Small and Medium Manufacturers Can Think Big and Start Small Towards Smart Manufacturing

Conrad Leiva, MESA Smart Manufacturing Working Group Chair and VP Ecosystem and Workforce Development, CESMII

Smart Manufacturing (SM) strategies have been evolving for the last decade among large corporations and many small and medium manufacturers (SMMs) might not realize that these strategies are not only applicable to them but are within reach when implemented in practical steps. Smart Manufacturing initiatives leverage technology to provide near real-time intelligent insights to optimize the orchestration of processes and become more responsive throughout the enterprise.

MESA has published a new guidebook, titled “A Low-Risk, Incremental Approach to Smart Manufacturing for Small & Medium Manufacturers", that shows how SMMs have been implementing Smart Manufacturing initiatives and realizing not only the benefits of increased transparency and productivity, but also the transformative benefits of higher levels of coordination and speed within the enterprise and supply chain. The guidebook covers five reasons that SMMs should consider Smart Manufacturing techniques:

(a)    Achieving competitive advantage

(b)    Informed decision-making

(c)     Maintaining a single version of truth

(d)    Mitigation of risks due to scarcity of skilled labor

(e)    Improvement in profit margins

Considering that SMMs may have limited resources, this document suggests taking an incremental and modular approach to Smart Manufacturing. Examples of modular initiatives are provided in this guidebook including paper-based data collection, machine health monitoring, material tracking, quality inspection, supply chain and customer interactions. SMMs can think big by developing a Smart Manufacturing roadmap but start small with projects properly budgeted and scoped to achieve benefits at each step while also making progress towards the desired future state.

The ability to implement SM systems and connect them directly to the supply chain and the end-product manufacturer is becoming a competitive differentiator among Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers. A few examples of how manufacturers are demanding that their suppliers exchange data directly with them are included in the guide.    

SMMs might prove to be the real winners in the race to realizing the Smart Manufacturing vision because large corporations might have more difficulty transforming legacy processes and scaling their initial SM implementations into the entire enterprise. SMMs can benefit from being “fast followers,” adopting technology that has been proven by the early adopters, and the increasing number of IIoT sensors, connectors, APIs, and cloud platforms available to thread SM solutions together at a lower investment level. The democratization of these technologies and techniques makes it more practical for SMM adoption.

The biggest constraint for SMMs could be a lack of experts to help them implement these SM strategies. That is why MESA is putting this guide together and helping expand the network of consultants knowledgeable on SM solutions. Implementing SM can also be a way to attract new talent into SMMs by demonstrating how these companies can be among the best places to work with the latest technologies and solutions. SM solutions can help train the new workforce, provide guidance and assistance to increase productivity and flexibility to work on different product lines and tasks. Increasing the flexibility of the workforce is another great benefit for SMMs.

The Production Lifecycle and the New MESA Model – Part 2

Authored by John Clemons, MESA Marketing Committee Chair, based on an interview with Khris Kammer, MESA Model Sub-Committee Member 

The new MESA International Smart Manufacturing Model is under development and will be released very soon. It’s prescriptive, providing very specific recommendations on how we can be smarter in managing the lifecycles of manufacturing operations.

In the last post, I provided a little insight into the production lifecycle. Let’s look a little at what’s going to be in the new MESA Smart Manufacturing Model about the production lifecycle.

One question that’s addressed by the new model is “how can we make sure that finished goods and product coming out of production are consistently high quality?”

“And, as an extension to the above, what about when you have a regulatory agency (like the FDA for example) requiring detailed documentation of every step taken in the production processes?”

Again, I’m not going to give away all the answers here. I really do want you to read the MESA Smart Manufacturing Model when it comes out. But I will tell you that in answering these questions, the model discusses many aspects of production agility and what it really takes to be agile in manufacturing.

First of all, and this is nothing new, it’s simply not possible to test in quality. Testing has its place and there’s little manufacturing anywhere that doesn’t do some type of testing on the finished products. But quality has to be built in, not tested in. The production process must be built to be error proof, to be self-correcting, and to ensure that quality is being built in at every step.

That means operators must know exactly what quality means and must know exactly what it takes to produce a quality product. So that in the end, testing is simply done to verify that product meets the quality requirements.

Of course, it’s necessary to capture the test results and identify exceptions when they occur. It’s necessary to track incidents and deviations and have a continuous improvement process in place to take the information from the exceptions and deviations and work to eliminate the possibility of them ever occurring in the first place. Because in the end, it’s all about building in quality, not trying to test it in after the fact.

Another question that’s addressed by the new model is “How does the smart production make it easier to deal with new product introductions and high product mix situations?”

There’s a lot here as well and space doesn’t permit me to discuss much. But the new MESA model will include ways that we can answer this question and be smarter when it comes to product design, to the management and transformation of recipes, to the creation and dissemination of product specifications and work instructions, to the management of the bills of materials, and to the management of the linkages of all these items to each other and to the other elements of the production lifecycle.

