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Posts Tagged ‘bay area’

Process Improvement Comes First

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

By:  Donald Clark CFPIM, CSCP

Companies around the world implement ERP systems for a wide variety of reasons:  some to eliminate manual efforts, some to run their businesses in an integrated environment, some for regulatory reasons, and on and on.  I think that if you ask many people why they undertake an ERP implementation, you might get an answer like “So we can improve”.

True as it is that an integrated ERP system can help a company gain efficiencies, it seems like that improvement sought is not always clearly understood or realized.

There is an old saying that goes something like this:   “When you automate a bad process, you can now produce junk at the speed of light”.  I do not remember who originally said it and the first time I heard it, it was stated more colorfully.  The point needs to be well taken though. (more…)

Discrete and Process Manufacturing.. What’s the difference?

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

Thanks to Josh Chalifour at Technology Evaluation Centers for this post:

A quick definition from APICS (The Association for Operations Management) describes discrete manufacturing as “the production of distinct items such as automobiles, appliances, or computers,” whereas process manufacturing covers “production that adds value by mixing, separating, forming, and/or performing chemical reactions. It may be done in either batch or continuous mode.” Now let’s look at a few examples.

Think about what your company manufactures. Does it require mixing chemicals? If so, you may need an ERP system that does things like calculate ingredient quantities. If your industry produces the type of product that doesn’t lend itself to being disassembled into its individual components, it’s likely you need to consider a process ERP system. On the other hand, if your company assembles products from many component parts, you’ll require discrete manufacturing functionality.

You Cannot Put the Juice Back into the Orange

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