Flexware Innovation

My passion is to help manufacturing companies make good decisions about manufacturing systems and have those systems provide good value the the company.  I like to refer to it sometimes as “I try to keep people from doing stupid stuff.”  Well today I was too late.

I met with a smaller company today that I have been watching from afar for a while.  They have spent WAY TOO MUCH money on a simple application that they want to help them run manufacturing better.  This application has some functionality that exists in an old FileMaker Pro database application and the task was to bring forward that functionality and add to it.

The developer they hired to write the new application chose Oracle (the free express version) because that is what they knew.  Now the company is between a rock and a hard place because the developer is not done, they are way over budget, the application is not tested yet, and there is more scope they would really like to complete!!!

I was too late!  Tune in next post for what I would have done differently…

It was announced this week…

http://www.mbtmag.com/article/CA6570888.html?nid=3436&rid=1258896918

SAP to buy Visiprise.  Those of us in the business knew it was coming at some point, and it happened.  What will be really interesting is to see what this does to the relationships SAP has with other key players in the industry like Camstar, Apriso, Wonderware, Rockwell, etc.  All of these companies have some type of technical or strategic relationship with SAP so they can all say they can “connect to SAP with their MES solutions.”

So now what?  It was hard to argue with a customer that says something like “I spent $XXM on SAP to run my business and if I can leverage that investment to help me run my operations better, that is what I am going to do.”  In the mid to long term, it is going to be very hard to convince a company to use a different MES solution other than Visiprise if they are an SAP user.

I have often wondered who is going to “win” in the MES space – ERP or the Automation vendors.  This move would appear to be a swing in the direction of ERP winning the battle for MES.  I have been silent on posts for a while, but this will provide some good thoughts in the upcoming weeks.

I am constantly reminded that with risky projects, new ventures, or unknown territory that it is smart to start small and build on successes – especially when there are technical challenges.

With MES projects, there are so many factors.  I walked into our conference room yesterday and saw our guys working on a quote for a customer.  The list of risks they were talking over filled on whole white board.

We keep getting taught this lesson, but we need to start small, get something working very solidly, and then move on from there.  This approach lessons the risk for our customers and our team.

There is no substitute for good requirements, good specifications, and a good selection process in any IT project. Especially those projects that are complex and touch so many people and disciplines, like MES projects.

I often liken MES projects to building a house. It isn’t enough to go to a custom builder and give them requirements like this:

• 5 bedrooms
• 4 full baths
• 3 car garage
• 5,500 square feet
• Oh, and we want this to be our dream home.

NO, NO, NO! We all know that a builder would laugh you out of his office and say, “Come back with some architectural blueprints, some specifications, and a budget.” Even if the builder was a Design Build firm, you would expect the clock to start then, and to pay for the design of your new home!

However, so many times I see companies trying to do the same thing with MES projects. Requirements go something like this:

• OEE
• Tracking and Genealogy
• Reporting (including drill-down and ad-hoc reports)
• Schedule dispatch
• Label printing
• NO, NO, NO! There is no way the customer is going to get what they want. There is no way they are going to get an apples-to-apples comparison from different vendors.

In coming posts, I will explore how manufacturing companies can do a better job of laying out requirements. Who knows, maybe we will even post some templates!

I read all the time that the “surveys show that ERP systems are the key to improved corporate performance.”

I have a slightly different opinion.

While I believe that standardizing, condensing, purging and streamlining can enhance business performance; I don’t think implementing an ERP system is the cause of all of these changes – and therefore improvements.  I think companies that chose to replace their legacy system with a modern ERP solution, are improving their business in many ways besides focusing on the ERP implementation.  Lets look at some other possible factors:

1. Companies that put in new ERP systems are probably already making money.  Most struggling companies don’t say “lets put in a new ERP, that is our key to turning this thing around.”

2. Companies that put in a new ERP system are improving many parts of their business and the support of a modern, consolidated solution helps in those improvements.

3.   This is just a hunch, but most people in leadership that choose to implement a new ERP system have done it before.  It happens, but I’ll bet it is rare to have the legacy leadership choose to move away from the legacy systems.  More often, there is a change in leadership, ownership, etc. that leads to these changes.

