Lean Manufacturing leads to fatter profits
Manufacturers enjoy faster, tighter, and leaner processes with Microsoft technologies
Updated: February 20, 2006
It isn't easy to maintain efficient operations in today's manufacturing environment. The typical manufacturing plant includes multiple vendors, multiple interfaces, complex information flows, and asynchronous processing, all of which can make it difficult for your people to get visibility into orders, materials, and production. To achieve operational performance and maintain their competitive edge, manufacturers must systematically identify and eliminate plant floor inefficiencies.
This "lean manufacturing" strategy requires a four-step cycle of continuous improvement:
| • | Value stream mapping documents each step in the process, its inputs and outputs. |
| • | Analysis and modeling identifies tasks that could be simplified or cut altogether. |
| • | Implementation and continuous improvement actualizes change on the plant floor. |
| • | Management and reporting evaluates the results and begins the cycle again. |
Problems can occur, though, when any part of the process is not fully understood and supported by managers, executives, and plant floor workers. People at each level of the manufacturing process must have the information and tools they need to support lean manufacturing, and these tools must work together to integrate and enhance the planning, analysis, implementation, and reporting of the lean manufacturing cycle.
Microsoft Partner solutions streamline production
Now there is a new generation of plant-floor management products that deliver exactly what manufacturers need to design, implement, and sustain a lean manufacturing profile. Industry specialists such as eBots and the Orlando Software Group have built custom solutions on standard Microsoft products and technologies—including Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server, Microsoft Visio, and Microsoft Office—to ensure data reliability, reduce the systems learning curve, and integrate information across the plant floor.
These software solutions support successful lean manufacturing efforts by providing:
| • | Enhanced interoperability. Building on industry-standard Microsoft technology promotes interoperability across systems so people can access the data they need regardless of where it resides. |
| • | Increased visibility. Manufacturers can more easily view data across the supply chain with solutions built on Microsoft .NET-connected software. |
| • | Advanced analysis. Solutions built on the Microsoft platform offer manufacturing firms scalable methods to create, analyze, and report on individual product value streams, or to roll them up into an enterprise-level reports. For example, managers can instantly transport data captured in SQL Server to SharePoint Portal Server for team analysis. |
| • | Actionable intelligence. Manufacturers can quickly convert generalized improvement opportunities into actionable and measurable project plans using popular Microsoft desktop productivity tools, such as Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel. |
Achieve Peak Performance with Microsoft technologies
The Microsoft platform and Microsoft .NET technologies deliver the integration, communication, and collaboration capabilities that manufacturers need to compete effectively in an increasingly challenging global marketplace. Software partners with expertise in the manufacturing space have chosen to build their solutions on the Microsoft platform so their customers can take advantage of powerful Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server, and Microsoft Exchange Server.
Microsoft software is optimized to help manufacturers and the people who work for them achieve peak performance:
| • | The extensive use of Web services and XML schemas in the Microsoft platform empowers manufacturers to achieve their business goals without abandoning prior investments in automation systems, production processes, and other specialized systems. |
| • | Collaborative services provided by SharePoint Portal Server and Exchange Server make it easy for people to share data and collaborate with vendors and partners across the supply chain. |
| • | Adherence to open industry standards and manufacturing-specific standards such as OPC, S-99, S-95, radio frequency identification (RFID), OAGIS and UCCNet provide IT and development teams with a flexible architecture that supports their existing ERP, CRM, and other control systems. |
| • | Universally familiar project-management and data-management products such as Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel are easy to learn and already have a high level of adoption within the manufacturing supply chain. Microsoft Office provides standard software for delivering information across teams and enterprises. |
| • | Optimal security measures help to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility of plant floor data. In addition to shipping products with maximum security design, Microsoft provides regular updates and patches to make it easier to manage security. |
Learn more about Microsoft manufacturing partners
To learn more about solutions that can help you implement a lean manufacturing strategy at your plant, please contact one of our Microsoft partners.
If you want assistance in finding the right partner for your needs, please contact your Microsoft representative today.
