by I2DS | Mar 23, 2022 | Blogs
Top Management plays an important role in any business decision, especially when leveraging information and benefits derived from it is concerned. Every manufacturing organization, which relies on selling goods to either consumers or B2B needs to realize the importance of process data and how it impacts the bottom line. The CEO’s, COO’s and CIO’s of the world need to take into consideration the huge value which lies dormant in their internal process, whilst they set targets of gaining business advantage by targeting external data and analytics.
Every manufacturing process, especially those with higher degree of automation, are potential gold mines of data, data which can lead to business advantages faster than the external data. The main reason why benefits are easily realized from internal data, is the ease of its availability, however, this also the main reason why it’s ignored as well. There is a huge propensity in the senior management leaders to ignore internal avenues of value creation and look beyond organizational realms to attain competitive advantage. The top bosses of manufacturing organizations need to realize that a large scope of improvement lies with-in day-to-day operations which might appear trivial or even mundane to them. What is required from them is to dig deeper and see what is required from the operations in terms of their strategic plans and goals. For example, If they want to reduce costs, where is the best place to begin reductions inside, how can inputs become more efficient and employees more capable? These questions and statements reinforce the notion that internal improvement and agility are key drivers of business improvement.
Process data is undoubtedly vital, but what does the CIO/CEO/COO of a company do to harness and convert otherwise useless information to information which drives improvement and competitive supremacy? Well, to begin with an important thing to do is to assess the current business scenario, where are the competitors in terms of process technology and IT. After understanding the competitive scene, its important to analyze the industry trends, whether its facing regular and incremental changes or are there any disruptive changes going around which might impact the industry at the base itself. Once these scenarios and trends are understood it is important to link these external changes/trends to the internal manufacturing process, and establish what is needed in terms or technology and information.
Leaders should pay attention to how MES and other IT applications can unlock the goldmine of data discussed earlier. Information form the MES may help them realize exactly where the main pressure points are, in their processes. So if they choose to employ an MES, in maybe three months time they may realize that their TPM efforts are more intensive than required and this is increasing unnecessary downtime. They may realize that they need to train workers cross-functionally to ascertain operations is immune to turnover. What I want to emphasize here, is that applications like the MES are capable of much more than they are given credit for. Improving performance and achieving higher quality standards is just a small speck of what integrated applications such as the MES can achieve, they have the potential to drive business decisions not even related to manufacturing as an activity, such as the one illustrated above regarding the cross-functional training.
Today most members of the C-suite in any manufacturing organization would be aware of an MES application, some of them might even have used it in their previous assignments, but what they need to realize is that these applications have now become more evolved and coupled with other enterprise wide applications like the MRP or the CRM, MES applications can not only drive conventional change and improvement, they can even be the source of inspiration for potential disruptive changes, which might change the way in which processes were run in your industry. Business leaders today need to look at the bigger picture, where the MES is the central character, along which other applications rally to extract the true potential from analytics endeavors. So if you are the CIO or CEO of a manufacturing enterprise, think of MES as the IT weapon which can give you the strategic advantage of knowing every single ounce of valuable information from your manufacturing process and imagine how knowing more about a manufacturing process more than your competitors can help you succeed in the marketplace.
by I2DS | Mar 17, 2022 | Blogs
TQM, Lean, Lean-Six-Sigma and Six Sigma are various theories of Operations Management or management on the whole that are helping organizations become more efficient and profitable around the world. I believe that these theories or management philosophies have a lot in common and should be pursued in spirit and in action. We should try and understand the end goal of these theories rather than trying to implement them blindly without proper consideration. These theories should be treated more like guidelines rather than a set of rules or do’s and don’ts. What all these theories tend to stress on is the reduction of operational costs, increase of throughput, attention to Quality, better relationships and involvement of customers, employees and suppliers and above all the pursuit of sustainable profitability.Understanding what these theories mean to achieve and finding the right platform to do so, is crucial for a FAB which is both flexible and profitable.
