by I2DS | Jan 9, 2023 | Blogs
The importance of Quality can never be under estimated. Quality is the most important competitive priority for every Organization, achieving better quality than competitors, is imperative to stay in the race to become the Best-In-Class today. Cost and Quality were considered to be at two different ends of the same continuum i.e. to improve quality meant increasing cost, but over time this view has changed drastically. Improved Quality, achieved through continuous improvement of process has been able to reduce the total Cost function in the long run.
Doing things right the first time, managing operations by facts and applying statistical process controls has led to better Quality for Organizations and have reduced costs such as rework, rejection, reverse logistics, labor costs, materials cost and many other costs that contribute to the overall cost function. Practices like Kaizen, Poka Yoke, TQM, Lean Management, JIT management etc. have contributed towards the Quality revolution and have become a part of day-to-day operations for firms world-wide. But there is much more to Quality Management than just theories that emphasize on Quality improvement. Quality management should be viewed as the number 1 priority and a proper quality management system should be put in place to achieve the desired quality conformance.
Information Technology plays a vital role in monitoring and maintaining Quality, doing things right the first time is possible only when the facility has the capability of analyzing quality in real time as the process is performed. Using IT to implement a Quality management system is a novel idea, because of the inherent features of IT applications. An IT application not only automates a factory, it also integrates all the processes that would otherwise remain separated. IT applications allow Quality to become a part of the entire production process and helps develop the ‘Quality Culture’ within the Organization. There is an evident need for achieving a high Quality standard and also there is a need for comprehensive IT systems that can help monitor and improve the overall quality of products and process.
I2DS realized this need to monitor and detect quality issues on the go and came up with a unique Manufacturing Excellence solution. This system has the ability to track Quality related issues in real time, assign priority to Quality issues etc. along with many other attributes that make it impossible to miss any Quality Issue. Experts at I2DS have the experience of managing Quality of Product and Process for many global giants, and they understand the importance of Quality, for you. According to Deming ‘85% Quality problems are related to the Process and 15% related to other issues’, our solution helps you monitor all key functional areas of your process and thus achieve better Quality control and improvement. I2DS’ Quality Management system gives you complete control of your entire process and will ensure that you not only improve Quality but you also reduce Costs effectively. If Quality is your number one priority get in touch with us at info@i2ds.com and we will help you achieve Quality Excellence.
by I2DS | Jan 5, 2023 | Blogs
Operations Management is often the most neglected area in all Organizations, it is considered to be a firefighting tool only to be called upon in the event of any problem or mishap. I believe Operations Management should be considered a vital part of management and should be used to attain competitive advantage for the Organization. Operations Management affects all five competitive priorities, namely, Quality, Speed, Dependability, Flexibility and Cost. Rather than trying to manipulate the external environment to gain a competitive edge, organizations can gain a lot by concentrating on setting their house in order by laying stress on Operations Management Excellence.
Most modern theories of management lay stress on the importance of Operations Management and how crucial it can prove to be in the success or failure of an Organization. There are many books which describe the importance of operations management at a strategic level and how an operations strategy can achieve higher throughput, lower costs and profit maximization. The crux of these writings however is a very simple fact, which is, if you lay stress on doing things right the first time and try to improve your operations continually, you can improve your profitability and become the best-in-class organization.
For manufacturing Organizations, Operations Management is extremely important, its so because it deals with the most important activity of the organization, the production of the goods, that are sold in the market, under a brand name. Thus in manufacturing organizations excellence in operations management is highly desirable. Most successful companies have realized this need and are employing the most modern information solutions along with various management theories to achieve manufacturing excellence. Information systems are making Operation management highly sophisticated and pushing operations towards a six sigma level of efficiency.
Integration of the entire plant, process and personnel is vital for achieving manufacturing excellence. This integration can result only with the help of an information system that provides a seamless and holistic view of the vital process and personnel related parameters. This system should allow effective monitoring and efficient control for the entire process and aid real time decision making and action. There are many packages available in the market for Manufacturing Excellence, but is just any package the right package?
