Now, it’s not really infinity, but looking at the future of manufacturing, product lifecycle management (PLM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) integration is expected to increase. We all have an eye to the future, but I found something that might offer further proof of why we need to continuously evolve ourselves to stay competitive, today and tomorrow.

The Future with PLM and ERP

On Moneylife, they wrote an interesting piece on the future of PLM and ERP and what’s in store for the industry – in this case, within the country of India.

Moneylife writes:

“New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.motors.frost.com), Strategic Analysis of the Indian Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), finds that the market was over USD 130 million in 2010 and is expected to become over USD 400 million opportunity by 2017; the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is expected to be in excess of 15 percent during 2010-2017.”

With such a projected increase, along with industrial and manufacturing industries being  major consumers of product lifecycle management and enterprise resource planning, if you’re not investing in this technology now, in the future you’ll wish you had.

To this, the post points out some areas that could hamper wide-spread adoption of product lifecycle management. We’ve listed them below, along with some ways to plan or accommodate for them.

• Increased cost: PLM deployment and maintenance requires skilled workers with expertise in the respective industry. This can increase costs and what’s needed to widely adopt product lifecycle management. A well-trained and knowledgeable work-force, on the other hand, can also be quite valuable and gains in efficiency could help PLM pay for itself.
• Increase in quality control: For the country discussed in the post, India, the focus on quality control in industry sectors is at a nascent stage. For the industrial sector, as the competition increases, they will need to evolve and embrace product lifecycle management technology. Quality control in some more industrially advanced countries like the U.S., on the other hand, can get downright competitive – PLM could give a manufacturer a leg up on rivals.
• Migrations: Going from a traditional system to a newer product lifecycle management and enterprise resource planning environment requires migrations. This sometimes can incur more costs and has the potential for data loss. However, once the migration is complete, your ready to use your new integrated systems to the benefit of your company.

Although some are reluctantly pushing away PLM and ERP adoption, numbers and competition show that if they don’t evolve, they may fall behind. To stay competitive and remain a leader in the industry, more manufacturers need to look to the future.

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PLM and ERP: To Infinity and Beyond! was posted at To-Increase Blog: ERP, CRM & Supply Chain Management. | http://blog.to-increase.com

Today, I want to give you a few areas that will help you effectively manage your global supply chain execution by using supply chain management systems.

3 Areas That Help You Establish Global Supply Chain Management

1. Organize a central point of information – Effective supply chain execution and management requires tight organization and that includes your reporting structure. With type of setup in place, you can globally manage your operations from anywhere.Put together a central information hub for handling all data and processing. Ensure all stakeholders have access to the hub, but keep it centralized and dependable. No longer will you need to struggle trying to find inventory data or quotation numbers, in different places around the organization – it will be in a centralized hub, for easy access.
2. Create proactive departments– Another key to effectively globalizing your supply chain management is by creating proactive departments. What do I mean by that? You can’t do everything yourself, that’s why you need to empower your team to create, maintain and fix issues as they arise on each location, worldwideHave them keep a lookout for bad data and give them the ability to fix it or rely communications to the right areas that resolve the issue. Being part of a global organization means you need to rely on your team to help you make your company a success.
3. Leverage technology – Here’s the backbone of your global operation: warehouse technology. Without it, you couldn’t organize data or send out real-time messages to systems and personnel that need it.Global supply chain execution and management relies heavily on the systems that talk to each other and streamline workflow processes. Things like wireless networks Auto ID and other advances give us more mobility and options to shorten picking times and get products to production, faster.Not to mention that without the technology we have today, you couldn’t easily globalize your operations without major costs, time constraints and a chaotic way to manage everything, from anywhere.

So, across town or across the world, with the right mix of strategies, people and technology, you can have a highly organized and effective supply chain management system. Just remember, it doesn’t happen overnight and to get started, leverage the points I’ve mentioned above.

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Globalize Your Supply Chain Management and Execution System was posted at To-Increase Blog: ERP, CRM & Supply Chain Management. | http://blog.to-increase.com

This is why I thought I would to put together a post about books for warehouse management professionals. Each covers different topics and ways to boost efficiency and lower costs.

Let me know if you’ve read these books and your thoughts on them. Do you have others to add to this list?

