Production Schedule Disruptions: Coping With Customer Changes
By Jaime Bzdok, senior level consultant, Visual Business Solutions
Modern manufacturing is a sophisticated interplay of processes requiring a complex blend of machines, materials, and other resources. It’s easy for manufacturing operations to get disrupted by a variety of unforeseen influences such as equipment breakdowns, human resource issues, raw material shortages, unplanned demand changes, and a host of other challenges.
These challenges can be amplified by Lean manufacturing strategies that focus on achieving the highest throughput with the least amount of inventory. Lean is all about creating more value with fewer resources. Its principles, methodologies, and process have helped hundreds, possibly thousands of manufacturers in all sizes and industries cut waste and inventories while speeding up production.
However, for all the benefits that can come from adopting a Lean business model, operating with too tight an inventory can cause pushback with some customers. Pressure to maintain more inventory than the manufacturer would like often results from a customer’s inability to plan accurately and the desire to reduce lead times as much as possible. However, maintaining too much inventory, of course, runs counter to the very core of Lean manufacturing principles.
Effective Strategies For Minimizing Customer Interference
One of the most effective strategies for minimizing customer disruption of your production schedule is to spend the time and effort to really understand their manufacturing and inventory needs, sales cycles, and distribution. It becomes easier to anticipate customer production and scheduling needs and avoid disruption when you have a comprehensive picture of how their sales and distribution system works.
Computer-driven, automated processes have enabled manufacturing processes to run at very high speeds, with constant pressure from customers to reduce lead times even further. To accommodate this high level of manufacturing speed and production schedule timing, it can be valuable to have customers provide you with their forecasts. The data from these can be imported into a flexible ERP system to more accurately evaluate material needs and production schedule requirements.
By integrating your customers’ forecasting into your resource planning and production scheduling system you can better react to their needs and even anticipate changes or other potential glitches that could disrupt your production schedule. The result? The optimal amount of production items — from raw materials to subassemblies — can be maintained in inventory to support the smooth flow of materials throughout the manufacturing process.
The Positive Power Of An ERP System
How well you maintain and utilize your ERP system directly affects your ability to react positively to any customer changes that can potentially disrupt your production schedule. For example, you can minimize disruptions by more effectively prioritizing your production schedule and proactively addressing customer needs. This can be accomplished by using an integrated scheduler tool in your ERP system and focusing on products that actually ship out the door. An up-to-date ERP system enables you to quickly see where you need to add or shift capacity to accommodate customer requirements.
The right ERP system, properly implemented, provides the flexibility to run “what if” scenarios that can help you determine how changes will impact your production schedule. You can then communicate with customers in a timely manner to avoid unnecessary changes, or inform them of additional costs incurred by unforeseen last-minute revisions early enough in the production cycle to help avoid damaging customer relations. Good customer communications are key for building and maintaining a successful and profitable relationship.
Balancing Customer Wants With Production Needs
Developing a sound ERP strategy that reflects the priorities of Lean manufacturing with good customer relations is a careful balancing act. End-to-end manufacturing process visibility that comes with a well-maintained, sophisticated ERP system enables you to stay ahead of most manufacturing issues or help you make well-informed decisions to minimize their impact.
Balancing the priorities of providing best-in-class customer service with Lean methodologies can be challenging, but done successfully, it can help ensure success and profitability.
Jaime Bzdok is a senior level consultant for Visual Business Solutions, delivering operational excellence and solutions to manufacturing clients world-wide. Jaime draws upon her vast 23+ years’ experience in manufacturing to successfully implement ERP, focused on long-term partnerships and continuous improvement; guiding manufacturers along a clear and practical path to who they want to be.