I believe every manufacturing process is unique; this is because of the fact that each organization has an inherent set of resources and unique environmental conditions. Thus a Manufacturing Excellence application should be process specific and not general. Every Operations manager gives importance to certain parameters, for the sake of this discussion lets say Quality, Safety, Equipment and Factory Communication. If the package available cannot capture the details of the parameters above mentioned, it is rendered useless for this particular Organization.
I2DS has devised a Manufacturing Excellence solution that can fit to your process and give you the power of monitoring and controlling the process parameters you consider vital. So if you believe that Safety, Quality, Factory Communication and Equipment issues are important cost centers and need to be monitored and controlled effectively, I2DS’ Manufacturing Excellence allows you to do exactly that. You have the capability to assign priorities and owners to each issue, see the real time actions and judge the performance of the entire process or the performance of individual parameters. With I2DS as your Excellence partner, you will never miss a vital issue and will be able to reduce the operating costs drastically, thereby achieving better profitability. With I2DS you can gain process excellence and this would help you become the Best-In-Class Operation. So open your doors to Manufacturing Excellence and I2DS, write into us at info@i2ds.com, and give us the opportunity to help you achieve excellence in all your competitive priorities.
by I2DS | Jan 2, 2023 | Blogs
Are you unable to meet the growing demand for your products? Do you think you are operating much below your plant capacity? You want to improve the efficiency of your operations but don’t know how? All these questions will be answered as we proceed forward in this blog. Organizations lay great stress on increasing the demand for their products and often fail to consider the implications exaggerated demand might have on their production line. It is often seen that promotions and intense marketing causes the Bullwhip Effect and forward buying. In such cases the efficiency of the plant becomes indeterminate, due to the skewed nature of demand. However if the demand remains buoyant on a regular basis without a noticeable negative trend, the importance of improving the efficiency of current operations becomes critical before considering an increase in the plant capacity.
Complacency and lack of process knowledge are the two major reasons for decreased efficiency among others. Being complacent implies that the management believes that there is no further scope for process improvement and thereby no chance of enhancing efficiency. But this belief is self destructive in nature, as the great gurus of TQM have rightly proclaimed “No process is ever perfect”, which means that there is always a scope for improvement. Organizations should strive for integration of internal and external processes and avoid complacency. Lack of process knowledge is even more lethal, as what can’t be measured can’t be improved. The best way to improve process efficiency is by the use of technology to integrate the process and make the process related metrics available to all levels of management as required. The degree of integration of various facets of the production line will determine the degree of improvement in efficiency.
The need of the hour is to have IT solutions that enable you to better adjust with the market forces and still be able to achieve optimum efficiency, so that profits of the firm are not affected. I2DS has been able to provide powerful Information solutions to its customers and helped them achieve the efficiency that they desire. We believe that only on integrating the Factory Operations can an organization get a handle on what’s going on in their factory and how to better control and synchronize the efforts. Our solutions give you a better picture of every activity that happens on the floor and generate real-time reports that enable effective decision making. Our path breaking MES product gives you a common platform for all your operations, this enables integration and real time decision making. Every lot that is run can be configured from the beginning to EOL; right from selecting lot-path to lot-recipe, each lot can be tracked irrespective of current location. EDC and SPC features allow better control and quality; they also enable real-time analysis and help better and faster implementation of corrective action plans. It helps generate reports that are available for analysis as and when required.