5 Warehouse Management Books You Should Read

According to a search on Amazon.com, here are some of the top books that increase efficiency and lower costs for warehouse operations.

1. Warehouse Management – A Complete Guide to Improving Efficiency and Minimizing Costs in the Modern Warehouse
By Gwynne Richards

This book touches on the challenges retail warehouse management professionals face on a daily basis. From keeping with the latest technologies to keeping on top of environmental issues, this book covers the gambit of best practices for efficient management of any warehouse environment.

The key takeaway from this book is how the author walks you through the best practices of lower costs and increasing efficiency for warehouse management. It not only states facts, it supports its information with case studies and other information.

2. Warehouse Distributions and Operations Handbook
By David Mulcahy

Covering the subject of warehouse distribution and efficiency, this book is a great read for any warehouse professional. With its hands-on approach, it gives you a look at topics, including:

• Distribution
• Transportation
• Facility Layout and Product Flow Patterns
• And much more…

The key takeaway from this book is how it covers more hands-on topics and explains it to its target reader – the retail warehouse management professional.

3. Excellence in Warehouse Management
By Stuart Emmett

This book covers everything one would need to know to when it comes to a streamlined and holistic warehouse management system. Stuart Emmett introduces readers to valuable thinking points, self-assessment practices and case studies, while challenging you to think critically and consider your own operations and plans for the future. This book is truly an essential guide for any warehouse management or supply chain execution professional.

The key takeaway from this book is that warehouses should be seen as crucial links for distribution in a supply chain. They can be streamlined and adaptable to help a company to be profitable.

4.  Highly Competitive Warehouse Management
By Jeroen P. van den Berg

This book unravels the secrets of why some distribution centers perform great while others struggle. Want a best-in-class operation and a competitive advantage for your organization? Jeroen P. van den Berg’s book is one you should read. Use the Warehouse Maturity Scan tool to analyze the current state of your warehouse, distribution center and supply chain management. Based on the results, the book contains an action plan for improvement.

The key takeaway from this book is that a variety of human behavior, process redesign, warehouse management system, and supply chain alignment changes can vastly improve operations in your company.

5. Selecting, Buying, Installing and Using a Modern Warehouse Management System
By Jan Young

When it comes to finding the right system and how to go about purchasing it, this book has you covered. Retail warehouse management professionals should read this book, based on its insights into the selection and buying process for warehouse information systems.

The key takeaway from this book is the amount of information it gives you about the procurement process for warehouse management systems. From marketplace considerations to justifying and funding the purchase, this book covers the process of purchasing a warehouse management system.

Sit Down and Do Some Reading

No matter your preference for reading, I think this list of books will get you the information and insights from the authors you need to help boost efficiency and reduce costs for any warehouse operation.

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5 Books to Read for Elevating Warehouse Management was posted at To-Increase Blog: ERP, CRM & Supply Chain Management. | http://blog.to-increase.com

Recently, I read an article on Advertising Age, which described the troubles a major brand had with a product launch. The problem was attributed to their supply chain constraints, which opened up the door for competitors to come in and take a considerable impact on that product market.

It got me thinking about the other side of the coin, businesses that used innovation to drive business success. For example, Applied Materials has developed a new manufacturing system that allows for more output out of solar cells.

Sometimes innovation comes through association. That is, purchasing the solution immediately helps a business reduce errors and find efficiencies. The Microsoft Dynamics Supply Chain Management solution fits that mold. With an integrated system, insights into inventory, costs and production lets you know what’s happening and how to avoid errors that let your competition get an edge on you.

After reading the Advertising Age article, I got a few takeaways that hold true for warehouse professionals that want to avoid such scenarios:

• Get all your data, before you announce something: After touting their product as the biggest laundry innovation in a generation, Proctor & Gamble had to go back on their promises, after generating so much demand with consumers and retailers that the company couldn’t keep up.With a Microsoft Dynamics supply chain management solution in place, the brand could live up to expectations and wouldn’t let competitors come in and take some of their market share through disappointed customers.
• Stay aware of supply chain operations: Without clear insights into your entire operation, it’s hard to pinpoint things like inventory and time-to-production. If you can’t give accurate estimates, things like the scenario for described above will happen.Consider solutions like a Microsoft Dynamics supply chain management system to stay on top of everything in your warehouse environment. Then, you won’t make a mistake of my next takeaway.
• Stay consistent: We all know that consumers and retailers reward you for consistency and speed with additional demand for product. However, when you create a trail of sporadic results, you run the chance of loosing sales.This is true with P&G; not only with the laundry product, but the story also shows they also had supply chain issues with other types of products. Implementing a system that keeps your production schedule and inventory supplies consistent, lets you show others your dedication to keeping your word, based on the demand you generate.

