Circuits Assembly - June 2008 - (Page 29)

Productivity Tools production run. Changing designs mid-production or even between products or jobs was too slow. And once products shipped, traceability and quality metrics were cumbersome and slow to obtain. In summary, companies’ time-to-market was fast due to PLM and ERP investments, but they realized that to ship product, the factory had to ramp and run efficiently. The problem, it seems, was lengthy “time-to-value” – the time required to get a quality product shipped to a customer so it can be turned into revenue. Finally, management’s attention turned to factory operations. The problem was rooted in disparate software tool proliferation. This occurred because rather than addressing factory information in a holistic manner as PLM and ERP addresses R&D and business, operations investment in software had been reactionary. For each requirement placed on the factory, a new software system was spawned. When traceability was demanded, a line-level software tool was purchased. When process planning and launch was too slow, a CAM tool was purchased. The test department logged its data in a system they purchased, while the quality department ran a data collection tool of its own design. This story has many variants, but the theme is always the same. In many cases, manufacturing information systems do not operate on one data source, and there is no means to monitor, view or mine the information across all of them. In reaction, IT departments or integrators have tried to knit these systems together. This has led to significant staff overhead dedicated to designing reports and other tools intended to collate this disparate data. This means internal IT engineering or third-party integrators – and more overhead. The ‘Third Pillar’ There is now a desire to have what might be called the ‘Third IT Pillar’ in the enterprise – the software system devoted to manufacturing. This concept has come to be called MOS. Its goal is to exist as a complementary system to ERP and PLM and to consolidate the systems and visibility to everything that goes on within the factory office and factory floor. Consider first the financial benefits of consolidation of these disparate manufacturing systems. When a single system covers manufacturing operations and, by nature, provides seamless reporting, monitoring and analytical data, the enterprise needs only to build an integrating bridge among PLM, ERP and this system. Rather than hundreds of integrations and databases, the task of integrating only two major systems is manageable, and consequently much less expensive to build and maintain. Exploring further into cost savings, the enterprise need only form a relationship and invest in maintenance with one vendor rather than many vendors. In terms of data fulfillment, the legions of report writers and IT personnel typically employed to develop data for engineering, regulatory agencies, customers or executives can turn their attention to other tasks, as the information is now available through one system. n Jason Spera is co-founder and chief executive officer of Aegis Industrial Software Corp. (aiscorp.com); jspera@aiscorp.com. Charlie Barnhart & Associates, LLC announces For the ﬁrst time, a web-based version of Charlie Barnhart’s acclaimed Outsourcing Navigator Series, including: » Global Pricing Methodology » Total Cost of Outsourcing » and the essential GO (Global Outsourcing) Toolset. All three webcasts, with the latest updates to the dataset, are now available for purchase online at www.charliebarnhart.com/webcasts NEW! And now you can stay current on the latest updates from Charlie Barnhart’s research through a subscription to the Charlie Barnhart Monitor, leading indicators for the increasingly complex and challenging global outsourcing industry. Annual subscription includes monthly newsletter, regular live webcasts, and two hours of consulting with Charlie Barnhart. 5/14/08 3:19:11 PM » www.charliebarnhart.com circuitsassembly.com CharlieBarnhart_halfhz.indd 1 Circuits Assembly JUNE 2008 29 http://aiscorp.com http://www.charliebarnhart.com/webcasts http://www.charliebarnhart.com http://circuitsassembly.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Circuits Assembly - June 2008

Circuits Assembly - June 2008 Contents Letters Caveat Lector Industry News Market Watch Talking Heads Screen Printing Better Manufacturing China Goes ‘Upmarket’ Out of the Garage Improving Production Line Performance Manufacturing Steps Onto the Enterprise IT Stage Measuring and Controlling Wave Height and Dwell Time Wave Soldering Tech Tips Test and Inspection Process Doctor Pb-Free Lessons Learned Getting Lean Eastern Advances Semicon West Product Preview Product Spotlight Ad Index Assembly Insider Technical Abstracts

Circuits Assembly - June 2008

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