Lean Manufacturing with ERP Software

With the introduction of the lad manufacturing there has always been the desire for an inventory management that minimizes the stock in hand if not totally eliminating it. The principles of lean are true, by having to eliminate waste at every change when it comes to manufacturing the quality definitely gets improved during the production time as well as the costs are cut down. 

Manufacturers are only look for a more productive as well as less wasteful management of inventory. For example, when you decrease the randomness in the process of manufacturing you will also decrease the inventory. With this thinking there is a notion of enterprise resource planning that has emerged. Concepts like quality of performance, system flow, purchasing and the management of materials, labor productivity, shipping and inventory are all a part of the procedure and the communication. When one has access to the real time data through the ERP software, the plant departments get integrated as well as coordinated towards the goal of having to reduce the randomness percent in the production.

With the ERP software, lean manufacturing has been facilitated with all the aspects of operations and must also include the functions of supply, demand and cycle counting as well as turnaround and turnover. Therefore, it is mainly because of this kind of inventory management and the efficient tool which is the heart of not just building but also the utilization of a successful CI system today.

For instance, when in the mode of cycle counting, the inventory manager can make use of the inventory audit list which is tagged to a particular period to get the answers of where there is any discrepancy in the inventory figure. When it comes to the turnover or turnaround the ERP software is used as an assessment tool to increase the turns for the desired result in the lean system to eliminate any waste by having to reduce the inventory on hand.

Regarding the demand and supply chain, the inventory management through the ERP software can review the key time data which is critical to balance the requirements of parts, materials or tools. With the solutions of ERP, the inventory managers can make more informed decisions which are concerning the supply and demand chains. This is true with the VMI or the newly upcoming vendor managed inventory systems which have been seen increasingly as a logical extension to the lean manufacturing method or the JIT management.

With the help of the knowledge which is gained through the date available through ERP, inventory management has become a centre point for analyzing or even finding additional efficiency in the system flow. It is through this way that elimination of waste is possible.

Visit http://www.solarsoft.com/research/manufacturing-benchmarking/boosting-lean-initiatives/ for more information on lean manufacturing initiatives.