP) is a different kind of inventory. WIP moves into inventory as components and then is transformed into completed products, parts or assemblies.
A Time-Tested Technique
Material requirements planning (MRP) is the calculation of potential shortages and replenishment activity from the master schedule using the bill of material and inventory availability data. Developed in the early 1950s, the basic approach still is at the center of every enterprise resources planning (ERP) system more than half a century later.
