SAP xApp Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP xMII)

So, how is your business today? I hope yesterday's blog on the SAP xApp Lean Planning and Operations (SAP xLPO) has made you gain better insights on how to have manufacturing operations with less wastes and more profit.

Today, let us still focus on the manufacturing aspect of a business but this time we will take the aspect to a broader sense by including integration and business intelligence.

The SAP xApp Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP xMII) is an application which makes it possible to connect manufacturing with the processes in a business enterprise. Because it also helps deliver actionable intelligence to production personnel, the company will be able to achieve superior performance in production.

Today's business moves very quickly as they are driven by information and information comes from ubiquitous data with the internet and other advance communications technology as conduit. The success or failure of a manufacturer depends on how he can manage his business in real time as information exchange among manufacturing and supply networks and the end customers need to take place any minute of the day (yes, even in one's sleep!).

SAP xMII is a great tool to help a manufacturer become adaptive to the constantly changing industry trends by helping profitably replenish his supply network and responding dynamically to the demands.

Let's break down SAP xMII into its two major parts. The Manufacturing Integration integrates the plant process and business operations seamlessly. Many companies find themselves manually intervening to enter production batch data when they are not implementing factory and ERP systems integration. This manual process is both time consuming and very costly as the company will need to spend more on staff hour salary. Also, because it is a manual operation, it is more prone to human error resulting data redundancy and inaccuracies. SAP xMII can make rapid integration between the mySAP ERP solution and other manufacturing software applications.

On the other part, the Manufacturing Intelligence, SAP xMII comes with manufacturing dashboards leveraging on a powerful real time analytics engine. The rich analytics feature aggregates data in order to deliver actionable intelligence to the staff behind the company. The nicely graphical and easy to use dashboards provide views so one can have visualization of plant floor systems, monitor production for Six Sigma violations and other exceptions, and dig deep into problems to know the root causes and have effective measures in correcting them. The dashboard also displays key performance indicators (KPI) which be configured to suit the organization's needs. The system can also be set to alert key people for expeditious actions under certain circumstances.

Implementing the SAP xMII may be cost effective as it takes advantage of the company's existing IT infrastructure so there is no need to spend extra tools because there is building of a system from scratch. Overall, investing in SAP xMII definitely help in manufacturing performance at the same time decrease total cost of ownership.

I wish you a productive day! Tomorrow, another SAP xAPP.

SAP xApp LEAN PLANNING AND OPERATIONS (xLPO)

Yesterday, I blogged about SAP xApp Integrated Exploration and Production
(SAP xIEP) which just goes to show that no matter what industry or how small or big a business is, SAP, today's number one world leader in business solutions and enterprise resource planning, always has an answer to specific business needs.

From yesterday's blog on a SAP solution for such a big industry as oil and gas, we go to lean manufacturing. The SAP xApp Lean Planning and Operations (SAP xLPO) is a family of applications which is designed to help manufacturers base their production undertakings on the guiding principles of lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing, by the way, is a generic process management philosophy which is focused on the reduction of wastes so that the overall customer value can be greatly improved.

Lean production management is based on two important process namely Pacing Production and Signaling to synchronize the supply chain.

Using the SAP xApp Lean Planning and Operations (SAP xLPO) can make a company enjoy the benefits and profits from a real-time production management and scheduling system. As such, the company can overcome two of the most critical requirements of lean manufacturing which are production leveling at peacemaker operations and synchronization in order to create stability in the upstream supply chain.
The SAP xApp Lean Planning and Operations (SAP xLPO) is great tool for maintaining the required stability, consistency, reliability and being waste free in production management while directly linking production to actual customer demands.
The SAP xApp Lean Planning and Operations (SAP xLPO) is compatible with any ERP systems so those that have a current infrastructure need not to worry about integration. SAP xLPO has a nice, user friendly visual interface with features such as pull-based planning and scheduling. It also features execution function and efficient what-if planning and exception management.

Integrating SAP xLPO with the SAP ERP application can result in a mixed mode manufacturing which can subsequently bring in better productivity. An example scenario would be company that has part of a plant managed by SAP xLPO based on lean processes and another part managed by a conventional push processes. But the splitting must make sense, otherwise it could result in a negative effect. For instance, work centers that belong to the same group should be managed by the same process. Manufacturing sites can then switch their processes progressively to lean production. The integration of SAP xLPO with SAP ERP is a well-defined process which goes beyond sharing of master data for work centers, items, routings, bill of materials, etc).
SAP xLPO can help in getting intelligent outlook and rapid replanning so that the company can synchronize supply with demand, minimize problems springing up when least expected and avoid last minute unplanned production. As a result, the production efficiency grows up, and cost for shipment, overtime pay, etc is reduced. SAP xLPO lives up to its function to make production lean and waste free as possible.
More SAP xApps tomorrow! Have a fruitful and waste-less day!