VIEWPOINT | SMART-PULL: THE NEXT MANUFACTURING REVOLUTION

The assembly line revolutionized manufacturing a century ago. Sixty year later, Toyota's lean manufacturing system dramatically streamlined the process. Today, a new industrial revolution is upon us, characterized by Internet-enabled smart devices that let machinery on the plant floor talk to each other. This transformation offers an unprecedented ability to manufacture products on demand and far more closely to the needs of the end user.

The question is, "How can manufacturers position themselves to best capitalize on this new capability?" says Fred Thomas, DELMIA Apriso industry director at Dassault Syst mes, a global supplier of software-based PLM and manufacturing operations solutions. Thomas notes that traditional lean manufacturing practices revolve around a "pull" strategy where alerts trigger actions and next steps. Today, being lean involves the use of multiple IT systems intended to improve operational performance, responsiveness and planning. The challenge is getting these systems to work well together while accommodating process improvement.

What isn't working with today's lean manufacturing systems?

The pull process is central to lean manufacturing. But most companies aren't fully leveraging this concept. They need to apply it beyond material flow and production activities to such areas as quality, maintenance and even knowledge management. And it no longer suffices to think of plant-based lean; it must be executed across the enterprise. This level of sophistication requires adding intelligence to manufacturing processes a concept we refer to as Smart-Pull.

Smart-Pull leverages "Big Data" to make better decisions, which can then executed locally, from the cloud or on any device. As a best-in-class approach, process agility can be improved by leveraging business process management.

Smart-Pull takes lean manufacturing to a new level. It begins with a platform that captures all functional domains of manufacturing operations management. But the key is that Smart-Pull incorporates machine integration capabilities to ease collaboration across a wide variety of automation equipment and smart devices. Adding these input channels creates a system that can assemble huge amount of real-time event data, which can then generate new levels of insight and analytics.

Where can an enterprise apply Smart-Pull?

Smart-Pull can be used across a broad range of enterprise activities, such as:

• Leverage such higher-order statistics as standard deviations and moving averages.
• Enable real-time tracking to avoid just-in-time workflow bottlenecks and fluctuations that can create unnecessary gyrations in inventory levels.
• Allow push and pull techniques to complement each other: Pull to trigger stable demand items and Push for irregular items, for example.
• Facilitate human decisions involving uncertain situations that are complex and rare.
• Help IT tools make continuous improvement initiatives "stick" by tracking and benchmarking results.
• Boost machine uptime, improve maintenance efficiency and respond faster to quality issues.
• Extend the benefits of the pull system beyond the enterprise to the supply chain and customers.

What are some examples?

Let's look at maintaining appropriate stock replenishment schedules. With Smart-Pull, manufacturers can better optimize this critical function by tapping information gathered from multiple or cross-domain pull processes such as quality trends, production yield and equipment failure data.

Embedding Smart-Pull capabilities into the management and execution of operations allows a company to handle greater complexity yet improve flexibility and response time. Inventories can decline to free cash flow. Processes become easier to manage, generate less waste and improve agility in the marketplace.

How can an enterprise get started with Smart-Pull?

They should begin by examining operations end-to-end to determine what key strategic drivers are most relevant to the profitability and viability of the business. Is it flexibility and responsiveness? Capacity utilization? Inventory optimization? All the above?

This evaluation will identify where Smart-Pull can help. It may be incremental improvements, an overhaul of the entire operating model or something in between. This exercise also can help the enterprise determine the best scalable IT platform to match its needs and provide the best capability to embed intelligence into existing processes.

What about implementation?

I suggest choosing a management project and identifying a few key short-term goals with visible returns. A few quick wins will drive organizational momentum, achieve executive management buy-in and help ensure future budget availability. Early victories also provide a base from which to roll out Smart-Pull to other operations. After all, kaizen means continuous improvement.

Click HERE to learn more about Apriso Manufacturing Process Intelligence by Dassault Syst mes or visit http://www.apriso.com.