Production Management

From enabling the identification and tracking of non-value adding activities inherent in your current operational processes, to the automation of manual processes, SYSPRO's powerful functionality provides you with the tools to implement your LEAN initiatives. Its integrated nature and ease-of-use facilitates the effortless extraction of financial and operational information required for Value Stream Mapping (VSM).

SYSPRO's Inventory module is a synchronized hub providing a consolidated view of all stock locations and those activities that impact inventory optimization and customer service levels, as well as the end-to-end elements of costs and lead times. Features such as Pareto and obsolescence analysis can assist in identifying those products that are suitable for VSM focus, while SYSPRO modules such as Engineering Change Control, Bills of Material, Work-in Progress and Factory Scheduling facilitate the evaluation of targets for kaizen programs, such as reduction in design and manufacturing costs, cycle times, queues and setups.

SYSPRO's powerful inspection, serial tracking and lot traceability functionality aid in the identification and tracking of the source of defects, thereby enabling the implementation of kaizen initiatives towards the principle of 'Quality at the source'.

The queries and reports in Work in Progress enable you to quickly assess the statuses, inventories and costs associated with work in progress, and provide metrics on utilization, efficiency, scrap and rework, while customer and supplier delivery performance metrics are provided by the Sales Order and Purchase Order and Inventory Optimization modules.

SYSPRO's Inventory and Bills of Material modules enable the modelling of the LEAN techniques of batch size and setup reduction on costs, lead time and inventory. SYSPRO's Factory Scheduling provides graphical tools to assist you in optimizing scheduling and sequencing processes, to reduce setup and overall lead time, and improve manufacturing flexibility and sale-to-customer flow. This, along with the inventory optimization and production planning features, enables you to refine the pace of production to match the pace of sales. Furthermore, features such as sales order/job/purchase-order linking facilitate the electronic implementation of true pull supply- chain processes where appropriate.

Document Flow Manager and SYSPRO e.net Solutions enable you, not only to automate resource and time-intensive processes such as order processing, but also to handle increased volumes from global customers. By providing the capability for 24/7 order taking and acknowledgment, they improve lead time, and free up staff to perform other value-adding tasks. Furthermore, SYSPRO's XML-aware solutions enable version-independent integration with best-of-breed shop floor monitoring and control systems.

The system's sophisticated reporting and analytics tools enable user-defined reports and queries, while SYSPRO Workflow Services enable the creation of efficient workflows to implement business rules and standardize business processes. Electronic Signatures and automation tools enable the automatic raising of alerts, triggers and events based on user-defined criteria, thereby aiding prompt problem solving and process improvement.

SYSPRO's flexible integrated features and best-practice focus give you single-point visibility and control, providing support for the implementation of your LEAN initiatives.

SYSPRO's Engineering Change Control system enables you to implement the workflow and controls necessary to track changes to your products in terms of constituent materials and processes, as well as to automate enforcement of the necessary operational data controls during change activities. The user-defined workflow sub-system along with its audit trails and archives provides access to prior product versions and traceability of changes made.

General task-based business processes performed by single users can be controlled using SYSPRO's Task and Event managers. Electronic Signatures enhance process control by enabling you to maintain a detailed transaction log for auditing purposes, as well as to activate triggers for integration to third-party systems or notification via email. In addition, Electronic Signatures give you the tools to define rules which govern who is allowed to process specific transactions, under what conditions. . This improves transparency and accountability in business transaction processing, giving you strict authorization and access control at a granular level in addition to SYSPRO's general system security.

For those businesses requiring a more sophisticated rules-based workflow for the streamlining of end-to-end processes which involve multiple users and disparate systems, SYSPRO Workflow Services provides complete rules-based business process management (BPM).

In custom-build, as well as project and service environments, job cost accuracy is essential in attaining correct pricing and profitability, as well as to assess the reliability of the quoting process, while in standard costing environments, it is essential for tracking the validity of current standard costs.

For custom-build environments, SYSPRO's Quotations module enables detailed estimates based on all aspects of the job (or jobs) and the automatic creation of jobs, purchase orders and sales orders based on approved quotes. This ensures the integrity of the quoted and margin information throughout the system. For project and service environments, this same functionality is available, with the added benefits of hierarchical analysis of costs and margins per head and section.

