LEAN MANUFACTURING

ERP Philosophy and Practice

ERP can dramatically improve your productivity, eliminate information silos, and help you go paperless. Your ERP system can also improve real-time inventory control, bill of material accuracy, and improve customer service. ERP reporting tools provide valuable operating information and trend analysis.

When you’re looking for an ERP system, brochures and demos usually focus on the details of functional capabilities. Can the system support unlimited customer price levels? Can you enter 15-digit general ledger accounts? How detailed are the forecasting and budgeting capabilities?

Often companies implement an ERP system and after Go Live, further updates and changes are limited. Companies operate for years using the same functionality and processes. It is common to find there are no continuous improvements or ongoing improvement initiatives.

ERP systems also frequently adopt MRP (Material Requirement Planning) systems that “push” production in scheduled batches. This approach frequently results in part shortages and late orders compared to “pull” and one price flow approach of lean manufacturing.

Lean Philosophy and Practice

Over the last two decades, tens of thousands of manufacturers have successfully adopted the tenets of lean management that originated with the Toyota Production System (TPS). The TPS framework is illustrated here:

TPS or lean philosophy offers proven methods to improve any manufacturing company. However, it is missing a few key components commonly found in ERP systems. If you look at the TPS image above you won’t find the word “customer”.  This is one area where ERP can help you. Our ERP system includes many CRM tools to track sales cycles, improve customer satisfaction, and manage each account effectively. Another area missing from TPS is digital supply chain management. Our ERP offers many tools to streamline your supply chain by using digital Kanban, consolidated PO’s and vendor managed inventory.

Lean uses continuous improvement on the relentless identification and elimination of 8 types of waste. It does this through a variety of tools including Pull, Kanban, one-piece flow, Heijunka scheduling, Takt Time and Just in Time (JIT), and setup reduction. Lean is focused on improving execution.

Lean scheduling levels customer demand into smooth daily schedules, as opposed to the finite scheduling ERP commonly uses. The lean approach reduces demand spikes and smooths material flow

How Seradex Leverages Business Results by combining ERP & Lean

At Seradex, we believe that lean’s philosophy of waste elimination is key for all improvement initiatives. Continuous improvement teams should be looking at any method to reduce waste including all the normal lead tools as well as ERP functionality. Seradex offers modules for digital Kanban, vendor managed inventory, Heijunka and pull scheduling, setup reduction tracking, and a full reporting package capable of providing all your lean reports. Our ERP system tracks and prioritizes lean initiatives and KPI’s plus digitizes and automates supply and logistics transactions to reduce clerical waste.