Lean enterprise resource planning

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão IndustrialThis essay focus on Lean Management domain, following the ERP business application perspective linked with Lean Supply Chain, Lean Manufacturing and Lean Accounting, build on an electronic equipment manufacture company. Lean authors, consultants, managers and thinkers were studied to select and adopt the best Lean strategies taking in account the traditional business management ERP tool. The detected gaps were eliminated and/or reduced by developing solutions and adopting techniques based on Lean principles. Lean manufacturing practices were extended into the supply chain contributing now as a horizontal collaboration tool to all enterprise management functions,vendors and customers. Implementing Lean Accounting techniques allowed an increase of the stream value return, especially in terms of better capacity management capabilities,due decision make based also on non financial metrics. Due these Lean solutions, the company ERP system can be streamlined to perform the business shift and one of the most important enterprise assets can meet the strategic goals defined for Lean Enterprise Resource Planning. Therefore this assay proposes the implementation of this Lean strategy to turn into a lean company, more agile and proactive, to rapidly address the constant changes in business landscape

Multi-Plant Assembly Planning Model in Collaborative Manufacturing and Commerce Systems

With emerging e-business models in a global supply chain, the components or parts of a product may be distributed and produced at various plants in a collaborative way for the purpose of expanding capacity and reducing costs. For an assembled product, the assembly operations for assembling the product may be performed at different assembly plants at various geographical locations. In the collaborative commerce environment, it is required to develop a multi-plant assembly planning model for orgaizing and distributing the assembly operations to the suitable plants for completing the final product. In this research, a multi-plant assembly planning model for generating and evaluating the multi-plant assembly sequences is presented. A graph-based model is developed to model and generate the assembly sequences. The feasible assembly sequences are analyzed and evaluated based on several cost objectives. The multi-plant assembly planning model is formulated with an aim of minimizing the total of assembly costs and multiplant costs. As a result, the optimized multi-plant assembly sequences can be obtained and each of the assembly operations is assigned to the suitable plant with a minimized cost. Example parts are tested and discussed

Implementação de uma solução de planeamento e controlo de produção num sistema SAP R/3

Atualmente, o contexto empresarial é dinâmico e muito competitivo. Muitas empresas de produção tentam estar mais próximas dos seus clientes e, assim, entregar produtos e serviços de valor acrescentado no menor tempo possível. No entanto, o desafio é intenso e requer uma forte integração de todas as áreas de um processo de negócio. Para conseguir isso, as empresas devem possuir sistemas eficientes de planeamento e controlo da produção que permitam planear todos os seus processos. Os sistemas de planeamento de recursos empresariais, conhecidos por ERPs, permitem integrar todas as áreas e departamentos de negócios numa única plataforma e fornecer uma visão global dos processos de negócios, apoiando assim o processo de tomada de decisão. O presente trabalho pretende demonstrar de que forma decorreu um projeto de consultoria na implementação de uma solução de Planeamento e Controlo de Produção num sistema ERP, o SAP. Esse projeto, realizado pela empresa ROFF Consultores Independentes, SA, teve lugar numa empresa de produção de bens de consumo, especificamente vinhos para o mercado nacional e exportação. A empresa já utilizava o sistema SAP R/3 em alguns processos, no entanto não utilizava as funcionalidades do sistema para melhorar o seu planeamento e controlo de produção, que se apresentava ineficiente e desintegrado com os restantes processos de negócio. Inserido numa equipa de consultores SAP, foi realizado o processo de análise e planeamento pré-implementação e, posteriormente, foram elaborados e conduzidos módulos de formação junto aos potenciais utilizadores da ferramenta de planeamento da produção na empresa cliente, compondo estes o objeto do presente trabalho. Para o efeito, recorreu-se a uma metodologia específica do vendedor de software SAP, de nome “ASAP (Accelerated SAP)”, e foram utilizadas as ferramentas standard do módulo SAP, PP – Production Planning, nomeadamente o MRP (Material Requirements Planning) e o CRP (Capacity Requirements Planning). O propósito principal do projeto era, portanto, melhorar o processo de planeamento e controlo de produção da empresa cliente, e tentar integrar de forma mais eficiente este com os outros processos de negócio como, por exemplo, vendas e compras, utilizando as funcionalidades de um sistema integrado de gestão.Nowadays, the business environment is dynamic and very competitive. Many manufacturing companies are trying to get closer to the costumer and deliver value added products and services in the shortest possible time. However, the challenge is intense and requires a strong integration across all functions of a business process. To achieve that, companies must have efficient planning and control systems that enable them to have all the processes planned in only one integrated system. Enterprise resource planning systems help to integrate all the business areas and departments in just one platform and give a global vision of the business processes and support decision-making situations. This report presents the development of a consulting project for implementing a Production Planning and Control solution in an SAP ERP system. The project was conducted by ROFF Consultores Independentes, SA for a company that produces consumer goods company, which main business is the production of wines for the national and international markets. The company was already using the SAP R/3 system in some processes, however they weren´t using the system's features to improve their production planning and control, which proved to be inefficient and was not integrated with the other business processes. Inserted in a team of SAP consultants, the pre-implementation analysis and planning process were carried out and, subsequently, training modules were developed and conducted with potential users of the production planning tool in the client company, making these the object of the present work. For this purpose, a specific methodology of the SAP software provider, called “ASAP (Accelerated SAP)” was followed, and the standard tools of the SAP module, PP - Production Planning were used, namely MRP (Material Requirements Planning) and the CRP (Capacity Requirements Planning). The main purpose of the project was thus to improve the production company's planning and control process, and to try to integrate it more efficiently with other business processes, such as sales and purchases, using the features of an integrated management system.Mestrado em Engenharia e Gestão Industria

