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by Laurie Joan Aron, Contributing Editor Posted on Friday, November 03, 2006 3:10:08 PM   | Abstract: | Flow manufacturing techniques have gained acceptance in the last few years, but until recently, manufacturers have been reluctant to adopt the supporting software. |
John Strotbeck, president of custom team-apparel maker Boathouse Sports Ltd. (Philadelphia, PA), started investigating demand flow manufacturing in 1995. By late 1997, he had instituted flow techniques to keep work-in-process (WIP) moving smoothly and continuously, eliminating bottlenecks and the under-utilization of capacity. Just by shifting to continuous flow rather than accumulating work-in-process after each production step, Boathouse realized significant gains: delivery time dropped from about 12 weeks to 15 days, and work-in-process time dropped from 30 days down to three and a half days. By 1999, however, Boathouse's manual flow system was overwhelmed. "Our sales volume had increased 300%. There was no way on earth to manage it manually any more," says Strotbeck. To solve the problem, he licensed flow manufacturing software from Factory Logic Software Inc. (Austin, TX), which helps him handle workflow based on daily orders of the company's highly configurable apparel. Strotbeck's journey is becoming increasingly, although not overwhelmingly, commonplace. Flow manufacturing techniques have gained acceptance in the last few years, but until recent months, manufacturers had been far more reluctant to adopt the software to support them. "The initial theory of flow was to make shop-floor operations visible, with simple messages [kanban cards], which everyone could see," says Richard Lebovitz, chief executive officer of Factory Logic. "It was about getting away from computer systems." In truth, though, flow is about getting away from reliance on manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) and advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems, not about doing without software on the factory floor altogether. As mass customization and the pressure for speedy delivery have increased, and since the focus has shifted away from enterprise resource planning (ERP) investments and Y2K fixes, flow software is getting a second and somewhat more enthusiastic look. Some of its new users are implementing the software to support the flow technique in its purest, non-MRP II form. Others are newly enthusiastic about adopting a hybrid form of flow that extends the existing enterprise resource planning system, or is compatible with it. Companies adopting flow as an extension of their existing ERP-technically a contradiction in terms since APS tends to be the heart of ERP and a pure flow system would report numbers to ERP, but not be driven by ERP-are finding it advantageous to evolve to a software-supported flow system step by step. Dixie Byers, director of materials systems for HVAC maker UPG York International (Norman, OK), says her company is taking the one-step-at-a-time approach to implementing flow software. As early as 1996, UPG York International was experimenting with kanbaning and redesigning lines for smoother workflow. Eighteen months ago, the company made a serious commitment to demand flow, investing in American Software's (Atlanta, GA) demand smoothing and kanban applications, which interface with York's Mapics ERP. "At first, we did flow with plain old manpower," says Byers. "There would be hundreds of changes a week to try to remix production to meet customer demand. We had close to a year of twelve-hour days." The software implementation has eased the pressure and, Byers notes, every step has brought benefits. Enterprise resource planning vendor American Software, which offers its flow module for $30,000 to $250,000, has seen an explosion of demand for its software offerings. The company has about 16 users for a product that has been available in some form since 1993, but just signed four more in the last couple of months. "Manufacturers implemented flow techniques thinking they didn't need software," says Mike Cuellar, product director for flow manufacturing systems at American Software. "All of a sudden, flow software is going gangbusters." Page : 1 2 3 ... NEXT |