Changing IT priorities in 2009?
January 12, 2009 by david.evanson
The Annual Manufacturing report 2008 which came with The Manufacturer last month and i’ve just been reading the IT section.
When this survey was taken:
73% of business said that IT was essential
When asked about priorities in the LAST 12 months companies said:
- 73% upgrading IT infrastucture
- 67% Management information systems (MIS)
- 33% system integration
- 33% Enterprise resource planning
When asked about priorities in the NEXT 12 months companies said:
- 60% Management Information Systems (MIS)
- 47% Upgrading upgrading IT infrastructure
- 40% CRM
- 33% Enterprise resource planning
For me this leads me to several conclusions and a big question.
1. A lot of companies now have an IT backbone entering 2009 that wasn’t present in 2008 - this implies to me that systems are becoming more integrated and that solutions will need to meet that requirement
2. MIS is becoming increasingly more important. We’ve been providing MIS systems targeted on OEE improvement since 2001 with our LineView system leading the way, and more recently with MachineView and XL800 and we’re certainly finding that people are far more interested in talking about MIS systems now than a few years ago. For us this means that 2009 is about making our systems known and ensuring they meet your needs with elegance and the right cost.
3. With 33% of companies in 2008 and 2009 looking at ERP systems this is very heartening - part of our focus for 2009 is in linking our LineView system up with systems such as SAP to enable demand planning (ERP) across multiple lines and multiple sites.
The million dollar/pound/yen/euro/rupee question…how has the current economic situation changed these priorities?
- For me MIS is one of the areas in which the implementation of a system can directly improve the performance of a line. Therefore if you’re looking to implement an MIS system this year then do so in the knowledge that it can directly improve your productivity, but only if your teams use it. We have a huge amount of experience in this area and are very comfortable saying that a system is only so good as how it’s used!
So let me know - how are you expecting the current economic climate to effect your business this year?
Introducing automated data capture
November 30, 2008 by david.evanson
This week i’ve enjoyed many extremely interesting discussions about the use of automated data capture systems in an improvement process and thought i’d share a condensation of these discussions with you.
I think most people would agree that the reason to measure performance is so that we have hard factual data with which to make the right decisions. With this data we can be assured that we’re focussing on the right area and that our precious and limited resource is working effectively to improve output. When we’re working without data then ‘gut feel’ and assumptions can mean that we’re spending our time on areas that MAY improve output….or may not. We have limited time and resource so use it wisely.
This creates a little process for us: we need to:
- Capture data - with sufficient accuracy,
- Interpret it - with sufficient speed,
- Act on it - with sufficient focus,
- Review actions using it - with sufficient detail.
As we specialise in helping sites with the steps above we often recommend automated systems as these have the advantage of being accurate, autonomous, and needing very little time invested to get instant feedback. The higher the base level of performance, the more sophisticated a measurement tool you want.
For sites that are in an OEE performance window of 40-70% we often recommend our low cost XL800 system - for £2910 (*) a site can get great quality data and eliminate the majority of the resource needed to complete and collate machine based tick sheets. For the purpose of this post i’m ignoring the huge benefits that high performing sites could get from a line based visual display system, and instead focussing on data accuracy.
For sites performing at 60%+ we often recommend our LineView or MachineView systems as they provide highly accurate data with 6 Loss analysis and full reporting and ERP integration.
So when would we recommend that you don’t use one of our systems to capture data?
Well, in these 2 discussions i had this week both individuals wanted their organisation to develop a strong in-house feel and knowledge of OEE through collecting it manually for several months:
- When the team leaders have calculated their OEE manually for several months how aware will they be of how to influence it? Extremely!
- After a team leader has spent 30mins collecting data, running calculations, and preparing reports only to report a 30% shift how important is it that they understand how to influence it? Extremely!
- With this deep knowledge and understanding in place, how valuable will these team leaders find a fully automated system which gives them accurate data, instantly, without needing to analyse operator hand writing, without the need for a calcuator? Extremely!
My personal belief is that the only way to run a modern production line is with accurate data guiding my decision making. I also believe that data and systems are only as valuable as how they’re used.
So if you’re just starting your data journey perhaps it’s worth considering not only the value of collecting data, but also the value in your teams intrinsically understanding it from hours of painful analysis - Vs the cost saving from implementing automated systems and finding some other way of getting this deep understanding.
Food for thought.
My thanks to the Gentlemen in question with whom i had these discussions - a lot of fun and very thought provoking.
*price correct as of 30th November
