ERP Software for Manufacturing
By Jack Burnett
ERP (enterprise resource planning) software is a complex
software system which integrates a manufacturer's business
resources and functions, and can be used by manufacturing
businesses with multiple manufacturing plants, processing functions
and product configurations. An ERP system can include software for
manufacturing, order entry, accounts receivable and payable,
general ledger, purchasing, warehousing, transportation and human
resources.
ERP systems can merge each of these key business operations;
however, often times a mid-market manufacturer utilizes only a
portion of the ERP software functions because of unique business
processes. In these cases a custom software application can
extend the ERP system to manage the uniqueness and complexity of
the shop-floor. These software applications are ERP
Extensions, and TwinEngines is a leading provider of manufacturing
operation management solutions integrated to ERP systems.
ERP software for manufacturing can be classified into the
following categories: process manufacturing software, discrete
manufacturing software, or mixed-mode manufacturing software. The
right ERP business system depends upon whether the manufacturer's
production environment is continuous process, contract
manufacturing, job shop, batch processing, repair and maintenance,
repetitive, or work order based.
Comprehensive end-to-end ERP solutions for job shops and smaller
manufacturers are also offered through the Software as a Service
(SaaS) model. ERP SaaS solutions reduce IT complexity and capital
investment, enables them to get up and running quickly, and
decreases ongoing operational costs.
TwinEngines Instrumental in new TAG Manufacturing Society
By Jack Burnett
TwinEngines approached TAG with an idea to help Georgia
manufacturing businesses work together to become more
competitive. As a firm specializing in manufacturing
operations management for small and mid-market companies,
TwinEngines believes that bringing manufacturers together to
discuss and learn about information and technology will
increase the competitiveness, performance, efficiency, and
profitability of their businesses.
Come learn about the TAG Manufacturing Society at the kick off
meeting on April 7th at the 755 Club - Turner Field. Enjoy
the opportunity to network with peers in the
Manufacturing/Technology industry, and hear from an industry
leader.
Register Here
For those of you familiar with the Business, Braves and Bottom
Line educational series by TwinEngines, you will be right at
home. After the event, stick around for some baseball -
Braves host the Cubs! It's sure to be an evening you won't
want to miss. Contact Rachel Sevin, society liaison, for
more information: rachel@tagonline.org.
Mission Statement
The TAG Manufacturing Society is dedicated to professionals who
participate in the technology of manufacturing production and
supply chain and seek innovative thinking and leadership to drive
operational excellence.
- By utilizing technology as the catalyst for positive change,
our members will apply new technologies to increase the
competitiveness, performance, efficiency, and profitability of
their businesses.
- The Society will focus on the "best practices" aspects of
manufacturing and utilize information and technology to produce
world-class processes.
Society Objectives
The Society will be member driven and promote manufacturing
business through technology activities, education, events, and
resources that will:
- Allow members to connect and share with other industry
professionals, share strategies and tactics, promote the group,
contribute, cultivate understanding, and exchange strategies to
facilitate operations excellence
- Result in white papers, blogs, podcasts, guidebooks, research
studies, webcasts and other resources that accelerate learning and
knowledge transfer
- Participate in regional events such as the Manufacturing
Appreciation Week and hold various Summits to promote manufacturing
excellence
- Create a repository of shared information that can assist each
manufacturing buseinss in achieving their goals
The goal of the TAG Manufacturing Society is to be a technology
leader in support and data integration of all manufacturing
initiatives across the value chain including web presence,
logistics, shop floor, manufacturing operations, front/back office
integration, and quality assurance. It will consist of
members from all areas of manufacturing.
Next Steps
ERP Software Selection Resource
By Jack Burnett
At TwinEngines, I help companies participating in the
manufacturing value chain solve issues with manufacturing
technology based solutions. For small and mid-market
manufacturers, the ERP system may be the most costly
technology investment in the company. If your company uses
75% of the functionality of an ERP system, then I consider that a
success. As far as the remaining 25% to manage your unique
processes, custom ERP extensions built on a flexible
framework that integrates to ERP are often times the most efficient
and effective answer. Those ERP extensions are one of
the solutions TwinEngines has been delivering the past 15
years.
Our industry experience enables us to integrate many of the
leading ERP/MRP/Financial systems for small, mid market
organizations. Products like Microsoft Dynamics, Macola,
Infor Visual, SyteLine, SysPro, Ross Systems, Epicor Vantage,
Glovia, BAAN, Sage's MAS products, Intuit's QuickBooks, and
more.