SYSPRO's fully integrated solution enables the capture, tracking and analyzing of job and product costs, and profitability in real-time. Details of expected versus actual costs for material and scrap, internal and external labor, fixed and overhead costs per job, or group of jobs, is available through SYSPRO's querying and reporting features. This enables the identification of exceptions and problems as they occur, such as areas of high cost expenditure, production scrap and rework, and problems in the quoting process. Furthermore, for those businesses wishing to take advantage of government and private enterprise grant programs, detailed R&D job data is easily extracted for regulatory reporting requirements.

With SYSPRO's visibility to product cost details and profit margins, including for co- and by-products, you can evaluate job cost performance, margin analysis and pricing with confidence.

To execute your production plans and achieve a high level of manufacturing agility, you need visibility to current and future demands, resource availability, schedules and material plans, as well as user-friendly tools that enable you to respond quickly when things change. SYSPRO provides an integrated view of the elements that impact capacity planning, enabling improved resource management and utilization.

SYSPRO's Bill of Materials module provides the tools to maintain the demonstrated capacity for work centers and productive units, while SYSPRO Factory Scheduling enables the configuration of shift patterns and the identification and consideration of multiple constraints such as tooling. The Bill of Materials module enables the configuration of product routings from which Work in Progress and Requirements Planning derive the capacity required, dynamically adjusted for order or batch size.

SYSPRO's Requirements Planning module enables comprehensive demand planning and the modeling of the master schedule and other demand requirements on capacity profiles, over a user-defined horizon. Based on order requirement and lead times, the requirements calculation computes the total capacity load for both open and planned shop orders—dynamically adjusted for batch size—by using infinite backward or infinite forward scheduling. It also provides a simple single-level forward finite scheduling tool.

More sophisticated finite scheduling and sequencing capabilities are provided by SYSPRO Factory Scheduling, including algorithm-based forward, backward and bi-directional finite scheduling, as well as operation sequence optimization. A user-friendly graphical interface affords a real-time view of your capacity loads, with one-click highlighting of bottlenecks to provide quick identification of problem areas.

SYSPRO Factory Scheduling delivers a range of features, from manual drag-and-drop to powerful what-if schedule modeling, providing a decision-support tool enabling you to balance demand and capacity constraints.

Furthermore, SYSPRO's XML-aware solutions enable version-independent integration with best-of-breed shop floor monitoring and control systems, to enable up-to-the-minute querying and reporting in complex scheduling environments.

SYSPRO's multi-level bill of materials functionality enables the definition of complex production recipes of up to 15 levels per route, and 10 routes per finished product.

Control over recipe changes is seamlessly handled by the Engineering Change Control module, while a where-used query and substitution facility enables quick and easy replacement of ingredients. The relationship validation function enables you to easily identify illogical relationships within your bills, while the structure validation function facilitates quick deletion of redundant or superseded components from bill of material structures.

The work center, and structures and routings facilities provide you with the means to define and maintain the elements required in a sequence of internal or subcontract manufacturing operations, as well as the structural relationships between parent and component parts.

For each bill level, you can define ingredient quantities such as quantity per, fixed quantities or wet weight percentages in relation to that specific level's parent item. Component and operation copy, insertion, and move facilities enable straightforward maintenance of new and existing bills. SYSPRO's multimedia functionality enables you to attach visual and textual material, such as videos, photographs, and certificates of conformance, to structures and operations, to aid production and quality assurance staff, while custom forms enable you to create additional user-defined fields.

Phantom bills are catered for to accommodate transient production items, and planning bill functionality aids option forecasting and planning. In addition, the configuration and manufacture of multiple items which are produced in a single process are catered for by SYSPRO's co- and by-product features.

SYSPRO provides various operation run time methods, as well as material and progressive scrap functionality. The capture of various lead time elements enables accurate calculations of manufacturing and cumulative lead times, which in turn aid efficient materials planning and production scheduling, as well as product costing. Information on tooling, operator skill levels, operation instructions and testing requirements can also be added to the operation and printed on SYSPRO's user-defined factory documentation.