I believe modern systems can definitely have positive affects on the business.  However, I think the positive performance of these companies due to many factors.

There is a debate brewing about wether ERP or the large automation/software vendors like Rockwell, GE Fanuc, Siemens, and Wonderware are going to “win” in the MES space.

I would be curious to hear what everyone thinks about this?

We once had a MES project with a large medical devices company.  This was a great project, that started well, and then the project sponsor went on vacation.  After a week he did not return, then two weeks, then three….

Then, not at all.

We all (Flexware and the customer) found out the way he had justified the MES project was by using some budget left over from another project.  They certainly needed the MES, and we all knew this was going to be a great solution.  These games get played with capital money sometimes, but this one got some real scrutiny when this guy left the company.  The project manager we were working for (she worked for the sponsor that left) called us and asked us to stop our work immediately.

The big meeting….

So here we are, a small company with this large project, stalled.  The Plant Manager called a meeting and asked us (now this was our problem) how we were going to justify this project.  He said “If you can’t tell me right now how much this project is going save me, we are not going to do it.”  Of course, he meant finish it.  I replied by saying “Justifying MES systems is very difficult and requires good data, great understanding of the problems and opportunities, and will take some time.  I can have the project finished in the amount of time it will take to do the justification.”

After some more flaming hoops, we got to finish the project and it all ended well.  It is a constant reminder that sometimes MES takes vision and faith.  I liken it to on-line banking.  There were probably many “old-school” banks that probably scoffed when someone said “you better get online banking up and running here or you may be out of business.”  “Where is the ROI?  Prove it to me!”, they said.  I hope they took the leap of faith and invested in these improvements, because if not, they may be watching from the sidelines.

Same goes for manufacturing and MES investments.  Sometimes it is ROI, vision, and faith combined that gets these projects done.  Sometimes it is leftover capital budget.

I have been very impressed with Steve Bell and his approach. Check out his website at www.steadyimprovement.com.

Also, you can get his book here: Amazon.com

http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2008/03/today-i-left-th.html

Referring to Kevin’s article, I was impressed a few weeks ago when I witnessed the Mac out performing a PC….

We were in a training class with Wonderware Central, our local Wonderware distributor.  The instructor was using a Mac with VMware’s fusion product running the Wonderware software.  We were all stepping through a demo, and when it came time to “publish” our work (something that required a little crunching), we all did it at the same time.

To my amazement, the Mac with the VMware software was done faster than my Sony Vaio, and a couple of my developer’s Dell laptops.

The lines are getting blurry…

http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2008/03/today-i-left-th.html

At least once a month I have a customer say something like “That is like paying you to do a quote.” Or, “I am not going to pay you to do a quote.”

MES solutions are among the toughest Manufacturing IT projects out there. They touch IT, Operations, Automation and Engineering, Quality, ERP, and most of all PEOPLE! So, approaching a MES project without a plan, some specifications, a few requirements, or at least something written down, is sure disaster.

Here is my house analogy:

You want a new custom home, or at least you think you are ready to embark on the journey. You are not sure what it is going to cost, but you think you know what you want. You show up to talk with the builder with no prints, no specs, knowing nothing about the types of cabinets, fixtures, carpet, or appliances that you want, and you want the builder to tell you how much it is going to cost. You sit down with the builder and start saying things like “we want 3 bedrooms and 3 full-bathrooms.” Image the builder’s position….do you want granite counters? Walk-in showers? Closets the size of small bedrooms? How is he supposed to help you if you have not defined your requirements?

In the house analogy, this is where the designer and/or architect come into play. You could also use a builder that does “Design-Build.” In either case, you typically define what it is you want so that you can get what you want from the final result. Also, this allows you to go get “apples-to-apples” quotes from multiple builders.

As for MES, most manufacturers don’t know where to start in defining their MES requirements. And, many vendors are eager to get started on something, so they will start building something for the manufacturer without designing the entire solution. In our house analogy, this is what I call the Tree House analogy. If you don’t plan it out up front, your house will start looking like a tree house all thrown together.

Final Suggestions:

• Define your MES Requirements up front – if you don’t know how to do this, call me.
• With your definition in hand, seek input from a few builders.
• Start Small, but with a final design in mind.