The Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) has released its second report in a series of studies on the effectiveness of metrics used to improve operations. The results of the study, Metrics for Major Initiatives: Practices and Metrics for Lean, Total Quality and Real-Time Enterprise Programs, revealed that many organizations don't practice what they preach.
The majority of the 133 organizations polled by market research firm Industry Directions Inc. say they are indeed using lean and total quality management practices, and 47% are engaging in real-time enterprise practices. But in each area only a few metrics are considered effective. One is on-time delivery -- based on delivery to commit and delivery to request -- that is used to measure lean's effectiveness. Defect metrics, to take another example, are used to measure total quality, and uptime, or OEE, is used as to figure out how efficiently the real-time enterprise is running.
In addition, many manufacturers report that they don't use the same metrics company-wide. As a result, these initiatives, designed to drive out waste, improve quality, and increase efficiency, are not very effective at all, the study says.
To help manufacturers come up with systematic ways to measure plant performance, MESA has introduced a new manufacturing enterprise model. Referenced as the C-MES (collaborative manufacturing execution systems) model, it will focus on five strategic corporate initiatives: lean manufacturing, quality and regulatory compliance, product lifecycle management, real-time enterprise, and enterprise asset management. The group, in collaboration with ISA, will publish guidebooks that will define how companies can achieve the goals and objectives outlined in these corporate initiatives.
"We are refocusing the organization to fill a gap in the industry," MESA Chairman Matt Bauer says. "There's talk around standards, but there's no practical guidebook with experienced-based con-tent describing how to put it into the plant environment."
The difference in the new C-MES model is that it addresses the issue of real-time interaction between the plant and the enterprise. It will also help people understand how each element impacts other aspects of work. To date, there's been no pragmatic model to work from, MESA officials say. "The vision is, when an end user has a question, they can go to this and find the answer, as well as build it into their business case," says Doug Weaver, MES Systems & Project Manager at Boeing Commercial Aircraft, who helped to define the soon-to-be released models.
This article originally appeared in the November 2007 issue of Managing Automation.