The Work in Progress module enables seamless ingredient substitution where actual ingredients differ from planned. Furthermore, where intermediate or finished products differ from planned, the Work in Progress inspection functionality enables receipting of these products as alternate stock codes, or into alternate warehouses or bins.

SYSPRO's Inventory module enables the definition of multiple user-defined units of measure (UOM) for stocked items: Stocking UOM, Alternate UOM, Other UOM and Manufacturing UOM. These units of measure, along with their conversion factors, are used in various parts of the system to ensure accurate quantities for sales, purchasing and production.

For production purposes, SYSPRO's multi-level bill of materials functionality enables you to define the manufacturing recipes and methods for bulk, intermediary and pack items, allowing for up to 15 levels per route, and 10 routes per finished product. For each level in a multi-level bill, you can define ingredient quantities as quantity per, fixed quantity or wet weight percentage in relation to the UOM defined for that level's parent item and routing.

To gain the competitive edge, you must have the agility to respond to market demands at all levels of operation, without increasing costs and waste, and sacrificing efficiency. Whether you use line, batch or project processes, your scheduling activities must balance competing objectives. This includes the efficient management and execution of re-scheduling activities when business priorities and plans change or unexpected events occur.

Having the capability to create and execute an achievable schedule requires a comprehensive view of the current situation and available resources, as well as the tools to perform efficient re-scheduling if necessary. SYSPRO's visual scheduling products provide this capability to suit all levels of sophistication and complexity, from basic manual drag and drop, to automatic algorithm-driven scheduling and changeover optimization.

Particularly suited to job shop, batch process and project environments, SYSPRO Factory Scheduling provides the planner with an interactive decision support tool that helps balance demand and resource availability. Optimization is enhanced through the consideration of priorities, constraints, and conflicts, as well as sequencing and synchronization requirements. Automatic forward, backward and bi-directional scheduling is available, along with manual intervention. The customizable graphical interface enables quick and easy identification of schedule loads, job and operation statuses and links, and resource availability.

One-click schedule performance metrics, as well as the ability to run, save and compare schedules, provide what-if capability and enable the scheduler to choose the best option for the current circumstances.

Whether you operate a simple scheduling environment requiring single-constraint finite scheduling, or a complex environment requiring multi-constraint and rules-based finite scheduling, SYSPRO can help you optimize your scheduling activities with its Graphical Planning Board (GPB), Factory Scheduler (FS) or Advanced Scheduler (AS).

SYSPRO's Contact Management system helps you to manage your relationships with contract manufacturers through the recording and tracking of all interactions, while the blanket purchase order functionality facilitates the creation, management and electronic communication of the details of the outsourcing contracts that you have negotiated.

For mass production and vendor-managed inventory environments, SYSPRO's powerful forecasting, and material requirements planning functionality give you the means to provide suppliers with visibility to time-phased component requirements out into the future; in make- and engineer-to-order environments, sub-contract manufacturing services for a particular job are placed on suppliers via optionally linked purchase orders. Component tracking and quality management is enhanced through SYSPRO's quality management, lot traceability and serial tracking systems.

Work in progress, bill of materials (BOM) and engineering change control (ECC) functionality enables you to cost and manage your BOM design changes and include tasks, actions and notifications for your contract suppliers in the electronic ECC workflow. Furthermore, synchronization of your internal production facility with any reserved capacity at your contract suppliers is facilitated by SYSPRO's powerful factory scheduling features.

SYSPRO's multi-currency and landed cost tracking features enable you to better estimate the true landed cost of your outsourced production, while the GRN suspense and supplier invoice matching features provide the mechanism to track your purchase price variances.

Increasing manufacturing efficiency means getting the right balance between demand and supply, while optimizing capacity, improving throughput, and reducing waste and variable costs. SYSPRO provides interactive decision-support tools that give you visibility and control over all inputs and outputs.

SYSPRO's material requirements planning functionality gives you an integrated picture of your time-phased demand and supply, enabling you to model 'what-if' scenarios to produce viable replenishment plans.

