Responding to daily manufacturing challenges

People need decision support tools that can help respond rapidly to changing demands or problems. This is especially true in a manufacturing environment where they can cause ripples across the entire workload and/or productivity losses that erode margins.

As a manufacturer, you’ll probably have experienced at least one, if not all of the common challenges/scenarios described below. For each one, we’ll take you through the features and functionality in our flexible manufacturing execution system that could help you respond quickly to changing demands or problems.

A machine has broken down

When a machine breaks down, response time is of the essence. Every second it’s unavailable is costing rather than making you money. With live data capture solutions you’ll have greater visibility, from the moment the breakdown occurs until it is fixed. You can also take proactive steps to minimise disruptions and delays.

Our solutions to this manufacturing challenge

Instantly see the resource status change on the system’s Live Status views
Configure time in status threshold notifications to alert users of machine alarms and improve response times
Capture how long a resource is in an alarm state before being attended by maintenance to set improvement targets
Decrease the available hours for the resource directly on the planning board. This will dynamically update the entire workload and show the impact across all jobs. You can then communicate any consequences of changes more positively with all customers.
Drag and drop operations to a different resource to minimise delays and dynamically update the work queues on the shopfloor so everyone is working to the latest priorities and instructions.
Use historical analysis to see trends that might indicate an emerging issue so you can take a proactive, preventative steps
Depending on how we connect to your machines we’ll also be able to tell you with they’re running in a non-optimal condition or if they are generating non-critical alarm codes.

Glass cubes representing the challenge of manufacturing capacity visibility

I don’t know if I really have the capacity

There are many factors that contribute to a full understanding your actual production capacity. An integrated approach to your manufacuring system provides the granular level data required to build a reliable picture of your overall capacity. It’s only then that you can know how whether there’s scope to make efficiency gains with your existing resources, whether you can respond positively to demand and unexpected changes or when capital investments needs to be considered.

Our solutions to this manufacturing challenge

Use the What-If planning capability in the Scheduler to run scenarios that show the effect of subcontracting operations. You can also try adjusting shifts and/or increasing the available hours directly on the planning board to see the effect of adding overtime.
Use the Utilisation data you capture through Seiki AIR Monitoring to adjust the efficiency factor of your resources in your planning system. This will improve the accuracy of its capacity definition.
Use the real-time visibility and performance insight down to the individual operation level from shop floor data capture to improve the accuracy of your capacity model.
Let your sales team know what capacity they can sell by using the Workload view to identify individual resource availability that can be actively promoted. Use this insight to target the right mix and type of work.
With a 360-degree view of your manufacturing operations you will have the information you need to make data-driven investment decisions.

A critical job is going to be late

On time delivery performance is not just an issue for your customer, it can also be a problem for your organisation if it means growing dissatisfaction, lost contracts, missed opportunities or diminishing trust in your brand. But it gets harder to meet deliver promises when you’re dealing with growing order volumes. Not least because the ripple effect of any delays is amplified across your entire workload.

Our solutions to this manufacturing challenge

In the Scheduler, try prioritising the job i.e. drag and drop or consider scheduling by priority instead of due date. You could also try overlapping operations, or splitting operations if a partial shipment can be made to the customer when there isn’t enough capacity to finish the full qty in time. Remember, all these scenarios are “What-If” until you save the schedule.
On the shopfloor, each resource work queue reflects the latest priorities defined in planning and update as soon as any changes are made. Operators have visibility of planned operation start and end times, and customer delivery dates, so everyone can contribute to on-time performance.
Jobpack DNC enables you to provide Operators with complete production data and manufacturing information for each individual operation as soon as it’s released, so there’s no delays from waiting for information to be updated printed and delivered.
You have the option to prevent operators starting jobs out of sequence with Rippling logic.

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