Lean Manufacturing using a collaborative MES approach
I thought I would use our blog to explain how Factivity helps improve factory management by framing in the light of lean manufacturing principles and practices. Beyond Factivity’s capability in employee time tracking and machine monitoring software we search for the best “partner” organizations to complement our total manufactures MES solution from production scheduling software to APS systems integration.
Having been in the computer systems business systems business for over 25 years, starting with MRP and ERP systems to our current production management software suite, FACTIVITY’s goal is to bring a one-to-shop for manufacturing companies that need lean manufacturing software. Our experience is that lean requires visualization of the factory floor though FACTIVITY’s ability for value stream mapping which captures the flow of value creation and to identify the obstacles to flow and the sources of waste. But some obstacles are forever appearing…obstacles like material shortages, limits on labor time or talent for a specific task i.e. set-up people, machine capacity and shift schedules. Using a software production scheduling system can help identify and work with these obstacles and still improve on time delivery.
From our point of view, this scheduling function should not necessarily be limited to a single user at a factory but should have the capability “out-of-the-box” to allow multiple users to collaborate and multiple plants to be linked together in a true supply chain value stream.
FACTIVITY, the premier supplier of easy-to-use factory floor execution systems, has announced a strategic partnership with San Diego, California PlanetTogether, the multi-user and multi-plant advanced planning and scheduling (APS) system provider. With this partnership comes a synergy of the latest in APS technology married with touch screen data collection; now, people on the factory floor can work interactively with a paperless dispatch list “optimized” by the PT software logic.
This controlled dispatch not only ensures that operators on the floor follow the schedule exactly, but the scheduling department view in real-time what is being produced.
This APS System provides Factivity modules for employee time tracking and machine monitoring software—two important and necessary additions for lean manufacturing software and OEE data capture.
The status changes from set-up to running production are shown in different colors on an electronic white board. Problems such as downtime of equipment or quality delays can be highlighted in red for easy identification and alternate work paths can be easily evaluated.
“In my 30 plus years in manufacturing systems, I have not seen a multi-user and multi-plant APS software system like PlanetTogether,” says John Leibert, president, Factivity, Inc. “Even more remarkable is the reasonable price point.” Factivity has experience with installation, integrations and training on several software scheduling tools over the past 15 years; the most recent being Preactor from the UK.
“We like the idea of working with a U.S. based company and a team of people that have been around the block,” says Gary Schaum, APS project manager for Factivity. “These guys developed a previous software system years ago that was bought by an ERP system vendor.”
“Now, with that knowledge,” continues Schaum, “they’ve developed a unique and effective second generation solution that can be used across a wide variety of manufacturing companies providing solutions for single plants, as well as supply chain management.”
Executives, Leibert and Jim Cerra, president of PlanetTogether, feel the partnership will produce exceptional results for factory management software users. With a 50 year track record and an equal amount of experience in the manufacturing sector, together are positioned to provide a strong software solution for a variety of situations and challenges in both simple and complex environments.
Cerra says, “The guys at Factivity know the manufacturing software environment, and their combined experience with shop floor management and production planning will provide our customers with the ability to plan effectively and to execute on those plans.”
Cerra and Leibert are in agreement that the partnership and combined best practices will provide customers with real time results too.
“The goal is to not only improve communications between the factory floor and scheduling, and allow modifications to be made along the way, but to increase productivity and raise the bar in terms of customer service, and satisfaction,” says Leibert. “And, an upswing in sales follows.”
Posted on: Jan 27, 2010
0 comments - Categories:
