Discrete manufacturing ERP software provides an integrated solution with the tools to help discrete manufacturers plan, execute and control production. It assists in addressing the challenges of high and low production environments, and achieving high levels of efficiency and profitability in the manufacture and assembly of components and finished products.
What is discrete manufacturing?
Discrete manufacturing is a mode of production of distinct individual products. These products are often made from components or larger assemblies. Two key points are that finished goods can be disassembled back into the original components and manufacturing processes can be started or stopped individually.
Discrete manufacturing challenges
This mode of production has its challenges.
- Controlling changes to product design
- Monitoring and measurement of manufacturing processes
- Balancing inventory investment with production and customer requirements
- Ensuring the quality of raw materials and items during production
- Reducing lead times
What is discrete manufacturing ERP?
A discrete manufacturing ERP system is designed for manufacturers to manage production and to connect the shop floor with the rest of the business. It provides real-time visibility across the organization to improve processes, workflows, and decision-making. Discrete manufacturing ERP delivers both business and manufacturing functionality, such as production and inventory management, material requirements, quality control, and traceability. It integrates departments with a single database for better collaboration and decision-making.
Key functions of discrete manufacturing ERP
Discrete manufacturing ERP comprises not only those functions, like finance, that are common to other ERP systems, but also specific functions that a manufacturer needs to run production efficiently and profitability.
Control product design changes
Product management and ongoing development of new and better products are integral to the industry. Discrete manufacturers need a change control function to streamline and apply controls over design-to-market processes. They also need tools to record and track new and modified components and process changes, how changes affect costs, and control over routings and approval processes. This must also include version control, security, audibility, and provide visual details of revisions.
Production control
Today’s manufacturer needs to be agile, flexible and responsive, and that requires software and tools so that production processes are as efficient as possible.
Discrete manufacturing ERP must be able to manage different types of production.
- Units that are produced in low volume with high complexity. This results in the need for a flexible manufacturing system that can improve quality and time-to-market speed while cutting costs.
- Units produced in high volumes with low complexity. This type of production relies on efficient inventory control, accurate lead times and reducing materials costs and waste.
Bill of Materials
Discrete manufacturers need a system to ensure the correct materials are used and that manufacturing processes are controlled. A Bill of Materials (BOM) module manages everything needed to make a product, such as raw materials, subassemblies, and screws. A BOM provides the hierarchy and relationships of components and subassemblies, and enables manufacturers to streamline workflows, optimize resource allocation, and minimize waste.
BOMs are also important tools for cost management and quality control. By precisely quantifying each component, manufacturers can accurately estimate production costs and identify cost-saving opportunities. By specifying quality standards, BOMs ensure the integrity and consistency of the final product.
Routing
The production routing lists the operations that must be performed at a specific time, and the equipment or work center used to perform the specific task.
Work-in-Progress
Work in Progress job data provides the planned and actual operation start and finish dates. It can give manufacturers the information to identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks in production.
Manufacturing Operations
Manufacturing operations is a module in discrete manufacturing ERP that provides complete manufacturing lifecycle management from planning, scheduling, publishing, collecting, tracking and analysing in order to optimise and improve manufacturing operations. This module includes automated shop floor data collection from connected machinery, and shop floor staff inputting information into the system.
Manufacturing operations provides real-time shop floor visibility, reduces bottlenecks and increases productivity. It captures and measures critical manufacturing activities such as labour hours, materials issued, quantities reported, and scrap. It gives production managers visibility and control of the shop floor to prevent problems such as overruns, downtime, poor employee or machine performance, and excessive scrap from occurring.
Inventory management
Discrete manufacturers need to keep track of parts, assemblies and completed products. Inventory management is one of the key systems to ensure inventory is managed and costs are controlled. Without inventory visibility, many aspects of the manufacturing chain cannot operate efficiently. As the business gets more complicated, with more manufacturing locations and warehouses, inventory management becomes a necessity.
For example, some discrete manufacturers have to handle call-offs – a customer purchase order for multiple deliveries over time. To maintain product integrity and financial control, an inventory management system can assign the manufactured goods to specific lot numbers for later distribution.
Material requirements planning
Material requirements planning (MRP) offers visibility into the materials to fulfil current and future supply and demand. MRP helps to identify what is needed and when, based on known lead times and requirement dates. It helps to make better purchasing and production decisions and reduce excess and obsolete inventories.
Quality control
Companies know that they need to manage and control the quality of their products. A quality control module in a discrete manufacturing ERP enables manufacturers to implement continuous improvement.
Raw materials and manufactured products often vary in grade and quality so quality control is essential to reduce waste and defects. A quality control system enables the tracking of materials from purchase through production to customer delivery to ensure quality is maintained throughout the chain.
Not only does the quality of products need to be managed, manufacturers also need to track the supplier performance in terms of the quality of goods they supply.
Traceability
Traceability is becoming increasingly important for many manufacturers. These manufacturers should be able to track lot numbers from suppliers’ raw materials, and how those lots are processed and then shipped as finished goods. If product quality is compromised, it is important to be able to track back to the original supplier, identify other products which may have a similar problem, and then either manage the product return process or create a product recall, which entails knowing which customers received defective products and then replacing them.
How Discrete Manufacturing ERP optimizes production
A discrete manufacturing ERP enables the automation, monitoring and management of processes to ensure the manufacturing chain operates efficiently from end to end. As manufacturers move towards methodologies like LEAN and Industry 4.0, they need a system to execute operations to achieve their goals.