One final question I’d like to mention that’s addressed by the new model is “Can smart production techniques ease the burden of workforce and skills shortages?”

I really don’t have the space here to even start to answer this question as there’s a lot to this but suffice it to say that the new MESA model answers this question in terms of having highly skilled, highly trained, high-performing resources, who have the right skillets, and the right resources and tools at their fingertips. And then making sure those resources are in the right place at the right time.

So, if you’re intrigued by these questions, and are looking for more answers than I had space to mention, then the new MESA International Smart Manufacturing Model is for you.

Enhance your exposure by sponsoring the MESA Smart Manufacturing Model.

The Production Lifecycle and the New MESA Model – Part 1

Authored by John Clemons, MESA Marketing Committee Chair, based on an interview with Khris Kammer, MESA Model Sub-Committee Member 

The new MESA International Smart Manufacturing Model is under development and will be released very soon. It is different from the other smart manufacturing models out there in that it’s not academic, it’s not descriptive, and it’s not meant as a reference to sit on the shelf.

It’s prescriptive, providing very specific recommendations on how we can be smarter in managing the lifecycles of manufacturing operations. It provides recommendations on the lifecycles that impact manufacturing operations including supply chain, personnel, order to cash, product, production, and production assets.

Let’s look at what’s going to be in the new MESA Smart Manufacturing Model about the production lifecycle.

One question that’s addressed by the new model is “how can production be agile enough to respond to variability in demand from the enterprise without maintaining costly and risky finished goods inventory?”

I won’t give away all the answers here. After all, I want you to read the MESA Smart Manufacturing Model when it comes out. But I will tell you that in answering this question, the model discusses many aspects of production agility and what it really takes to be agile in manufacturing.

There are different approaches to manufacturing, including produce on demand, make to order, engineer to order, and make to stock. But almost by definition make to stock is not agile and it never will be agile. Even make to order and engineer to order, depending on how, when, and why the orders are created may not be as agile as claimed. The smart move is produce on demand, but that’s a lot easier said than done.

It means you must really know what the demand is, and you must modify your production processes to be able to meet that demand. It means you produce what’s needed when it’s needed. You produce the right quantity at the right time. It’s not capacity driven in the least. It’s totally demand driven. That’s what makes it agile. And it’s easier said than done, but well worth it in the long run.

Another question that’s addressed by the new model is “what’s the best way to ensure that the production resources are used most effectively to meet the demand from customers?”

Again, without giving away all the answers, there’s several aspects of this question that are addressed by the new MESA model. One is how forecasting, planning, and scheduling are done. There’s a lot of good technology in the smart manufacturing toolkit that can help in this regard. But you have to use them, and you have to use them well.

That means looking at the resource allocations and the resource assignments. And that includes all the resources: personnel, assets, materials, consumables, logistics, and so on. And then assigning and allocating those resources in smart fashion.

And that means looking at the suitability of the resources, the capability of the resources, the availability of the resources, the capacity of the resources, and so on. It means you have to know your resources – all of them – know what they can do, and what they can’t do, and allocate them effectively and efficiently.

This is just part of the section on production in the new MESA International Smart Manufacturing Model. It’s under development and will be released very soon.

It will provide very specific recommendations on how we can be smarter in managing the lifecycles of manufacturing operations, including the production lifecycle.

Stay tuned for more on the production lifecycle and more on the new MESA International Smart Manufacturing Model.

Enhance your exposure by sponsoring the MESA Smart Manufacturing Model.

The Order to Cash Lifecycle and the New MESA Model – Part 2

Authored by John Clemons, MESA Marketing Committee Chair, based on an interview with Katerina Yamalidou, MESA Model Sub-Committee Member 

The new MESA International Smart Manufacturing Model has a section on the order to cash lifecycle. The order to cash lifecycle might not be thought of as pertaining directly to manufacturing operations, but when you think about it, you realize the order to cash lifecycle intersects with all the other manufacturing lifecycles: product, production, production assets, personnel, and supply chain.

Understanding those intersections is key to understanding the complete Smart Manufacturing picture. So, despite what some people may think, including the order to cash lifecycle in the new MESA Smart Manufacturing Model actually makes a lot of sense.

Let’s continue our look at some of the questions that’s going to be answered in the new MESA Smart Manufacturing Model about the order to cash lifecycle.

“How do we source our own requirements, taking into account vendor performance in terms of cost and reliability?” Vendor performance is in a state of flux. Many aspects of vendor performance have been impacted by the pandemic. But you have to meet your customer demands and blaming problems on your vendors isn’t a good answer.

“How do we optimize the capture of goods into our systems, to ensure immediate availability for production purposes?” There’s a lot of challenges to unpack in this question. And if you think there’s an easy answer you probably don’t really understand the question. Speed and agility are the ultimate answers but that’s always easier said than done.

