Manufacturing Operations

In the HTE industry, product requirements can change overnight. Product demand can shift rapidly, new product designs and engineering changes are continuous, and cost pressures drive scrutiny of every manufacturing operation.

Connectivity between all departments enables leaders to recognize the need for and implement changes quickly. Microsoft technology solutions provide secure, real-time communication among all departments, allowing agile decision making about how to adapt products and processes to react to changing conditions. Microsoft also provides solutions that tie engineering and sales information to manufacturing, for higher awareness and greater flexibility.

No other industry experiences cost pressures like those found in HTE. With razor-thin margins, leaders must squeeze all feasible efficiency out of their manufacturing operations. And rapidly changing demand requires an understanding of plant capacity throughout the organization for maximum utilization of resources.

Microsoft and its partners provide the ability to monitor in real time the state of manufacturing facilities. Bringing data together from virtually any source within an organization enables online analytical processing, so that decision makers can centrally define and manage organizational business logic. From simple ad-hoc analysis through sophisticated predictive analysis using familiar, easy-to-use Microsoft Office tools, rapidly changing information is available to people who need to make quick decisions.

With tight schedules, rapidly changing markets, and short product life cycles, manufacturing downtime can be a disaster. Without the ability to understand problems as they arise, valuable time can be lost before a problem is realized and corrected. Disruptions in manufacturing can impact the entire value chain, resulting in serious financial problems.

Microsoft and its partners provide real-time notification of issues in manufacturing. Alerts, scorecards, and reports can be pushed to the appropriate personnel via desktop or mobile devices as soon as issues arise. This allows corrective action to be taken immediately, mitigating what otherwise could be a catastrophic delay in addressing an issue. Collaborative tools provide a mechanism for distributed teams to meet and work through issues regardless of their location.

Managers cannot address problems if the right measurements aren't in place. Problems sometimes take days to discover, by which time disruptions in the value chain can grow into serious problems. Early detection of trends is necessary for manufacturers to react in time to avert downtime or product defects.

Microsoft solutions enable business leaders to plan for and react to variances and to use scorecards and alerts for at-a-glance analysis of the state of their manufacturing. Role-based access to information means the right information is delivered to the right personnel in an easy-to-understand, familiar environment, enabling rapid, educated decision making. Progress can be charted against key performance indicators, and real-time alerts can be generated for issues that need to be addressed immediately.