All in all our MES solution gives you the functionality of optimizing and integrating your operations right from planning to execution, in real-time. But the benefits that I2DS can provide to your factory ops don’t stop here, we have made it our mission to go beyond the realm of basic MES and our Manufacturing Excellence Solution does exactly that. I2DS’ Manufacturing Excellence allows you to monitor all the major issues on your factory floor which include, Quality, Safety, Equipment Issues & Communication Management. This solution helps you gauge issues besides regular factory operations which are just as critical as the operations itself. Each and every issue that is related to Quality, Safety & Equipment becomes very important as neglecting them can lead to high and unwanted cost implications. Our Manufacturing Excellence solution allows you to report, track and analyze all these vital issues and make real-time decisions. Equipped with these powerful tools you can achieve a highly robust, integrated and optimally efficient operation. I2DS’ endeavor is to help customers achieve operational excellence has lead us to develop even more amazing solutions right from Database Management to a complete IT outsourcing partner. So if you want to feel the happiness that results from a factory that is working at its true potential write into us at info@i2ds.com.
by I2DS | Dec 30, 2022 | Blogs
MES applications have long been viewed as an ideal solution for better management of production floors around the world. Their ability to support a wide range of complex production flows is widely recognized and accepted. But is that all? Or is MES software capable of more? This is a question worth considering in the current business environment. MES applications are becoming more collaborative in nature, just as businesses around the world are evolving, so are the software applications which support them.
Today we will consider one such example of how a collaborative MES solution impacts and potentially improves the Warehousing function. Traditionally warehousing activities are carried at both ends of a supply chain. For any manufacturer warehousing of raw material and finished goods is a common practice. The availability of raw materials affects the production process greatly, with the advent of JIT management, having raw material exactly when required is pivotal for success and smooth functioning of a factory/plant. Similarly, warehousing also plays an important role when the raw material is fully processed and becomes the final product or products, if finished goods produced, are not available when required the company faces potential losses which go beyond the economic value of a cancelled order, as the loss of goodwill and future business become imminent. Thus, warehousing becomes an important function, which needs to be proactive at both ends of the supply chain and enable smooth production and delivery, it also needs to be a collaborative function working hand-in-hand with Purchase, Production, Logistics and Sales functions.
So where does MES come into the picture? Well, MES applications have become much more versatile and are capable of working in tandem with ERP and MRP systems. Previously warehousing was a manual process, where goods were stacked on racks based on their item/part numbers, when required workers would manually procure these materials and fulfill the order, once an order was filled, the workers would enter the data in an ERP system, which would then place an order for the materials depending on the pre-set reorder point. However, as technological advances are made, traditional warehousing practices are becoming extinct, modern warehousing is an intelligent activity, which is far more efficient and productive. Modern warehousing is an intelligent activity, which reduces human intervention in most parts of the process, it uses robotic arms or mobile robotic devices to fill orders and collect/place material on racks. In some warehouses racks themselves are mobile and reach the worker filling the order with required material rather than the opposite.
Due to the higher degree of automation, intelligent enterprise applications are extracting data almost at the same instant as an order is filled or a material is stacked. MES applications then communicate with such enterprise applications and both extract raw material data and provide production data to the application. Thus MES basically collaborates with other intelligent systems to provide a real-time picture of the raw material stock to the production/operation managers and at the same time allows sales/logistics and warehousing functions to know the status of the WIP and finished goods from the production process. This sort of collaboration benefits the entire operation of the supply chain and allows for proactive management and faster response time. The MES also acts as a vehicle for improving overall efficiency of the warehousing operation as the information received from the production function allows for better material planning and implementation of practices line JIT and Lean management.
So when you are deciding to choose an MES application for your production unit, take some time and consider whether the MES you are considering has the collaborative capabilities mentioned above. The warehousing example mentioned above is just a small illustration of massive benefits which an intelligent MES application can offer. To end the discussion I would like to stress the fact that an MES application is more capable than what it is considered capable of, it is important to consider all its capabilities and functionalities before selecting the application.
by I2DS | Dec 28, 2022 | Blogs
By Vivek Bhachawat
The biggest requirement of Big Data Analytics can be considered the paradigm shift required in the perspective of the Top Management of the organizations wanting to implement the same. The management has to realize that the economy has become heavily dependant on information and the work force needed for survival in such an economy has to be a knowledgeable workforce. This means that the organization has to make Analytics an active part of Strategy making, where information obtained is used to strengthen competitive position. We have seen in previous Blogs, what are the challenges that lie in the path of Big Data Analytics implementation. Today however we want to focus on what else is required for the endeavor to succeed even if the management is aware where it will source the info from, where it will use it and who will make the applications.