These theories lay emphasis on understanding the external environment and internal capabilities and achieving a dynamic equilibrium between the two. The approach to achieving this end goal is different in different theories, but the goal is the same. One major pointer that is emphasized in all modern management theories is that management should be fact based, that management decisions must be based on hard evidence and not managerial whims and fancies. The fact based approach brings me to the topic of my blog, which is implementation of management practices through IT applications.
IT applications can prove to be an effective way to apply and practice management theories. The beauty of such IT applications is that they can be tailor made for your process, which makes it easier for the staff to implement and can help improve the operations in the future. Depending upon the industry, IT applications can be programmed to monitor all vital process metrics, analyze the process performance, impart training, aid communication, facilitate supply chain integration, control production, improve safety, achieve quality excellence and the list can practically go on for ever. We need to understand that IT applications are not and elixir to our problems but are tools that can help us better resolve existing problems that we face on a day-to-day basis.
The idea is to implement IT applications in such a way that they facilitate real-time, fact based and potent decision making at all three levels of decision making i.e. at the Strategic level, Tactical level and at the Operational level. The design of the IT application should be such that it can suffice the decision making needs at all three levels and yet be comprehensive in its reach throughout the Organization. IT can help any organization and at any desired level of management, the need and scope of IT applications remain debatable and are best analyzed when considered for a particular process. My agenda here is to highlight that IT is a great tool because of its speed, agility and accuracy and should be given a consideration by all Organizations who are in pursuit of Operational Excellence and Profitability. I do not believe in following any management theory blindly without understanding its possible outcomes and neither do I promote blind faith in IT as an ultimate cure for all management problems.
I believe it is important to understand what your business needs to achieve the goal it has set for itself, besides the obvious goal of profit maximization. I strongly advocate fact based management and believe the IT applications can help achieve better results in a faster more organized manner. However, it is very important that before jumping to a so called IT solution we analyze our needs both external and internal, we understand the problem areas or pain points and then decide how and to what extent an IT platform can help appease our needs. I would like to conclude by reemphasizing a few pointers that I believe should be a part of any endeavor made towards improving management and improving profitability, they are, never choose a management practice blindly, use management practices as guidelines, try and improve profitability and quality and above all consider IT as a vital tool available to achieve your goals. If you have any questions or comments about this blog feel free to write to us at info@i2ds.com or just leave a comment in the comment box and I will get back to you.
by I2DS | Mar 16, 2022 | Blogs
By Vivek Bhachawat
Quality has become the back-bone of successful business operations today. Every OEM/manufacturer stresses that their product quality is far superior to their competitors. The nature of international business is such that quality has become an order qualifier and is considered the primary consideration by the customers. To have a superior hold on their quality issues, operations managers around the world look at Statistical Tools and information systems. Without the help of modern information systems, getting a grasp of quality issues and dealing with them in real-time becomes very complex and time consuming. A quality management system can help manufacturers get a hold on their quality efforts, but the application of such systems should be done with extreme caution.
Every process is unique and faces a distinct set of issues both long term and contingent. In such a case a general Quality Management System or QMS can prove to be an impediment rather than a facilitator of the Quality endeavor. What organizations need to understand is that the one size fits all theory does not work in the case of production processes and any IT application should be carefully designed specifically for the organization’s processes to bear fruition. There are however some generalizations that can be made pertaining to the basic functionality that a QMS should have, let’s look at them here. A QMS should be able to provide potent information about the important process metrics, highlight quality issues and help in root cause analysis. But the over-all application of a QMS would depend drastically on how the process actually is and what is the present orientation towards product/process quality.
