Optel™ Picks Up Where ERP/MRP Leaves Off
Many companies look to ERP/MRP systems to provide control over their manufacturing. These systems provide value — especially to the finance and supply chain departments — but manufacturing teams need additional tools.
| MRP Systems Do | MRP Systems Do Not | |
| Order and track material within the warehouse | Manage material and WIP in real-time throughout the factory | |
| Provide lot level tracking of materials | Provide component traceability to ensure regulatory compliance such as RoHS and 13485, and minimize the extent and cost of recalls. | |
| Require manual counting of partially used reels, trays, and other materials before returning to the warehouse | Automate cycle counting and component traceability for inventory integrity | |
| Generate work orders | Perform production scheduling of work orders to balance manufacturing resources and minimize change-overs | |
| Track and rationalize cost | Import CAD/CAM data and generate optimized machine programs |
Without a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) like Optel, factory processes are often manual, sub-optimal, and “open loop” to ERP/MRP systems. The critical and complex task of production scheduling is typically done on a whiteboard or simple spreadsheet. Given all the variables and data involved, scheduling is a very challenging problem to perform manually. Unexpected changes due to customer demands, such as hot lots and prototype runs, often void the schedule. Kitted material, machine setups, and other functions critical to efficient manufacturing processes are all affected.
Multiple vendors machines – each requiring specific programming, setup and verification – increase the complexity. Rather than fight with the different programming software each machine vendor supplies, factories will often simply dedicate certain lines to certain products. This results in missed schedules, overtime pay, added shifts, multiple scattered libraries and assembly programs, and inefficient use of capital equipment across the factory. True Lean Manufacturing is unattainable in this environment.
To reconcile ERP/MRP to actual production, standard cost is used at completion and periodic physical inventories are needed to keep the ERP/MRP system current. Standard cost can be a pleasant surprise (profit) or a bad one (loss). Worse, there is no visibility to WIP in the factory and manual parts counting is inefficient, error prone, and too late.
Click here to learn how Optel addresses all this and more.
OPTEL CAPABILITIES
- Overview
- Why ERP/MRP is not enough
- Lean Manufacturing
- Traceability & Material Management
- RoHS and Lead Free Control
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Our high mix PCB manufacturing environment benefits from Optel's powerful dynamic scheduling algorithms, coupled with its machine optimization and program generation capabilities. Integrating Optel into our broader MES architecture helps us better balance multiple assembly lines, automatically program a variety of machines, and schedule setups instead of work orders. Schedule control and visibility is an important aspect of our strategy for cost-effective electronic assembly in North America, and Optel compliments the capabilities of our own plant-wide information applications, the FactoryTalk Production and Performance Suite.
Mike Reynolds
Director, Operations
Rockwell Automation