One of the key value propositions at TwinEngines is
our ability to help companies determine if they need an ERP
system or if they should leverage custom and best of breed
applications. If ERP is the answer we bring in our partners
and other organizations to help.
Top10ERP.org is a great resource for
manfuacturers to get an unbiased picture of the ERP landscape for
manufacturing. While we work primarily with discrete
manufacturers, Top10ERP.org categorizes ERP systems for most modes
of manufacturing including: process, mixed-mode, engineer-to-order,
make-to-order, light assembly, shop floor/job shop and
distribution. It also sorts by industry and has whitepapers
and case studies to help you understand ERP.
A resource like Top10ERP.org coupled with TwinEngines' strategic
manufacturing technology consulting leads to manufacturing
technology solutions that are the right fit and the best value for
your company.
Bluetooth Manufacturing Technology
By Jack Burnett
With a computer engineering and robotics background, I love to
stay abreast of technology for manufacturing companies and small
companies participating in the manufacturing value chain. At
TwinEngines, I'm particularly interested in manufacturing
technology that integrates to information systems we build for
manufacturers in Georgia and the Southeast. I recently
read about bluetooth technology in the warehouse and
distribution centers, that can integrates easily into our
shop-floor production software systems. Most of us have
experienced bluetooth technology with our cell phones and keyboards
and mouses for our PCs. The benefit is we are not tied
to one location, and we can free up our hands to do other
things.
Now there are bluetooth-enabled barcode scanners, a great
example of manufacturing technology in the warehouse improving
productivity. The LXE Bluetooth Ring Scanner fits on a finger
so loaders can still use both hands to load products. The
scanner on the finger transmits the data to a computer located on
the forklift or a central location. There has been reported
time-savings in the 20-30% range vs. mobile hand-held
scanners. Other benefits are the ability to track
products moving through the warehouse and the ability to easily
load different parts or products quicker in one
crate.
Read the article here at "Manufacturing Business
Technology".
Web Services Connect Value Chains
By Jack Burnett
When it comes to manufacturing technology, web services are what
connects systems and companies; a key technology for optimizing
manufacturing value chains. Web services integrate
applications over the Internet using the XML and SOAP open
standards - XML to code and to decode data, and SOAP to transport
it. Using Web services two organizations can communicate data
to each other without knowing the details of each other's IT
systems. This allows a low cost method for integrating
systems and synchronizing the flow of information across the
manufacturing value chain.
TwinEngines integrates companies with their vendors,
customers and dealers by implementing technology-based
solutions. We use web services everyday to help small and
mid-market manufacturers and companies participating in
manufacturing value chains to be more effective, agile and
connected. Here is a list of some of the web services we
developed for the manufacturing value chain:
Salesforce.net - web service integrating web
sales inquiries to CRM
eConnect - connect the Microsoft Dynamics GP
financial system to your eCommerce website - web services that
transfer products into the website and sales orders from the
website
Authorize.Net - set of web services to
authorize and capture charges for credit card purchases
on an eCommerce website
PayPal Payflow Pro - set of web services to
authorize and capture charges for credit card purchases
on an eCommerce website
FedEx Web Services - set of web services to
validate addresses and obtain shiping rates and services for
eCommerce
UPS Online Tools - set of web services to
validate addresses and obtain shipping rates and services for
eCommerce
MAS 200 - web services to transfer product
inventory to the website and send online orders to the MAS 200
system
OptiCard - set of web services to allow use of
gift cards for B2B and B2C eCommerce - inquiry, add value,
redemption and partial redemption, etc
SharePoint web services - web content
management, document management and Portal lists web services
Custom Intranet administration web services for
document and user management functions
Shareholder.com web services for integrating
financials on your website
Bronto email marketing web services for website
integration to the email service provider
Other integration technology that TwinEngines implements
includes:
- Google API - integration of Google maps on websites
- Google Custom Search and Analytics integration
- SQL Replication and Stored Procedures to transfer data from
Company Extranets to In-House systems
- Microsoft Virtual Earth integration with Microsoft Dynamics
CRM
Economy recovering? Ways to emerge with an advantage
By Chris Zimmerman
I recently read an article by Tom Emmrich, president,
Americas, Dassault Systèmes that I couldn't agree with more.