An ideal QMS would be able to adapt itself to the process and provide its users real-time, actionable information regarding all quality issues, and help them by providing an SPC application to ensure any occurrence can be assigned a cause and can be analyzed with the adapt at the systems disposal. There are also certain value added features that a QMS can provide pertaining to performance appraisal, process appraisal, process/product improvement and overall process efficiency. These features and their applicability are a function of the process owner’s needs and the capability of the service provider. With the emergence of TQM, Six Sigma, Lean and Lean Six Sigma, the importance of Quality Management Systems has escalated, what companies need to decide is the level of proficiency and depth of analysis they want for their operation and then select a suitable partner to provide for their needs. To be reasonably successful in your operation also a QMS is a must, but to be the leader in your industry, the Quality of your QMS becomes quite important. So while selecting a partner for application of a QMS bear in mind what you need and how can the QMS provider meet and exceed your needs with their applications.
by I2DS | Mar 15, 2022 | Blogs
By Vivek Bhachawat
You might have a very profitable plant, with great cycle times, accelerated product development, higher throughput, but is it working at its true potential? Have you really reached the pinnacle of your industry, in terms of technology and process excellence? Even if you are on top right now, can you afford to be complacent? These are a few questions that compel you to think about your process capabilities in the present and for the future. Let me explain why these questions become so relevant, the reason these questions are so important is because even if you have the technology leadership in your industry today, it does not guarantee that you will continue to be the leader, this is because of the ever changing external factors that affect your process and which to the maximum extent are out of your control.
By making the above argument I do not intend to dishearten anyone, rather I want to re-emphasize the importance of continuous improvement and to remember the crux of Kaizen- ‘Good Enough Never Is’. When it comes to manufacturing and factory ops, top management views equipment automation as the best solution for optimizing production process. However, I beg to differ, in any business, better equipment can only boost future production capacity and it does not guarantee that this capacity will be achieved. To improve your present production capacity and achieve your true potential, you should understand the importance of information and knowledge, and the role they play in the success of your operations. To realize your true potential in manufacturing you need to take a holistic view about automation and knowledge management. Always remember information is the most valuable resource for any organization and any production unit, doesn’t matter whether you make tooth brush or missiles, information is what keeps the business running and improving.
Having established the importance of information in manufacturing , now let us consider the ways to harness it and consider how this harnessed information can lead to process knowledge and help achieve the hidden potential. First we need to establish the parameters that are vital to the performance of the Organization from a customer and market perspective. Then we need to collect this data and analyze it for better performance. But data collection and analysis can be cumbersome and time taking when performed manually. This accentuates the need for an automated and integrated system for data collection and analysis, that collects the process data in real time, analyzes it and presents it in the form of information that can aid decision making. The choice of the right technology partner is crucial if you are to achieve the true potential of your process operation.
I2DS can be the right partner for you, it is our mission to provide data in real time from all vital areas of the process, analyze this information and aid speedy decision making, leading to process excellence and better profitability. I2DS can provide you the data that otherwise would have remained hidden in your equipment or process and this helps you get a better more comprehensive view of your process. Our automation team specializes in factory automation, MES, Manufacturing Excellence, data tapping, EDC and SPC. An automated factory has a comprehensive SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) application that enables effective HMI or Human Machine Interface. Our wide range of amazingly flexible products is what you require for applications like Tool Integration, Data Tap, SCADA, RFID implementation, SPC and EDC applications. So if you think enhancing your process knowledge can lead to a more profitable operation, I2DS is the best choice. Get in touch with us right away and we will help you realize your true potential, e-mail us at info@i2ds.com or just hit the Request Live Demo tab on this page.
by I2DS | Mar 14, 2022 | Blogs
What helps the Organizations that are market leaders get to the position they are at? After wondering about this question myself, I realized that there is one major common factor, Evolution. Yes, the organizations that have made it big have all kept evolving, just like human beings, but only much faster. Organizations that have been proactive in their efforts to understand the needs of their customers and change their products and services accordingly, have been able to capture a larger portion of the market share than those who decided to stick to their old ways of doing things. Companies that spend a higher amount on R&D, also experience a higher volume in sales. It is through systematic and well funded R&D efforts that companies of the modern world have been able to devise much more sophisticated products and services and generate better business than their competitors.
But just having an R&D Lab is not a panacea for all future needs. It is extremely important how you manage the operation of your R&D facility and whether you have effective control on the process. R&D facilities have become more efficient by using technology and IT for managing operations. LIMS or Laboratory Management Information Systems are helping many Labs achieve their diverse objectives. Due to the dynamic nature and needs of an R&D facility no standard LIMS package can be suitable for your Lab. A Pharmaceutical lab has completely different objectives and operational needs than lets say an Aircraft development lab. This makes the design an application of LIMS a highly process specific and complex task.
