SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

MANUFACTURING AND LOGISTICS MODULES


Production Definitions

Within this section you can create and manage an organisation’s production structure including listings of production departments, production areas, production lines, equipment used, waste recovery types, labour, engineering activities, quality activities, shifts, rework, products, inputs, Work In Progress (WIP) and supervisors.

Inventory Management
This module caters for the tracking of inventory items as well as service descriptors and includes full descriptions and properties for ERP mechanisms.  One can store customer and supplier-specific information and attached attributes to the items.  Alternate items and composite items are supported.  Nutritional information can be attached to an inventory item.  Costing and pricing can be captured and kit sets are also supported.

Bill of Materials Management
The Bill of Materials (BOM) module provides a management tool for creating and rolling out recipes with their corresponding components and output.  The system allows for service-based BOMs as well which cover the requirements for service-based organisations.

The BOMs cater for HACCP tracking including what the relevant control points are, check lists, equipment used, processes involved and documentation attached.  BOMs can be associated with production lines with standards and targets attached.  Also included are throughputs and labour.

Production Planning & Scheduling
Using the production definitions, the system can determine the factory constraints.  The sales orders can be captured or imported and will generate the requirements for the day’s/week’s production.  The products can be scheduled across any valid line with the throughput indicating how much time is required to produce the item.  The system reports back on exceptions and allows the planner to increase or decrease available hours for a shift as required.  The system will indicate if overtime is required.  Weekly or daily scheduling is supported.  Job-based scheduling is also supported.

Transport Vechicle PLanning & Scheduling
Info will be updated shortly.

Scanning & Bar-coding
The IBS system supports the logistics-based finance capabilities including sales orders, purchase orders, dispatch notes, delivery notes and stock movement transactions.

The Bar-coding module allows the various forms to be barcode scanning friendly, e.g. the dispatch note forms allow the dispatch clerk to scan boxes/lugs/pallets into the system while loading a truck.  The system also caters for printing bar-coded labels for product packaging and allows these to be batch-controlled for printing in a label room.  Use By/Sell By dates and pricing can be configured per batch.

Production MIS
The system provides management, from first line supervisor upwards, with accurate and continuous real time manufacturing information. This allows manufacturing problems to be identified and rectified immediately and, most importantly, provides extremely accurate control over production lines and employees. The effect of any corrective action can be monitored immediately.

The system is an indispensable and independent production information system that allows for integration into existing ERP/Finance/HR systems and can easily co-exist with these systems.  Its open design allows it to be customised for specific requirements very easily.  The system incorporates BI Integration (Business Intelligence) with secure key reports via the web using reporting services or SOA (Service Orientated Architecture) web services.

Manufacturers have traditionally had to live with a post production analysis, without having detailed information available to determine the cause of problems and precise information to take specific corrective action down to employee level. Introspect DuQuars MIS provides an accurate real-time picture of the production environment without having to go to several different sources. Simply put, if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it.

The biggest strength in the system is the ability to gather accurate information directly from the production environment in real time. Whilst the information generated by the system provides general trends and basic data, its value lies in the fact that it provides timeous and reliable information that will allow management to immediately ascertain whether the manufacturing process is on track and within budget.

Using the production definitions, stakeholder, HR, assets, Inventory and BOM modules as a basis the MIS information can be configured. The module also includes specialised reporting functionality. The capture forms for by-shift production information are complete but well organized to facilitate a user-friendly and quick capture process.