Here are few points of summary:
This current downturn by some economist's estimations is around
18 months old. So if current indicators (and history) are any
guide, then the recovery has begun. What can a
manufacturing business do to be ready to emerge stronger
and more capable and competitive? Here are a few areas that
we believe are critical:
- Efficiency starts with manufacturing technology. Utilizing the
latest manufacturing and information technologies and best
practices can drive greater efficiencies, free time for innovation
and give an organization the flexibility and core set of tools
needed to succeed when the economy rebounds.
- Automated PLM can speed innovation to market. Companies with a
strong product lifecycle management strategy will be able to
respond more rapidly to market changes or increases in demand by
being able to iterate digitally on various product alternatives,
and then quickly move to market while the competition is still
getting started.
- Innovation starts from within and means more than a casual or
informal awareness of the market and industry - and must pervade
the entire company, not just a few people. You need to develop a
culture of innovation and process discipline to support it.
- Collaboration is critical to the nimble business. To be a
successful manufacturing business in today's markets means you must
have the ability to seamlessly connect with your partners,
suppliers, customers and branch offices.
- Operating efficiently is the most important aspect of improving
and preparing your company for success when the markets take a
favorable turn. An economic downturn is, in fact, the perfect time
to evaluate internal processes to identify ways of working which
require evolution.
Regardless of the condition of your manufacturing business, a
review of many of the tenets of a good business are important to
realize future savings, and more importantly, to return to growth
faster and to win market share.
Click here
to review the complete article by Tom Emmrich.
Video Conferencing for Small Manufacturing Firms
By Jack Burnett
With the manufacturing value chain including off-shore partners
more and more, small and mid-market manufacturers and distributors
all have employees who communicate with other employees, customers
and suppliers around the world. These manufacturing businesses
require a low-cost technology solution to solve their
international and long-distance communication needs - both audio
and video.
I consider Skype an effective technology solution for
manufacturing fimrs to communcate with off-shore suppliers and
partners. The technology allows you to leverage your Internet
bandwidth to speak, text and video-chat. We use the IP
Telephony service at TwinEngines to speak to our international
office and customers around the world.
Skype also enables you to share files during your conference
call, using the same interface. Both sides of the conversation
has to use Skype in order for it to be a free service. There
are pay-as-you-go and monthly payment plans for calls to non-Skype
phone numbers.
Here are the main Skype benefits:
- Free voice calls between Skype users
- Conference calls and videos with many people
- Softphone for Multiple platforms -Windows, Mac, and
Linux
- Easy setup and good sound quaility
- Texting capability, even while you are speaking
- Share files easily
- SkypeOut allows calls to regular phones - not free service
Find more
information about Skype here.
Manufacturing Technology: Free FTP
By Jack Burnett
I work with small and mid-market manufacturers, helping
streamline operations and utilize manufacturing technology to
increase competitiveness. One tool I recommend to small
businesses who need to share files with customers and vendors is
the Microsoft Sky Drive.
The Sky Drive allows companies to share files anywhere they're
online, 24/7, for free. Each user account has a maximum of
25GB online storage, and they can set permissions on who can see
their files.
A couple examples of Sky Drive solving real business problems
for manufacturers:
One example where this manufacturing technology can be effective
for small businesses is when a company has a photographer shoot all
the product photos for an online catalog or eCommerce
website. The vector image files are large in size and with
many files, email is not an option to receive the files. With
a Sky Drive account, the photographer can upload the
files to the company, and employees can access the files
anytime from anywhere. Employees load the web-ready versions
of the images with their content management system.
Another example is where a discrete manufacturer receives CAD
drawings for made-to-order product. Each customer can have
their own folder to upload their drawing files, with only
permissions to see that one folder. The manufacturer acesses
the proper folder to download the CAD drawing files.
Looking into the future, Microsoft just announced that the new
Microsoft Office 2010 version will include FREE Office
programs using files in Microsoft Live's Sky Drive storage.
Microsoft plans for lightweight versions of Word, Excel and
PowerPoint on the web, which allows manufacturers to work with in
their familiar Office environment and then share files with
contractors who can collaborate withoug paying for an Office
license.
Check out the
Microsoft Sky Drive here. If you need advice on setting
up your FTP account for your particular business operation, contact
me at TwinEngines.