With this story and with others like it, you can see a common factor: Failure of insight into your supply chain can lead to major issues that let your competitors have an edge on you.

Instead, look to integrated solutions, such as a Microsoft Dynamics supply chain. Then, you can deliver on your promises and keep your competitors at bay – all while increasing your bottom-line.

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How Innovation can Reduce Errors in Supply Chain Management was posted at To-Increase Blog: ERP, CRM & Supply Chain Management. | http://blog.to-increase.com

I’m not just talking about automating a few simple processes; I’m talking about embracing a strategy of automation. I see that’s where advanced discrete manufacturing is heading. Here just a few trends that seem to show the conversion to automation is accelerating:

3 Trends With Advanced Discrete Manufacturing and Automation

1. Combining systems – As processes evolve and more emphasis is put on streamlining operations with advanced discrete manufacturing, it’s important to combine efforts, which includes our systems. Whether it’s ERP and PLM integration or other types of manufacturing infrastructure, getting all of our systems on one interface is now crucial.By combining IT assets, you’re not just getting a unified look into your operations, you’re cutting costs and automating tasks that could take much longer with a separate infrastructure.
2. Quality management– Another automation trend is on the topic of quality. We all know how important quality is when it comes to manufacturing operations, but many companies lack a cohesive IT architecture to monitor quality from all aspects.Going forward, more firms will look at effective advanced discrete manufacturing with the addition of management software that handles quality over all areas, including engineering, procurement and other processes or departments.
3. Industrial automation – With the move to automation, a growing trend is combining it into advanced discrete manufacturing best practices. By adding things like unified standards for IT and combining traditional IT solutions with multiple variations of automation, you get a whole different way to efficiently manage a manufacturing operation.

Growing into the next evolution of manufacturing, in my opinion, requires less manual interaction and more automation. Without it, many organizations will find themselves left behind and trying to catch up to those already automating many of their essential processes.

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Advanced Discrete Manufacturing and Automation was posted at To-Increase Blog: ERP, CRM & Supply Chain Management. | http://blog.to-increase.com

Our own Guido van Osch touched on this in a recent OnWindows.com publication and I would like to share his thoughts with you. I believe he hits the nail on the head here, and that we should all think about in the coming warehouse evolution.

Van Osch writes:

“Current trends in warehousing and distribution are making accuracy, visibility and productivity, a three-word mantra for effective supply chain execution. Across multiple industries, profits and growth depend on a company’s ability to meet higher customer expectations. To keep pace, businesses need optimized logistics processes that let them move quickly in new directions and at the same time, ensure they go beyond fulfillment for products and services. They must also continuously deliver added value that keeps customers coming back and meet a new world of standards for quality and accuracy.”

To this, van Osch goes on to point out the keys to warehouse management and supply chain execution effectiveness:

• Visibility: When you expand your offerings and include different stakeholders, you must have a clear way to see what’s happening. Methods to accomplish this include: real-time sharing of information and integration of different systems during the joining of companies and resources.
• Accuracy: Warehouse management and distribution requires many levels of efficiency and when errors creep up, it’s best to remove them, as soon as possible. A changing workforce usually causes these errors, as well as new pressures put on warehouse personnel. To alleviate these errors, van Osch points out warehouse automation as the key to meet quality assurance standards by reducing errors.
• Productivity: Along with accuracy, having the right system in place to manage the large amounts of data and interconnecting data increases productivity. This system helps warehouse management and supply chain execution with not just one large base, but an interconnected network of systems that perform their own specific tasks and talk to one another, without interruption. This helps teams collaborate and achieve more and waste less time and resources.

Van Osch sums up his views with this:

“The rapid pace of change is creating a true ‘warehouse evolution’ that begins with automated storage and replenishment, and includes extended supply chain networks, which share information, infrastructures, and cross-company and multi channel resources.