The core function of LIMS is sample management; this includes the request from sample from the customer, the process of sample creation and also the tracking & delivery of sample to the customer. This requires data management expertise that is compliance oriented and process specific. A LIMS application can also have features beyond sample management, such as, equipment integration, electronic data exchange, export to excel/spreadsheets, audit management, barcode/RFID applications and the list virtually is endless. The presence of a good sample management application is pivotal for a successful LIMS system as the most important operation of any manufacturing R&D Lab is sample generation as per customer specs, effective sample creation and timely delivery of the said sample.
I2DS has successfully implemented the best-in-class, process specific, LIMS system for its customers. We have the expertise required to understand the diverse needs of different operations and design our solutions accordingly. Our sample management provides the desired functionality to our customers through effective data management, sample requisition tracking, material flow tracking, equipment issue resolution, Quality control, Inventory management, scheduling tools, sample analysis and a comprehensive database related to approval, rejection and compliance matters related to a particular sample. With our LIMS you can rest assured that your R&D facility will be working at optimum efficiency and achieve the desired results for your customers. So if you want to be a leader of innovation and achieve the coveted spot of market leader, I2DS can help you in this pursuit of excellence. All you have to do is e-mail us at info@i2ds.com and we will take care of the rest.
by I2DS | Mar 11, 2022 | Blogs
In my experience the question being asked above is a fairly frequent one. We live in a highly technology driven world, information is what brings us together and it is information that has become the difference between success and failure in business today. An Organization that does not have the information about the external environment, that constitutes the customers, competitors and the market on the whole, and its internal environment that constitutes process capabilities, suppliers and personnel, is destined to fail in the future. Leading organizations around the world have realized the importance of data management and knowledge development, they have used Information Technology as a weapon to fight competition and attain a higher market share.
Companies lay great stress on finding out the information related to the customers, supply chain partners and competitors. Almost all FMCG companies today drive their operations based on point of sale data obtained from various retail stores. However concentrating only on outside information although important can be fatal if the internal operations are ignored. Organizations have to realize that the most important source of information is the internal operations itself. Data Management should be more holistic and cover all aspects of an Organization’s operations. For firms in the manufacturing industry that face strict compliance standards, being able to harness and process the operational data is crucial for survival itself. Best-in-class Organizations lay great emphasis on data management of internal processes as it helps achieve a higher degree of control and flexibility.
The trouble arises when an organization realizes the need for information and data management but does not have the capability to manage its data on its own. Not all companies have the capability or resources required to design and apply a Database Management system in-house. This leads to two major considerations, 1) whether the resources needed to manage data should be acquired? And 2) whether the development, application and management of the system should be outsourced. In my view there is a very simple answer to this question, if a firm wants to be profitable and achieve excellence in all facets of business, they should outsource any activity that is not their core competence.
Today there are a myriad of Database Management products and so called ‘solution’ providers, who claim to provide a tailor made solution for your requirements. But, if you are an Organization facing trouble managing data and don’t want to go for a standard package with limited functionality, then what should you do? The answer is you need to gauge your requirement and ask your self these questions- 1) Do we need a real time database management and data processing capabilities? 2) Do we require to Tap Data directly from tools to our MES or present System? 3) Do we require features Like SPC, APC, RFID integration, Inventory & Ops Management? 4) Do we need to monitor Safety, Quality and Equipment issues in real time? If the answer to all or majority of these questions is ‘YES’, then you need to consider I2DS as your strategic partner.
We at I2DS understand the prevalent issues pertaining to Data Management and Data Architecture and we are committed to work out the best solutions for our customers, our aim is to provide world class Information Solutions at reasonable prices. If you want your Data Management problems to disappear you should mail us right away at info@i2ds.com or Click on the Request Live Demo button on our web site. We assure you that with our solutions applied in your Organization today, you will become the leader of tomorrow.
