Lean Essentials
Companies want to earn more profit and grow their business. Staying ahead of domestic and foreign competition requires the elimination of waste everywhere. All departments need to get involved. Lean programs and activities need to be integrated with existing business processes and software systems for leverage and sustained advantage. True benefits come to manufacturers that understand the appropriate use and integration of lean with business systems and software. “So much to do and so little time” are heard in the hallways and shop floors of today’s manufacturing companies. TriMin can help you stay competitive and achieve your business goals through the appropriate selection and use of software solutions and services tailored to your environment, operations, and lean priorities.
Relationship Between ERP and Lean Systems
Lean principles and implementations are not new to Manufacturing Companies. They have taken on different names for continuous improvement and efforts to eliminate waste in the manufacturing process. Often Lean initiatives and Business System initiatives have been mutually independent endeavors.
Business executives are learning that their continuous improvements programs (Lean programs) and Business Systems must be integrated in order to eliminate waste of disparate systems and processes.
Lean is a cost reduction and process improvement strategy. ERP is a forward-looking planning and scheduling communications tool. Lean and ERP systems are compatible and should be integrated into a single initiative for systemic and lasting change. Linking Lean and ERP together provides greater visibility of information across the Company.
The Purpose and Use of an ERP System
ERP systems are enterprise communication tools used to coordinate business information, operating data, proposed actions and operating schedules to everyone in the company. It consists of a common database of information to be analyzed and acted upon. It is a single source used by all people and departments to manage the business. Companies that fail to recognize the importance of structuring their ERP system to their environment and achieving acceptable data accuracy often have difficulty achieving desired business results.
As a general rule, ERP systems that give inaccurate or inappropriate results are typically caused by people not taking the effort to develop effective plans, strategies or maintaining timely and accurate operating data.
Lean Improvements Need to be Linked to ERP, so
Results are Achieved Company-Wide
Lean process improvements that are not formally linked to ERP systems do not provide the benefits of your lean improvements to other functions, people or schedules that depend on this information. This gap increases the inaccuracy between Lean and ERP Systems. Imagine a 30% reduction in process cycle time caused by a lean kaizen event that does not get formally communicated to Marketing, procurement, material planning, customer order management or capacity planning people. Visual pull systems work for the local process, but there must be communications and documentation links to notify other people and departments to sustain Lean results.
Lean Kaizen Events Should Directly Link With Process Routings
Lean kaizen events or process improvement projects should include infrastructure and communication resources to link the lean results to other impacted departments in the company. The primary source of data to begin a kaizen event should be the existing process routing. New process steps and actions that eliminate waste and time should be incorporated into the ERP process routing or work instructions to ensure links between Lean and ERP information (cost and scheduling data). These new process steps and actions should be extended into your system-based process routings so everyone in the company can use these improvements for their areas of responsibility..
If you have developed islands of information between your Lean and ERP programs, TriMin can help build accurate, integrated, and accessible information across your company.
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