Systems, processes and people come together to give organizations the accuracy, productivity and visibility that can support a complex, volatile marketplace.”

As we evolve technologically, so does our way of thinking warehouse automation. As van Osch points out, visibility, accuracy and productivity will be the elements to focus on for an effective warehouse management evolution.

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Warehouse Management: 3 Elements to the Warehouse Evolution was posted at To-Increase Blog: ERP, CRM & Supply Chain Management. | http://blog.to-increase.com

Although different, this approach isn’t something from a science fiction movie – it’s in the works right now. On EE Times, Rakesh Kumar wrote a fascinating post on NUI and how it benefits advanced discrete manufacturing.

Kumar writes:

“Manufacturing workers are on the verge of replacing the mouse-and-keyboard-based graphical user interface (GUI) with newer options. Already, touchscreens are making great inroads into manufacturing. And in many locations, the adoption of other natural user interfaces (NUIs) is expanding to incorporate eye scans, fingerprint scans and gesture recognition.”

By implementing natural user interfaces, advanced discrete manufacturing will see improved cost savings, productivity increases and added revenue to the bottom-line. To this, Kumar goes on some key points that lead into these benefits, utilizing NUI:

• Improved security: Instead of entering a user-id and password, a worker uses a retinal scan for identification. Because the worker uses their eye as a login, the possibility of stolen passwords, mistyped credentials or additional time consumed memorizing information are avoided.
• Gestures: With a simple motion of their hand, a worker can start, stop or otherwise interact with machinery on the floor. With additional voice recognition, the worker can confirm their actions to the system.
• Safeguards: To avoid the confusion of multiple operators, the system will key in only to the person scanned into the system. The machine will only respond to that person’s voice and gestures. If the worker leaves their station, the system can shut down automatically to avoid any undue actions from anyone not authorized at that time.

To advance the points in relation to benefits that tie into business goals, Kumar points out a few options:

• Productivity and safety– For workers that must wear gloves, they no longer need to remove them to operate a keyboard. With NUI, a simple gesture can operate the system, which leads to faster throughput and increased safety in the workplace.
• Cost savings – For work areas that collect considerable dust, dirt and grease, touch screens can become smudged, hard to read and have technical difficulties. With gestures through NUI, computers are physically touched less, remain cleaner – this reduces the costs for cleaning and servicing systems. This also cuts down on costs for unnecessary accessories, such as keywords.

Using NUI, advanced discrete manufacturing will not only see a cost savings, it will see increased productivity and shorter times to production by removing unneeded processes, security risks and safety hazards. So, don’t believe these types of technologies only happen in a science fiction novel, you may see them sooner than you think.

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Natural User Interface and the Power of a Gesture was posted at To-Increase Blog: ERP, CRM & Supply Chain Management. | http://blog.to-increase.com

Every warehouse professional knows they can benefit from a system that streamlines and automates processes. In our quest to find the right warehouse management solution, you must first evaluate your options.

Today, I want to give you a few ways to evaluate warehouse management solutions and get you on the road to having better insight and productivity in your organization.

5 Ways To Warehouse Management Solutions

1. Pragmatically – When we start evaluating warehouse management solutions, you need to have as much information as you can. To this, have your warehouse supervisor put their global requirements on paper. That way it’s in writing and you can distribute it to vendors. Ask vendors for demonstrations and of those you short list, go into in-depth looks and start looking at which vendors gives you the best warehouse management solution for your needs and budget.
2. See it to believe it – Don’t forget to organize physical site visits. Logistics people have a credo: “Seeing-is-believing.” By doing physical site visits, you have the proof in the pudding, so to speak. This way you see the warehouse management solution in action.
3. Bring in a consultant– It’s best to bring in a consultant that’s knowledgeable on WMS and warehousing and distribution. Ask them to do a discovery on pain points, what’s needed, and project for the future. Then, use this data to align with the organization and move to further steps for implementation of a warehouse management solution.
4. Look at WMS comparison sites – With global databases containing data of all the features of warehouse management solutions, you have a large amount of ammunition at your fingertips. Sites, such as warehouse-logistics.com have the skinny on all kinds of data you need to build your case for a new system in your organization.
5. All of the above – A large amount of data can be had from the options I’ve spelled out so far, but the best way to evaluate your needs for a warehouse management solution is to get a grip on your own business processes. Then, you can go out and find what works for your organization.

