An integrated solution addressing a combination of complex discrete manufacturing challenges.
The patented 4C@SITE solution allows any complex discrete manufacturer to compete more effectively in today's global manufacturing environment. It transforms the factory into a reliable, just-in-time profit center that broadens strategic possibilities through new levels of executional efficiency.
4C@SITE reflects reality. It understands that machine capacity is finite and that resources are not always available. 4C uses time and availability to level the load across available resources. It prioritizes on-time completions and responds to changes in demand and resource availability in real time.
4C@SITE gives you unprecedented real-time visibility into factory operations, illuminating what is often the "black hole" of the company supply chain. It allows the entire organization to gain situational awareness of the issues affecting operational performance and on-time customer satisfaction. Even more importantly, 4C also gives plant personnel the opportunity to act on contentions and bottlenecks before they can cause problems.
· Shorter customer lead times
· Increasingly variable order quantities
· Higher mix of products
· Need for accurate forecasting of overall demand
· Problems with on-time delivery
· Lack of real-time operational visibility
· Hard-to-manage spreadsheet scheduling
· Limited knowledge of expected order lateness status
· Communication challenges between operations and sales
· Hard-to-schedule specialized skills and tools
· Repeated fire-fighting on the shop floor
· Non-user friendly data
Knowing what you can do: Smart Jobs™ and multi-dimensional "Ping Pong" Scheduling
4C@SITE's unique technology allows complex manufacturers to keep up with dynamic demand and resource availability. It uses order routing details to create Smart Jobs, breaking down each order, or job, into a number of operations and identifying each operation's work center, labor, roving tool and material requirements. Each Smart Job creates a realistic schedule of what can be done, dynamically matching each of its operation's needs to the relevant resources. It reserves resources for the appropriate available time, while always recognizing the routing sequence or linkage of operational steps for on-time completion. Algorithmically-driven Smart Jobs, in effect, supervise and traffic themselves through the manufacturing process.
"Ping-Pong" Scheduling is the process of calculating all Smart Job reservations by backward scheduling the routing series from the requested ship date, making a series of operational reservations. If there is not enough time between the requested ship date and now, 4C will forward schedule starting at the dispatch freeze threshold using ship date priority to bump other jobs that can be done at another time without becoming late.
4C@SITE then consolidates and organizes all reservations, presenting a dynamic scheduling board and operational dispatch screens that provide a visual map of what can happen at each workcenter given all limitations or constraints.
"Ping-Pong" Scheduling and Smart Jobs mitigate the chaos created by:
· Smaller, more frequent order patterns
· Scheduling multiple product lines (value streams)
· Multiple product routings
· Resource competition
· Moving bottlenecks due to demand changes
· Shop floor reality versus ERP-based expectations
· "Invisible" bottlenecks
Knowing where you are: real-time execution tracking.
4C@SITE provides real-time status of work in process (WIP) through its integrated manufacturing execution (MES) for discrete operations. 4C captures the status of each operation's completion, including operational start and stop times, scrap, rework, completed and partially completed quantities and more. Data input can be entered by normal or touch screens, bar coding, or PLC data collection.
Operation status integrates with 4C's dynamic scheduling for constant adjustment to the queue of operations at each workcenter, to provide situational awareness of all operations and work center availability. The nView capacity utilization screen graphically provides visibility into upcoming workload and constraints.
The scheduling board and nView's forward-looking capabilities allow:
· Graphically-displayed management visibility and foresight
· Awareness of work not completed, so time crunches can be avoided
· Resolution of bottlenecks before they delay shipments
· Visibility of over- and underutilized assets that can be duplicated or redeployed
· Common awareness of all current and future activity throughout company
Keeping the business on course: KPI and OLAP data analysis
4C@SITE collects all data related to execution, providing a rich database for use in Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and OLAP analysis. With 4C's variable timeline KPI dashboard, multiple parameters can be analyzed simultaneously with respect to the KPI being studied. In addition, multiple hierarchies can be drilled in a single analysis.
Know which orders are on-time, late, or going to be late
The vast majority of manufacturing technology systems are unable to provide an accurate view of order on-time status. 4C@SITE, however, shows how many and which orders will be late, and how late each will be. 4C's what-if analysis allows you to play out potential scenarios, adding resources or changing operations to solve issues, and showing you how your actions will affect lateness before you apply them to the live schedule.
