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Infor LX | Infor LN | BPCS | Baan | Infor M3

Anthony Etzel
/ Categories: Infor LX & BPCS Tips

Tip of the Week: Gain Efficiency & Save Money - Evaluate Your Production Lines

When is the last time you took a hard look at your production lines?

  • How are we moving product through our facility?
  • Do we have work instructions / drawings available where needed?
  • Do we have frequently used inventory available at the line?
  • Where are the bottlenecks?
  • Are processes automated, where possible?

Taking a hard look at your processes and procedures may reveal some interesting results. Don’t assume that everyone is doing things the same way. Some may be superstars, and others may need some mentoring. Some processes may be outdated and costing you time and money, while others are extremely efficient. One area of the business may benefit from how others operate. Take the time to review and analyze your findings. Your company may benefit greatly as a result.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

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Anthony Etzel

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Tips:  LX | BPCS | M3

Previously, Material Requirements Planning (MRP) preferred practices meant that the component's due date was the same as the parent's shop order release date. Because MRP trends have changed, the preference for this due date is the day before the release date of the parent. Although Infor LX already has this functionality in Shop Order Maintenance programs (SFC500), users could not change how due dates were determined for lower-level shop orders in Multi-Level Shop Order Release, SFC530D.

This enhancement provides an additional parameter for Multi-Level Shop Order Release. This parameter allows the user to change how the due date of the child components is determined. The Multi-Level Shop Order Release, SFC5302, has a new parameter for shop orders. The Due Date of Children = Release Date of Prent (Due Date of Children) field allows the user to set the due date determined for multi-level shop orders.

This feature uses different exchange rates in the user's inventory processes by using new macros in Post Inventory to G/L, INV920D. INV920 used macros limited by the Override Exchange Rate parameter set on the book in Book Definition, CEA105D3. If the Override Exchange rate parameter is set to No, the macro uses the Rate Type of the Book. If the Override Exchange parameter is set to Yes, the macro uses the Rate Type of the Order Company. This enhancement provides macros that use the Rate Type of the Order Company. This enhancement provides macros that use the Rate Type of the Warehouse Company, Order Company, or the Book regardless of the Override Exchange Rate parameter in the Book.

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Tips: LN | Baan

  • Sit down with your IT team. Decide how the information will be captured and where it will be stored so that employees have access to it. What software tools need to be used to capture the information? How does it need to be organized? Create a repeatable process to make this easy for your staff.
     
  • Interview the person. Have them talk you through his/her job. What are the things they do every day? What are their biggest challenges? How do they overcome them? 
     
  • Have someone shadow the person for a week. Watch what they do and how they do it. Ask questions. Who does he/she interact with in their department? Outside of their department? Why?
     
  • Find out what tools he/she uses to perform their job? Are there spreadsheets?  Reports within your ERP / outside of your ERP? Separate stand-alone databases? Drawings? Websites? Why does he/she use them?
     
  • Video record how the person does their job. Is their technique critical to “doing it right” the first time and not ending up with a bunch of scrap that you can’t reuse?
     
  • Figure out if the person does anything special on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis that might not come up during the observation period or interview. 
     
  • Map how he/she uses your business system and how that impacts the rest of the company. Understand both the “what” and the “why”. Without this, new employees may end up figuring out what they need to do, but never understand why they need to do it.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

  • Are you tracking downtime? Is it done manually, or with some type of automation or application that gathers information in real-time, or is it based upon history?
  • If you are measuring team effectiveness by shift, you know there are significant differences between them. Have you figured out why?

One of our automotive customers was experiencing significant inefficiencies and difficulties with their receiving operations. After analyzing their operation, we discovered a disconnect between how they were tracking their incoming goods and what their ERP system thought was on hand.

This disconnect created time-consuming steps to process incoming material and determine where the material was needed. The manual process slowed production, caused additional staffing needs and hindered their ability to effectively get needed material to the assembly line. They chose to implement our data collection solution to automate the process.

Since implementing the solution, receiving and moving material was quicker, more accurate and efficient. This enabled the addition of another assembly line, increasing production volume – without adding staff.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

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