Manufacturing Executive - January/February 2009 - (Page 50) B Manufacturing Executive JAN/FEB-09 ringing a product to market involves many people and processes, both inside and outside the enterprise.This is more than a simple, consecutive chain of events; rather, the activities and processes that take place and the information that is exchanged are part of a multi-dimensional network of stakeholders. The potential for chaos is huge as companies grapple with the challenges. Working with remote partners can create coordination challenges in terms of time zone, language, and culture, as well as requiring a more rigorous approach to quality assurance and trust to ensure that competitive insights are protected. Also, without defined processes, keeping track of activities can result in time spent chasing delayed responses and manually triggering activities. Using multiple tools and standards for electronic document exchange makes sharing more difficult and requires document format conversion. Companies that fail to address these challenges risk the following consequences: ● Wasted time: Searching for documents not properly stored or categorised or chasing delayed responses can lead to higher project costs or delays. ● Quality issues: Informal processes and ad hoc tools for documentation exchange may jeopardize data integrity due to a lack of version control, for example. Likewise, inefficient collaborative processes that stymie creativity can result in a product that doesn’t meet customer needs. ● Poor financial performance: Delays in time to market, higher costs of production, or inefficiencies can lead to uncompetitive pricing and sub-optimal profit margins. ● Concerns over intellectual property, counterfeiting, and brand integrity: Revenue and reputations are at stake. quired to coordinate the exchange of documentation, such as user permissions, document tracking, security measures, archiving, categorizing, and searching. ● Collaborate: Companies need to define and optimize their collaboration processes in pursuit of common goals. Although approaches to collaboration are maturing, Manufacturing Insights surveys reveal a disparity between process definition and process automation, while informal e-mail exchanges and face-to-face meetings remain the primary methods of communication. As companies scale up their businesses, they can no longer rely on this informal approach. Manufacturers are encouraged to: ● Assess their current methods of communication, coordination, and collaboration, both internally and with external trading partners, to identify areas for improvement. ● Automate and rationalize key processes to achieve consistency and efficiency, and safeguard against human error, intellectual property infringements, and inherent process delays. ● Audit partner companies to determine their level of process formality and the tools required to support the “Working with remote partners can create coordination challenges, as well as requiring a more rigorous approach to quality assurance and trust. “ engagement most efficiently and securely. ● Develop an enterprise strategy for information exchange and business process collaboration, based not only on current internal tools and capabilities, but also industry standards for document exchange and collaboration. ● Consider the company’s ability to scale up from national, to multi-national, to a truly global business. How prepared are your company and your trading partners to engage — and disengage — with partners? How manufacturers approach information and document exchange as a foundation for collaborative processes will directly affect their ability to become — or remain — globally competitive. ME Pierfrancesco Manenti is the EMEA research director for Manufacturing Insights, an IDC company. 50 To address these issues, businesses must do three things, both internally and externally with partners: ● Communicate: Successful documentation exchange is predicated on the use of a common language and interoperable standards (or conversion tools). ● Coordinate: A structured framework is re- O C d co ses an roces ts. their p t effor pmen amine to ex develo need oduct turers ive pr ac orat Manuf collab e their imiz to opt N rf P I Pie RATION LLABO O r N ce M I O an so e an nt i ON A SCALE GRAND icatio mmun n met m a nu fa c t u r in g - in s ig h t s .c o m hods http://www.manufacturing-insights.com
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