Lean Solutions

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Lean Solutions

Lean Manufacturing within Microsoft Dynamics AX can help manufacturing organisations implement, energise and sustain lean manufacturing initiatives by delivering the tools and information support needed to streamline processes, reduce waste, enable demand-pull operations and promote continuous improvement.

Manufacturers’ ability to compete has never been more challenging. Supply chains need to be tightened and demand chains need to be seamless with unsurpassed customer service. Two of the most effective and efficient tools manufacturers have at their disposal is Lean and Information Technology.

For example, manufacturers must spend more on R&D to maintain a technological advantage over their competitors and make larger capital investments in unique manufacturing equipment. They must bring products to market quickly and efficiently and in a cost competitive manner. Unlike other manufacturing sectors, product obsolescence is a certainty and the need to react and change quickly is a must.

eBECS has therefore introduced a set of solutions to address the specific needs of manufacturers that takes Lean to the next level. No longer is Lean a manual process improvement program, but now an institutionalised, seamless solution to support your people and their Lean thinking.

There are three levels of Lean manufacturing:

Lean Manufacturing I

Provides the base level functionality to any manufacturer committed to Lean. Functionality includes: Kanban, Subcontract Kanban, Kanban Call-off, Purchase Kanban, Transfer Kanban, Manufacture without PO’s, Kanban Board, Kanban Inventory Overview, Takt Meter, Bar codes, Lean Order Schedules, Heijunka Board, Sales Schedules, Cost Substitution, and Value Stream Mapping.

Lean Manufacturing II

Manufacturers are in a constant race to stay ahead of Moore’s Law – a common semiconductor industry belief that, due to evolving technology, the number of transistors that can be placed on a computer chip doubles every 18 months. These shortened life cycles, coupled with rigorous quality and traceability requirements, means that visibility into the supply chain (which is typically global) is more important than ever. Heavy capital investment requirements means machinery has to be fully utilised and show quicker than normal returns on investment. Lean II is focused on these issues and more.

Lean Manufacturing III

Manufacturers must also integrate Lean thinking on the floor with accounting and finance. Working in a global market requires manufacturers to source globally, conduct transactions in multiple currencies and mitigate currency exchange risk. Vendor Managed inventories minimise raw materials on hand and allow for easier product changeover and better use of cash. Purchasing becomes more streamlined and timely thereby allowing companies to react to the ever-changing cost of traditionally very expensive raw materials. However, not all products can be produced in a pure Lean environment, so the ability to flow Lean production requirements into a traditional MRP system is sometimes needed. Lean III addresses these needs.

Engineering Change Management (ECM)

ECM is the process of requesting, determining attainability, planning, implementing, and evaluating of changes to a system. It has two main goals: supporting the processing of changes and enabling traceability of changes.

eBECS’ ECM solution allows engineers to establish items such as Bills of Materials (BOMs) in advance of their release to the production side, where they can be manufactured and procured according to the rules and procedures of the organisation.

It has the following goals:

  • Introduce changes quickly
  • Introduce changes simply
  • View the impact of introducing changes
  • Reduce waste in the process overall

As with all products from eBECS, they are developed with Lean concepts in mind to reduce waste within the process, yet still allow control to the level required.

The ECM solution provides seamless updates within Microsoft Dynamics AX for:

  • New Items
  • New Bills of Materials
  • Changes in Item Revisions
  • Item Replacements
  • Ensuring documents are controlled and associated correctly for both engineering and the production function

ECM provides everything organisations need to set up fast, effective and secure engineering change processes, which ensure data accuracy and consistency.

Microsoft Dynamics AX Engineering Change Control Overview

Please contact eBECS if you would like to know more.

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