Smooth-Running Supply Chains Start With a Solid ERP System

From an applications software perspective, the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry faces a dilemma. Most of these companies continue to rely on enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems as a transactional backbone, yet require additional products for supply chain optimization and execution. Why? Many ERP systems are not designed to address the core tenets of process manufacturing, and most non-durable CPG companies have process-based
manufacturing and distribution activities that have very specific requirements.

These companies are forced to take ERP systems designed for discrete operations and retrofit them with additional products to support their process-oriented operations. This is not the case for all ERP systems. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and Process Industries for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 address many of the core ERP and supply chain execution requirements required by non-durable CPG companies.

This positioning paper will attempt to describe the problems faced by non-durable CPG companies and how Microsoft’s products help solve them.

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12:27 PM by Jawaan · 1

Using RFID to Obtain Supply on Demand

For most companies, demand alone is a poor driver of network planning. Customer lead times are generally less than the lead time required to source and make the products to deliver to demand. Companies need to be more "demand responsive," since they rarely have the capability to make product to demand. Instead, resources and material must be accurately scheduled and deployed to respond to demand as it is placed for operational execution.

This paper explores:
How to manage vendor managed inventory and consigned inventory more closely with inventory movement data being caputured through global RFID networks;How to improve supply chain optimization, looking forward to RFID's eventual widespread implementation; Making better use of real time operating data collection from RFID; How to get started with improving supply chain performance in advance of RFID data collection.

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10:16 AM by Jawaan · 0

How to Improve Supply Chain Forecasting Accuracy

Daily demand variability is what drives operations managers crazy. They require approaches that enable them to profitably respond to demand by dynamically setting safety stock and inventory control bands daily, so as to increase response time and visibility to manage variability.

This paper provides an introduction to: A bottom up approach to optimization;Calculating the recommended daily optimum lot size and the optimum safety stock level, for all items at each location; An approach for improving daily forecasting accuracy; Determining whether a product should be make-to-order or make-to-stock.Identifying when materials should be made or purchased, in what quantity, and in which products to optimize value.

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10:54 PM by Jawaan · 0

Rethinking the Supply Chain: Meeting the Complexity Challenge

Manufacturers and distributors in both discrete and process industries increasingly find themselves caught in a complexity double bind: The requirements of operating in a global, just-in-time market have made supply chains infinitely more complex than they were even ten years ago. In addition, much of the software that is supposed to assist in managing this complexity has itself become too complex to use and too expensive to cost-justify.

In this climate of complexity and uncertainty, overall business success is more and more a matter of optimizing the supply chain: Many times the blame for product failure lies not in engineering, marketing, or sales, but in the inability of the supply chain to deliver both the raw materials needed to meet production plans and the finished goods needed to meet real customer demand.

This white paper discusses: The complexity double bind in light of the dynamics of global trade, just-in-time manufacturing, and other business factors faced by manufacturers across most discrete and process industries;How Demand Management’s offerings help overcome the problems of complexity;How Demand Solutions customers have used the company’s software to improve forecasts and better manage demand, all while achieving improved customer satisfaction and a measurable return on investment.

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4:24 PM by Jawaan · 0

Supply Chain Challenge: How Chemical Manufacturers Can Use Microsoft Dynamics AX for Quality Management Concerns

The concerns of quality management typically extend across every aspect of supply chain management in chemical manufacturing companies.  This broad viewpoint of quality management, for example, ranges from the definition of item and formula information through sourcing purchased material, actual production, sales shipments, and returns.  Special considerations apply to lot-controlled items, such as the assignment of lot numbers, lot attributes, and lot disposition codes that restrict material usage.[1]

Since Microsoft Dynamics AX addresses nearly the full range of quality concerns with out-of-the-box functionality, it represents a strong ERP solution in the world of chemical manufacturing.  The customization and integration capabilities within Dynamics AX can also be used to support additional requirements. The list of out-of-the-box capabilities is no small matter, and they cut across many different functional areas.  The capabilities can be roughly grouped into several categories, as described below. More detailed explanations of these capabilities are provided in a separate white paper about quality management.

Item and Recipe Definition. Item and recipe information provide a logical starting point for quality concerns, where a recipe consists of the formula ingredients and routing steps. Some of the major concerns include:

...

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9:56 AM by Jawaan · 0

Organic Supply Chain Management: Issues and Answers for Process Manufacturers of Natural Products (proteins/meats, agricultural)

A producer of organic foods may be all natural, but its process software may be very unnatural. Even within process, the planning, scheduling, costing, execution and distribution of products are extremely different. Paper mills work with block scheduling; primary metals use metallurgy to determine correct formulas; and many food processors use organic methods to deliver products with correct shelf life. But companies with organic supply chains should choose ERP and APS solutions designed to specifically handle the nuances of process manufacturing in order to truly optimize their supply chains for financial and operational performance.

In this white paper we’ll take a closer look at one of these process sub-vertical industries, Organic Supply Chain (OSC) companies. Most of these organizations dissemble organic raw material (beef, pork, poultry, agricultural products and even petroleum) and have specific requirements that generic process ERP systems and certainly discrete ERP systems, designed to plan, schedule and manufacture items like toasters, cannot address.

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6:38 AM by Jawaan · 0