Manufacturing Real-Time Enterprise
By Jack Burnett
The Real-Time Enterprise for TwinEngines and the
small/mid-market companies in the manufacturing value chain we
serve means increasing productivity by sharing the right
information with the right people at the right time.
Synchronizing information flow across the organization and the
supply chain allows manufacturers to react quickly to changes in
customer demand, supply, and conditions on the shop floor.
Manufacturers in today's marketplace face pressures to provide
employees with the information they need to make critical
decisions, and deliver information in a way that is cost-effective.
To meet this challenge, TwinEngines deploys manufacturing
operations solutions used by all departments across the enterprise
and with external partners in the value chain.
How do TwinEngines manufacturing operations solutions fit into
the real-time enterprise?
- Providing information, in real time, to the people who impact
key business processes - front office and shop floor employees,
management, suppliers, partners, and customers
- Delivering information to people the way they want it -
in the most commonly used formats, touch screen monitors, mobile
devices, web pages, Excel, documents, and email
- Utilizing a personalized, secure, organized approach to
delivering information broadly throughout the enterprise
- Increasing people's ability to interact with information to
make decisions
- Using web portal technology to meet the growing demands for
collaboration across the global value chain
- Reducing development and deployment time and cost with our
manufacturing visibility toolkit and technology platform
The real-time enterprise is all about working with up-to-date
information, getting rid of bottlenecks, and using speed for
competitive advantage. TwinEngines' manufacturing operations
systems and web solutions provide the technology that manufacturing
companies need to achieve the real-time enterprise.
Microsoft Robotics Studio Has Potential
By Kevin Seefried
Microsoft Robotics Studio for
Manufacturers.
Each year I attend the Microsoft Worldwide Partner
conference. Two years ago as Steve Ballmer delivered his
keynote address he presented a slide to show all the new products
Microsoft had released that year. In the bottom corner I
caught a glimpse of an obscure reference to Microsoft Robotics
Studio. Being in manufacturing for small and mid-market
companies, this peaked my interest and I started to follow the
product. The next year as part of a new product demonstration
on the main stage Robotics Studio got its 15 minutes of fame in
front of all the partners in attendance. The demo was
actually disappointing, but the fact it got time reinforced my
belief Robotics Studio might be an up and comer for the real-time
enterprise. At that same conference the product had a booth
and I had the opportunity to talk to one of the product
managers. That conversation in addition to all my research
made me realize that this was not a niche product targeted to
robotics hobbyists. I realized it has real potential based on
some of the observations made below.
The Digital House
There has been a lot of discussion about the digital house. I
have seen refrigerators with internet access and game consoles
delivering on demand movies but what is going to be the brains for
the digital house. The gaming industry manufacturers are
adding features to achieve that goal and the audio visual companies
are making their play but does either groups have the right
technology base to provide the standardized brains to pull it all
together. I would argue that the right technology foundation
would derive its roots from robotics and the associated
asynchronous technology. This is not a trivial market and
Microsoft has a technology and the pull to deliver.
Manufacturing
Next, I look at the software currently running and connecting
devices on the shop floor for companies who participate in the
manufacturing value chain. This realm is dominated by PLCs
and software/tools provided by equipment manufacturers. The
programming languages and standards are fragments and
archaic. Some companies like Siemens can provide an
end-to-end solution but these solutions are not practical for the
small, mid-market manufacturers. The disconnect on the shop
floor makes it very difficult for companies pursuing concepts like
the Real-Time Enterprise or trying to bridge the gaps between the
front office and the shop floor. If Microsoft can provide the
R&D required to deliver a product for the shop floor that
commoditizes the software for device manufacturers and easily
connects equipment, there are huge productivity gains
available.
Zero Labor
Manufacturers and other industries participating in the
manufacturing value chain have realized the benefits of offshore
labor to reduce costs. To compete against this labor model
the keys for US based manufacturing's viability is innovation,
speed to market, and short lead-times. But as energy prices
rise, the pressure on firms to reduce their carbon footprint
increases, and a stable, low cost labor force is more difficult to
find will manufacturing return to the US through Zero Labor
investments. When you look at history we can use agriculture
as an example. Large numbers of people used to harvest but we
now have farming equipment to do the work. We used to dig
holes by hand but now there are backhoes.
As manufacturing becomes a fully mature industry can we remove
labor as a major cost driver and return production to local
sources. The keys to this movement will be investment in
automated machinery, the implementation of robotics, and the
increased use of information technology. I see a drastic
change coming and Robotic is one of the keys. We have to move
to lower labor and transportation costs but we are not going to be
able to lose the flexibility we have gained by shopping the world
market for specific capabilities. Robotics allows us to
create flexible work centers that can adjust quickly to changes in
market demand. It is my belief that manufacturing equipment,
robotics, and information technology will merge as we drive towards
Zero Labor capabilities. Microsoft Robotics Studio has the
potential to enable this trend.
Simple principals for the Real-Time Enterprise
By Kevin Seefried
The Real-Time Enterprise has become a key initiative for
manufacturing organizations in today's fast past and global
environment. The concepts and metrics for what a "Real-Time
Enterprise" looks like are in the early stages of development.
As we build business systems it is important to establish
guiding principles that help us through the process so we do not
miss any long-term benefits by making short term decisions.
Here are four simple principals to considered when designing an
information system:
- Capture data once at the point of creation. Waste of effort is
created with any duplicate entry and waste is created when
information is not available in real time. The typical argument for
not implementing real-time data collection is that it will slow
production but the challenge is to build the data collection
seamlessly into the process.
- Create a single, linked information repository. A typical
production oriented company includes sales/marketing (CRM), core
financials (MRP/ERP), operational (QA, Logistics, etc.), and web
(portal/eCommerce) systems. It is critical that thought is put
forward so all information systems are appropriately linked and
presented as a single version of the truth. When appropriate links
do not exist, islands of data are created, comprehensive reporting
is limited, additional effort is required to mine data, and
decisions are delayed, and/or errors in judgment can result from
missing or incorrect information.
- Deliver information when needed and in the correct format.
Waste occurs when an employee does not have the information needed
to make a decision or that information is not presented in a way
that enables them to gain insight. When building information
systems assume that reporting and data presentation is not going to
be in a single format. The system design should allow a user to
easily access information whether they are using an operation
report, are using a mobile devise, or accessing over the web.
- Decisions about information systems need to be made for the
entire system not a single business unit or function. The typical
attitude from an individual user might be that if it increases my
work load I do not want it. Leadership has to weight the value of
the increase in the data manage requirements for a single area
verse the benefit of the entire organization. In many cases it can
require five times more effort to delay correct management of
information. For example, instead of scanning each part as it
completes a process the operator might write the results on a piece
of paper. The paper is then take by manager to data entry. Data
entry personnel type the information in. Initially there would have
been no more time required to scan verse write the information
down. Now we have delayed availability of information across the
organization, created multiple chances for data errors, and
increase amount to time required to collect.
One of the key benefits of following a Lean methodology is that
you learn to identify waste in an operation. Going down the
path to be a Real-Time enterprise is similar. By nature a
system that is real-time will have the waste in processes, data
capture, and information usage squeezed out. The principals
presented above can start you down the right path.