Yes, even if the Organization has overcome the primary challenges in the Analytics application, there are many perils that lie ahead in the path of sustained value addition and success from the implementation of Big Data Analytics. The major one being the training and conditioning required to be given to the personnel. The major source of resistance to any change, which changes the way in which work is performed, faces major resistance in every Organization. In the case of Data Analytics, employees need to learn how to make sense from the complex information that they encounter and how to best use it, to add value to the operation. The exercise of applying an analytics application would bear fruition only if it is used with dexterity by workers and staff capable of properly using the valuable information they receive.
The challenge for the management here is to manage the changes required by the analytics application along with the actual implementation of the application itself. The process has to begin from Top, with the top executives taking initiative and making the importance of the endeavor felt throughout the Organization’s hierarchy. One key activity to facilitate the change from status quo to the desired state, is the systematic description of Job Roles and Responsibilities, based on the Analytics implementation and how they would impact the remuneration, incentives and bonuses of all the employees in the Organization. The HR and Functional departments and their heads would play a key role as change agents, as they would play an active role in conditioning the employees and slowly steering them towards the use of the application or the part of application intended from them. It is very important to train the front-line employees in analytics as they represent the company at the customer end, their being knowledgeable and informed would have a great impact on the company’s bottom line. The Organization should also look for partners who not only develop tailor-made Analytics applications, but who are also capable to act as active change agents and are capable of transforming any resistance from the workforce to a thrust for the successful implementation of the application.
The road to a successful Data-analytics implementation is filled with challenges and requires careful planning both in terms of the application deliverables and the actual implementation of the same. Just a decision to purchase an application from a well-known vendor, might look like a smart move, but what you should ask yourself is- Have we done enough home-work on how and what the application should be? Is our workforce capable of using the info which will be generated through the application? Who will train the workers and what would be the time and capital required? So, if you are looking to turnaround your business with Analytics, this Blog should give you a better picture from an Organizational Perspective.
by I2DS | Dec 27, 2022 | Blogs
By Vivek Bhachawat
Almost every Doctor I have ever met has told me a cliché “Prevention is better than cure”. I believe that this statement although it might be a cliché holds true for every man made process as well. All Operations professionals know this and would agree that the sooner an excursion is detected the easier and cheaper it is to deal with. Theories like Total Productive Maintenance or TPM greatly emphasize the need for excursion prevention rather than the standard practice of excursion detection and subsequent corrective action.
Most manufacturing processes in the world have become highly complex, to make it difficult for competition to imitate them, also almost every production process is unique in some way even though the equipment used might be similar to others. Information Technology and process automation and integration applications are helping organizations around the world exercise better control and achieve higher excursion prevention. But just any ‘off the shelf’ application will not help you improve your unique process and changing the entire process to better suit the soft ware application does not make sense. A tailor made solution is required that has been designed to suit your process and then achieve the required functionality of excursion prevention.
I2DS has been able to devise such solution which are helping its customers increase the effectiveness of their prevention efforts and thereby increasing their profitability as well. Most systems lack the capability of tracking material through the production line; this may lead to a major loss in material and production time. There is an evident need for a solution that can help track material throughout the production line and I2DS has just the solution for this problem. We have developed a unique Inventory Management Solution, which allows you to track your material even after it leaves the Ware-house. Our system gives you the ability to track the exact location of material, anywhere and everywhere in the production line, right up to the finished goods stage.
Our system is capable of collaborating with your existing ERP system to give you better control and complete traceability for your material. Our system is in-line with JIT theory and helps you monitor the inventory at each and every step of production and insures you not only detect but prevent any excursion that might happen. Our system allows you to detect excursions faster and thereby helps you to prevent losses which might have otherwise occurred. So if you are interested in cutting your losses and improve traceability of your material, contact us right now and get a free demo of our path breaking solutions, e-mail us at info@i2ds.com.