Evaluating a warehouse management solution takes time, resources and above all, an understanding of your own business needs. When you get all of these into the right mix, you’ll find a solution that gives you the enhanced productivity and positive ROI you seek.

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5 Ways to Evaluate Warehouse Management Solutions was posted at To-Increase Blog: ERP, CRM & Supply Chain Management. | http://blog.to-increase.com

Before you decide to make any more cuts, let me take you through a few options and show you why innovation doesn’t mean compromising.

Controlling Chaos

Today’s economy is a fragile state, there’s no doubt about that. With this, manufacturers are now in a state of chaos. What do I mean?

Maintaining communication, lifecycle and document management, among others is a real pain for organizations without some kind of integrated strategy. Ah, integrated – that’s the key.

When you look at streamlining processes and other ways to control the chaos, it becomes clear you need to have more than people talking – you need to have your systems talking, together. This is where advanced discrete manufacturing comes into play.

Now, think of it this way: your ERP and PLM systems are talking; your document and other key systems are talking and you have full visibility from anywhere, without checking a specific system. That would certainly bring an end to much of the chaos, wouldn’t it?

So, when I hear manufacturers cutting applications and processes, I say we need to look at how to streamline with integration in order to control the chaos.

Reducing Costs

Coming from controlling the chaos, our economy’s fragile state has many manufacturers looking for ways to reduce costs and change their cash flow. Again, from my previous point, we should first look at integration and that alone will help in savings for resources, productivity and funding.

Another option is to examine advanced discrete manufacturing practices and look at outsourcing some processes in your organization. The comparison in cost tells us outsourcing is one way to cut them, but many fear the risk of handing off these projects to someone else – they actually stay away, due to these risks. It’s natural, but with a solid integration strategy in place, I believe the pros will outweigh the cons in this instance.

Put It Together

As advanced discrete manufacturing plays more of a role for us as manufacturers, we need to look at how we can keep up with customer demand, while reducing our costs and streamlining our processes. The answer is in a fully integrated system that ties in customer management, warehouse management, asset management, development and all the other vital pieces of our systems puzzle.

This gives you the right mix to evolve past your competitors and still work efficiently and increase your bottom-line

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Advanced Discrete Manufacturing Creates Innovation Without Compromise was posted at To-Increase Blog: ERP, CRM & Supply Chain Management. | http://blog.to-increase.com

What’s needed to break out of this unsavory situation and take back control of your product lifecycle? Integration of ERP and PLM, that’s what. With a simple handshake of systems, you can gain more efficiency in your operations and that leads to other benefits.

What benefits? Let’s take a look at some major ones:

Managing a More Efficient Product Lifecycle

1. Fewer mistakes and costs – Manual entry of critical data is a pain and before the integration of PLM and ERP, this caused larger headaches for manufacturers. With the huge potential for mistakes and time required to enter data, there was a significant cost. This included a rise in funds and resources to accommodate the entry of information.Now, with a seamless integration, those costs decrease as the need for dedicated resources to data entry does – with up to 70% fewer entry errors. This results in a surplus of funds and resources that can be moved to other areas to speed up the product lifecycle.
2. Faster times to production – Going off of the previous point, we now have less errors and less time consumed than manually entering data. In turn, this gives us more resources for the entire product lifecycle, including faster times to production.After all, manufacturing relies on speed to keep up with customer demand. With more speed to handle that demand, you can create more product and speed production for more profits.
3. Faster time to market – Just as my last point mentioned, an integration of PLM and ERP gives us less errors, increased resources and funding, along with speed. Although you want quality, you must include speed in the product lifecycle equation.Speed in production results in faster time to market – this is what brings in revenues. The amount of time it takes to go to market tells us how we will manage the next product lifecycle and if it’s efficient enough or needs adjustment.

A handshake is what it takes for your manufacturing operation to go from inefficient to highly efficient. That handshake of ERP and PLM integrates data processing and offers speed, accuracy and cost reduction – everything you need to make more products faster and increase your bottom-line.

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Gain Cost Savings and Time With ERP and PLM Integration was posted at To-Increase Blog: ERP, CRM & Supply Chain Management. | http://blog.to-increase.com