SYSPRO Factory Scheduling assists you in maintaining accurate and up-to-date production schedules that take account of your material plans and the complexities of your factory. This enables better co-ordination between work centers, increased productivity, reduced work-in-progress and achievement of improved customer service levels.

Material and labor tracking, as well as cost, scrap and utilization management is facilitated through SYSPRO's Work in Progress module, which enables you to track in-process production at every stage and identify problems as they occur.

The diverse nature of manufacturing methods employed in the industry entails the synchronization and integration of a variety of manufacturing techniques all within one fully integrated software system.

Whether manufacturing to order or to stock, using discrete or process methods; engineering to order; or building large project-based assets, SYSPRO's outstanding flexibility ensures a comprehensive set of tools to help you plan, record, track and control your output.

SYSPRO functionality enables you to keep finished goods inventory to an absolute minimum and enhances your decision-making regarding what to manufacture, with what resources, when, where, and in what sequence.

SYSPRO's Quotations and Estimating ensures the integrity of cost and profit calculation for bid processes in project, as well as job shop, engineer and make-to-order environments. On confirmation of a quote, SYSPRO provides the capability to automatically raise all supply actions related to fulfilling the customer order, through its sales order, purchase order and job linking features. Furthermore, SYSPRO's Product Configurator facilitates seamless rules-based order processing for assemble, configure and make-to-order products.

For discrete and process manufacturers, comprehensive bills of material functionality enables the definition of simple single-level bills through to complex formulations with multiple units of measure and relationship definitions.

Master data features ensure accurate calculation of lead times and dynamic elapsed times, and assist in the optimization of production order quantities, while Engineering Change Control facilitates the efficient management of changes to product versions.

Planning features include forecasting, master planning, material requirements planning and capacity planning, while scheduling functionality extends from single-constraint scheduling to multi-constraint scheduling and sequencing.

Material and labor consumed in production may be backflushed, or, for longer production runs, issued as consumed to work in progress. Work-in-progress inspection functionality enables a product to be receipted against multiple items if grades of the final product vary.

Tracking of actual versus estimated labor hours, material usage and scrap is facilitated through the Work in Progress module, while SYSPRO's e.net Solutions enable version-independent integration to best-of-breed CAD and shop-floor data collection systems.

SYSPRO features extensive costing control and tracking, including the facility to model the effects of what-if material, labor and manufacturing route costs.

Critical to continuous improvement strategies is the reduction of overall product lead time to enable companies to be more agile and responsive to unpredictable and changing customer demands. Identifying and reducing the number and severity of manufacturing bottlenecks is crucial to any lead time reduction strategy. SYSPRO's Work in Progress module provides tracking of expected versus actual operation times, assisting you in identifying bottleneck patterns and inaccurate demonstrated capacity estimates.

Where nothing can be done to remove short-term bottlenecks, management of production schedules to take account of them is critical to optimizing your production resources and providing realistic order delivery dates. SYSPRO Factory Scheduling provides one-click highlighting of bottleneck operations on existing schedules, as well as what-if scheduling and sequencing to optimize utilization of available production resources.

To identify and reduce waste and inefficiencies in the production process, you need real-time access to accurate material and labor flow data. SYSPRO enables you to easily query the status of your work-in-progress in terms of costs, material and scrap quantities, labor hours and manufactured quantities. In addition, optional lot traceability and serial tracking functionality enables you to identify the jobs to which traceable raw materials have been issued.

In SYSPRO, the material and labor allocations are created manually for a non-standard job, or automatically for a job created from a bill of material or estimate. In all cases, you can specify whether the materials are required a certain number of days before the job finish date, or at the start of a specific operation. This provides complete visibility to the material and labor that is required for any particular job, and when it is required in the production process. Also, once a job is in progress, you can easily pinpoint where the job is currently located in the routing, as well as what material has been issued so far, and the job's overall progress.

Trial-kitting mechanisms provide complete visibility to the availability of materials required for jobs. Flexible posting functionality enables you to issue materials and labor to jobs at any time via a number of methods, including specific and kit issues. In addition, SYSPRO e.net Solutions and Job Import functionality enable seamless integration of shop floor data collection systems.

Powerful queries and reports provide detailed information on job status and delivery performance information.