Welcome to ERP and More!

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software has traditionally been used by large corporations to integrate and automate diverse departments across the enterprise.

For a long time, smaller companies purchased individual accounting and payroll packages and then migrated to expensive ERP solutions as they grew. They did not have many options as ERP solutions were costlier and required magnitude and many employees to justify their use.

Now, with many Open Source software coming out, it is possible for SMEs to go in for ERPs at an earlier stage. There are several in the market including…
Open Source ERP for SMEs

Thomas Cutler

Key Benefits of Digital Kanban include:

* Further Reduce Inventory: Detailed reporting and increased visibility make resizing and elimination of excess buffers easy and accurate.

* Further Reduce Stock Outages: All members of the supply chain can proactively address upcoming changes without having to wait until the outages occur.

* Dramatically Increase Buyer/Planner Capacity: Remove the burden of creating, transmitting and managing routine replenishment communications, freeing Buyers/Planners to handle critical exceptions and continuously improve supplier relationships.

* Simplify Management: Easy to use and maintain, requiring very little maintenance to keep inventory turns friction-free, and making real-time data easily accessible.

* Coordinate All Users: Operations Managers, Buyer/Planners, Material handlers, Water Spiders - all have the visibility needed to get the job done.

* Utilize Industry-Standard Barcodes: Automate the replenishment process with a single action, generating the necessary signals, notifications and alerts throughout the supply chain.

* Integrate With Database & MRP/ERP Systems: Integrate with existing databases like Oracle, SQL, and Sybase and with MRP/ERP applications like SAP, JD Edwards and Peoplesoft.

* Streamline Implementation: ASP model provides global visibility into the plant floor from anywhere in the world, with nothing to install and no software to maintain.

Signum is the Digital Kanban tool from Datacraft Solutions, Inc. (www.datacraftsolutions.com) based in Durham, North Carolina. According to Founder Matthew Marotta, “Datacraft Solutions Internet-based on-demand delivery platform offers key benefits from the very beginning of an implementation - namely, the elimination of lengthy, complicated and expensive infrastructure upgrades before a company can even begin to see positive ROI. There is simply no faster or easier way to begin exploiting the power of Digital Kanban in a lean manufacturing operation.”

Datacraft Solutions www.datacraftsolutions.com Kelly Pryor 800-819-5326

Professional Marketing firm

The simple answer is to improve your business methodology so that you reduce defects, thus reducing costs and increasing quality, thus increasing efficiency and ultimately, customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction through the application of Six Sigma improvement projects.

In essence, Six Sigma is a business improvement strategy. It seeks to identify, reduce, and eliminate defects from every product, process and transaction. It uses a structured systems approach to problem solving and strongly links initial improvement goal targets to bottom-line results. Six Sigma is a way to achieve

Read more…

Karen Trisko

Leading Excellence, Inc. makes best practice techniques used by America’s best companies available through Web-based seminars.

(PRWEB via PR Web Direct) October 25, 2005 — The best companies in America, verified by the U.S. Department of Commerce Baldrige National Quality Award process, have mastered strategies for success that previously were not well known. Now their strategies can be quickly learned and adapted by anyone in any organization.

In the past, managers could learn success strategies only through reading lengthy documents describing success strategies, or attending conferences that require travel and extensive time commitments to learn from award-winning organizations. Now Leading Excellence, Inc. offers Performance Excellence Webinars to make the secrets widely known and accelerate the time that organizations spend making improvements.

The first Performance Excellence Webinar series titled “Continuous Improvement and Process Management” are available starting in November 2005. In the three-session Webinar series, participants will discover three essential, practical, and systematic techniques to improve their organizations’ results. Anyone can participate from home or their office – wherever there is a telephone and an Internet connection.

Webinar topics and dates are as follows:

1. Continuous Improvement 101: Fundamentals of process management and improvement. For managers, improvement coordinators, and new process owners, Friday, Nov. 18, 2005. 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. PST

2. Maximize & Sustain Improvements: Why and how to utilize process owners and the “Process Excellence Rating System.” For managers, improvement coordinators, and process owners. Friday, Dec. 2, 2005. 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. PST

3. Strategy-Driven Improvement: How improvement initiatives should help achieve long-term strategic goals. For executives and process improvement managers. Friday, Dec. 9, 2005. 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. PST

Leading Excellence Performance Excellence Webinars are inexpensive, no-hassle, and skillfully led by one of the nation’s leading experts in organizational performance improvement, Karen Trisko. Trisko has 11 years experience successfully implementing the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. She has served as a senior examiner for the Baldrige National Quality Award program (2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005) and formerly chaired California’s award program. She has guided many organizations to achieve dramatically improved results and earn award recognition. See Karen’s profile and additional information at www.leadingexcellence.com.

Leading Excellence, Inc. is a consulting firm that specializes in performance improvement techniques that are useable by all sizes of organizations in any industry sector. The mission of Leading Excellence is to empower organizations to exceed the expectations of their customers, employees, stakeholders. Its performance improvement services can be applied quickly and easily to produce measurable results. The company aims to transfer competency in performance excellence techniques to organizations in minimum time, through practical hands-on workshops and provision of ready-made templates that organizations may immediately use. The approach helps companies leap ahead in performance results much faster than otherwise possible.

For further information about the November/December 2005 Performance Excellence Webinar Series, “Continuous Improvement and Process Management,” contact Karen Trisko at 951-894-6748 or visit the Web site http://www.leadingexcellence.com.

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http://www.leadingexcellence.com

Roger Meloy

Manufacturing ERP for ETOs profiled in Machine Design Magazine.

(PRWEB) October 13, 2005 — The October issue of Machine Design profiles Engineer-to-Order ERP Solutions in an article by leading manufacturing journalist Thomas R. Cutler (www.trcutlerinc.com).

Roger Meloy of Encompix Inc., (www.encompix.com) an Engineer to Order (ETO) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software maker based in Cincinnati, said, “Ask most design engineers what an ERP system means to them and you are likely to hear ‘nothing’ or ‘more work,’” One reason for the perception: Most ERP systems are not integrated with CAD. That’s because traditional ERP systems were developed for repetitive, make-to-stock manufacturers where there is a clear demarcation between design and production.

In this environment design engineers create a product in CAD. After testing and prototyping, the item goes to engineers who tailor it for mass production and create a bill of materials (BOM). The BOM is based solely on how an item is to be manufactured, not on its design, all of which takes place in ERP software. The design engineer throughout the process has little or no interaction with the ERP system. Once a design is frozen there is little interaction between the design and production departments.

In ETO firms the role of design engineer is very different. Such companies build products specifically for individual customers. Design and manufacturing departments work together more closely. In many cases product design continues through production (design in process), incorporating several engineering changes along the way. These changes may be driven by the customer or by the manufacturer, necessitating a seamless flow of data between engineering and production.

Integrated CAD-ERP software lets ETO companies pass data both ways and handle engineering changes in both systems. Without it, designers are constantly re-keying data from CAD to ERP software, which wastes valuable engineering time or requires additional staff.

ETOs, unlike repetitive manufacturers purchase items only one time for a particular job. Typically the engineer will specify the item and its manufacturer, bypassing the ERP system altogether. Makers of ERP systems that collaborate with Product Life Cycle (PLM) vendors can address these needs. Information about ETOs can be found at the ETO Institute (www.etoinstitute.org).

Encompix
www.encompix.com
Roger Meloy
513-733-0066

http://www.encompix.com