Software offers lean production management capabilities.
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Press Release Summary:
Integrating production leveling, supermarket, and supplier kanban tools, Factory Logic(TM) Lean Operations Suite v5.4 supports demand-driven production scheduling and pull-based supply synchronization. It bridges manufacturer's enterprise-level business systems and shop floor-level visual controls. Used in conjunction with TPS concepts, program provides shop floor personnel with integrated tools to synchronize pace of production and flow of material with customer demand.
Original Press Release:
Factory Logic Announces Enhanced Release that Delivers Expanded Lean Production Management Capabilities
Integrated Production Leveling, Supermarket, and Supplier Kanban Tools Provide Powerful Solution for Demand-Driven Manufacturers
AUSTIN, Texas, November 15, 2005 - Factory Logic, the leading provider of Lean solutions that meet the needs of the customer demand-driven factory, today announced an enhanced release, 5.4, of its Factory Logic(TM) Lean Operations Suite. Factory Logic's integrated Lean software solution is designed from the ground up to support demand-driven production scheduling and pull-based supply synchronization. Using proven Lean methods originally pioneered in the Toyota Production System (TPS), Factory Logic's suite helps today's manufactures realize the potential of just-in-time manufacturing. Lean manufacturing, can in turn, help companies deliver greater value and responsiveness to customers by reducing lead times, improving efficiency (i.e. reduced overtime, premium freight, etc.), and driving down costs throughout the supply chain.
Factory Logic has taken the discipline and proven methodology of TPS and transformed it into an enabling technology to standardize and automate processes. The newest release provides dynamically enhanced capabilities for heijunka scheduling of pacemaker operations, significantly expanded capabilities for supermarket management, and improved capabilities for supplier kanban.
"Increasingly, manufacturers are recognizing the competitive advantage achievable by transforming themselves to a Lean, demand-driven model," stated Tim Costello, Factory Logic Board member and a member of the Board of Governors for the Shingo Prize. "TPS is a powerful, proven model for Lean operations, but it requires a very different approach to production management at the shop floor level. Factory Logic 5.4 provides the tools that factory and supply chain personnel need to address real-world issues they face on a daily basis in a just-in-time environment."
A Growing Trend
While ERP systems have been instrumental in helping companies achieve supply chain efficiencies, lean pundits and purists have historically disavowed the use of such systems in lean manufacturing, claiming that ERP solutions have lacked the capability to support the flexible, demand-driven factory scheduling and supplier replenishment capabilities required to support today's complex manufacturing environments. But the pace of adoption of lean and the pressure for enterprise-scale deployment is shifting the tide toward technology, both ERP and complementary lean solutions. According to an AMR Research report on Lean manufacturing, "Companies that want a broader adoption of Lean will need a combination of ERP systems and Lean technology..."The tools to support Lean planning and execution are maturing, and the deployment of Lean technology will support a sustainable, scalable model for future adoption."
Bridging Enterprise-level Systems and Visual Factory Controls
Factory Logic is designed to bridge a manufacturer's existing enterprise-level business systems and shop floor-level visual controls. Used in conjunction with key TPS concepts, Factory Logic's suite provides shop floor personnel with integrated tools needed to synchronize the pace of production and flow of material with actual customer demand. Until now, most manufacturers working to utilize Lean manufacturing techniques have had only stand-alone spreadsheets and manual processes to perform these functions, making it difficult to scale Lean techniques up from individual lines or cells to full factories or across multiple locations.
Enhanced Production Leveling and Pull-based Supply Synchronization Factory Logic 5.4 contains multiple enhancements that deliver new functionality, greater ease-of-use, and improved 'transparency' of recommendations made to production and supply chain users. Enhancements include:
o Factory Logic Pacemaker Scheduler: has been enhanced to provide new flexibility in production leveling for both build-to-replenishment and build-to-order products.
o Factory Logic Supply Synchronizer: now has a new demand propagation engine that directly links supermarket and supplier kanban calculations with the leveled production schedules.
o Supermarket Management Capabilities: have also been significantly expanded. Supermarkets are an essential element of pull-based material flow in a lean environment, but are often one of the most difficult areas to manage. A supermarket is a kanban-based inventory buffer placed between producing and consuming work centers. Supermarkets provide an inventory cushion to absorb fluctuations caused by differences in working times, pull frequencies, consumption rates, and production rates.
o Factory Logic Production Synchronizer: also has a new demand propagation engine that also directly links supermarket and supplier kanban calculations with the leveled production schedules. This application provides advanced support for tool-based machines (i.e. injection molding or die-cutting equipment) that produce parts supplied to an internal supermarket. New capabilities enable factory personnel to model sometimes complex relationships among supermarket items and the tools and machines used to produce them. Combining that model with up-to-date demand information, Factory Logic's solution recommends the best kanban trigger points and loop sizes for each item. This enables planners to closely manage thousands of items across dozens of supermarkets, monitoring each item and sending alerts on items that need attention. Factory Logic shows all detail components of the calculated buffer, enabling planners to see where changes in machine and tool usage can increase effective capacity and reduce required buffer sizes.
Factory Logic is designed to easily integrate with a company's existing ERP system such as SAP, QAD, Oracle, and others, as well as with existing manufacturing execution systems.
About Factory Logic
Factory Logic is the leading provider of Lean solutions to meet the needs of the Customer Demand-Driven Factory. With Factory Logic, manufacturers are able to automate the pace of production, accelerate Lean deployments and associated benefits, and sustain continuous improvement and standardized best business practices across the entire enterprise. Factory Logic's platform-independent, real-time demand leveling and supply synchronization engine allows companies to extend their investments in ERP/MRP to the plant floor and transform the extended enterprise into a real-time demand driven supply network. Factory Logic is based in Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit Factory Logic at www.FactoryLogic.com.