“How can we capture information on the production floor, to support real-time decision-making?” The question here isn’t really “how” because there’s lots of ways to capture data. The issues are how capture the right data, how to turn that data into information, and how to get the right data to the right people at the right time so they can make the right decisions in a timely manner.

“How do we make use of real-time production and process information to predict potential quality deviations?” Real-time production and process information is vital to managing the manufacturing operations. But using it to make predictions is taking it to a whole new level. Again, there’s some good technology available in the Smart Manufacturing toolkit to help us here.

“For industries where production throughput is dependent on the size of the work force, how can we dynamically plan resources in the most efficient and effective way?” Work force issues continue to plague the manufacturing industries. It wasn’t enough that the workforce was, and still is aging, dramatically with key manufacturing knowledge walking out the door at the retirement party. Now, with the pandemic, resources and staffing are more difficult than ever and there’s no light at the end of this tunnel anytime soon.

“How can we speed up the process where material produced on the plant floor becomes available in the dispatch system, as soon as it leaves the plant floor?” Again, there’s a lot of challenges to unpack in this question. And no easy answers. Speed and agility continue to be ultimate answers but getting there is the difficult part.

The new MESA Smart Manufacturing Model is under development and will be released soon. It has sections on the product, production, production assets, personnel, and supply chain lifecycles. And it has a section on the order to cash lifecycle.

If you’re intrigued by the questions being addressed by the section on the order to cash lifecycle, then the new MESA International Smart Manufacturing Model is for you.

Enhance your exposure by sponsoring the MESA Smart Manufacturing Model.

The Order to Cash Lifecycle and the New MESA Model – Part 1

Authored by John Clemons, MESA Marketing Committee Chair, based on an interview with Katerina Yamalidou, MESA Model Sub-Committee Member 

When MESA International started work on the new Smart Manufacturing Model, the question came up pretty quickly as to whether or not the order to cash lifecycle was going to be covered in the model. After all, the order to cash lifecycle isn’t usually associated directly with the manufacturing operations.

But when you get into the details of the order to cash lifecycle you find that it intersects with all the other lifecycles: product, production, production assets, personnel, and supply chain. Understanding its interaction with the other lifecycles was necessary to understanding the complete Smart Manufacturing picture. So deciding to include the order to cash lifecycle in the new MESA Smart Manufacturing Model was actually pretty easy.

Let’s take look at some of the questions that’s going to be answered in the new MESA Smart Manufacturing Model about the order to cash lifecycle.

“How can we eliminate duplicate and manual efforts in data entry and retrieval across all the stages of the order to cash lifecycle?” You might not think duplicate data entry and manual data would still be an issue today. But it is. And not just in the order to cash lifecycle. The problem is quite common in all the manufacturing lifecycles.

“How can order/client/cost information be available throughout the lifecycle, based on roles and responsibilities?” Having visibility to the customer, the customer requirements, and into the actual costs is absolutely essential if manufacturing operations are to be tailored for specific customers and optimized to achieve the lowest reasonable costs.

“How can we dynamically accept orders, based on client prominence, production capability and material availability?” This is a difficult question with no easy answers. But there are answers. It means optimizing around capability and availability and prioritizing customers. Doing that requires a level of manufacturing agility that is not common at all in the industry.

“How can we dynamically engage with credit agencies to ensure that product shipment doesn’t happen to clients unable to pay?” This may be thought of as a bit outside normal manufacturing concerns, but when you think about it you see the intersection into production. And you also know that manufacturing operations are having to take a much bigger perspective of the enterprise than just manufacturing.

“How can we dynamically optimize our production schedules for maximum profitability, maximum throughput, minimum changeover times and maximum production efficiencies?” That’s a lot to maximize and, again, there’s no easy answers. But there are some very strong approaches to optimizing all these components. But it requires a level of operational excellence coupled with an extreme level of agility to even begin to think about optimizing these disparate measures.

“How can we use technology to calculate, based on incomplete information when and how much material needs to be purchased, in order to satisfy the sales forecast?” There’s lots of great technology in the Smart Manufacturing toolkit. But, as you would expect, the technology all needs lots of data to drive it. In fact, data is the fundamental engine behind all the Smart Manufacturing technology. So, what do you do with incomplete information? Take a look at the new MESA Smart Manufacturing Model to get some ideas.

The new MESA Smart Manufacturing Model is under development and will be released soon. It has sections on the product, production, production assets, personnel, and supply chain lifecycles. And it has a section on the order to cash lifecycle.

If you’re intrigued by the questions being addressed by the section on the order to cash lifecycle, then the new MESA International Smart Manufacturing Model is for you.

Stay tuned for more on the order to cash lifecycle.

Enhance your exposure by sponsoring the MESA Smart Manufacturing Model.