A multivariate approach for multi-step demand forecasting in assembly industries: Empirical evidence from an automotive supply chain

PreprintDemand forecasting works as a basis for operating, business and production planning decisions in many supply chain contexts. Yet, how to accurately predict the manufacturer's demand for components in the presence of end-customer demand uncertainty remains poorly understood. Assigning the proper order quantities of components to suppliers thus becomes a nontrivial task, with a significant impact on planning, capacity and inventory-related costs. This paper introduces a multivariate approach to predict manufacturer's demand for components throughout multiple forecast horizons using different leading indicators of demand shifts. We compare the autoregressive integrated moving average model with exogenous inputs (ARIMAX) with Machine Learning (ML) models. Using a real case study, we empirically evaluate the forecasting and supply chain performance of the multivariate regression models over the component's life-cycle. The experiments show that the proposed multivariate approach provides superior forecasting and inventory performance compared with traditional univariate benchmarks. Moreover, it reveals applicable throughout the component's life-cycle, not just to a single stage. Particularly, we found that demand signals at the beginning of the life-cycle are predicted better by the ARIMAX model, but it is outperformed by ML-based models in later life-cycle stages.INCT-EN - Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia para Excitotoxicidade e Neuroproteção(UIDB/00319/2020

Digitization of Business for Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

Digitalization is critical for the long-term viability of small businesses in the new economy. As global digitalization accelerates, Malaysian SMEs must embrace the digital economy to contribute to economic growth. A critical issue confronting SMEs in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic is adopting a digital business model. This study examines the importance of embedding digital technology into business models among SMEs, which has been shown to increase long-term productivity and sustainability. Technology adoption will help close the productivity gap between SMEs and large corporations by increasing capacity and capability for greater competitiveness and innovation. Keywords: Small-Medium Enterprise (SME); digitalization; resource-based view; performance eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i19.327

Integrating supply and demand-side management in renewable-based energy systems

Demand-Response (DR) has emerged as a valuable resource option for balancing electricity supply and demand. However, traditional power system models have neglected to include DR within long-term expansion problems. We can summarize our scientific contributions in the following aspects: (i) design of a new integrated co-optimization planning model for supply and demand coordination; (ii) assessment of the technical and economic impact of DR for systems with a high share of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and (iii) proposal of the ‘opportunity cost’ concept for computing the price of not meeting the demand. Findings of this research support the hypothesis that DR scenarios reveal a high potential for delaying future investments in power capacity compared to scenario BAU (Business as Usual). However, it was found a limited potential of DR to integrate additional renewable plants. This research has provided further evidence concerning the potential of DR to decrease the levels of CO2 emissions that is strictly related to the reduced need for fossil fuel thermal power plants. Given the high RES share, uncertainties related to future weather conditions must be however highlighted. This study concludes on the importance of DR for power systems planning and lays the groundwork for future research.This work is supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Brazil. This work has been supported by FCT e Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/202

Practices for strategic capacity management in Malaysian manufacturing firms

While the notion of manufacturing capabilities is a long-standing notion in research on operations management, its actual implementation and management has been hardly researched. Five case studies in Malaysia offered the opportunity to examine the practice of manufacturing managers with regard to strategic capability management. The data collection and analysis was structured by using the notion of Strategic Capacity Management. Whereas traditionally literature has demonstrated the beneficial impact of an appropriate manufacturing strategy on the business strategy and performance, the study highlights the difficulty of managers to set the strategy, let alone implementing it. This is partly caused by the immense pressure of customers in these dominantly Make-To-Order environments for SMEs. Current concepts for manufacturing capabilities have insufficiently accounted this phenomenon and an outline of a research agenda is presented

Community Development Evaluation Storymap and Legend

Community based organizations, funders, and intermediary organizations working in the community development field have a shared interest in building stronger organizations and stronger communities. Through evaluation these organizations can learn how their programs and activities contribute to the achievement of these goals, and how to improve their effectiveness and the well-being of their communities. Yet, evaluation is rarely seen as part of a non-judgemental organizational learning process. Instead, the term "evaluation" has often generated anxiety and confusion. The Community Development Storymap project is a response to those concerns.Illustrations found in this document were produced by Grove Consultants

Infrastructure and growth in Africa

The goal of the paper is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the impact of infrastructure development on growth in African countries. Based on econometric estimates for a sample of 136 countries from 1960-2005, the authors evaluate the impact on per capita growth of faster accumulation of infrastructure stocks and of enhancement in the quality of infrastructure services for 39 African countries in three key infrastructure sectors: telecommunications, electricity, and roads. Using an econometric technique suitable for dynamic panel data models and likely endogenous regressors, the authors find that infrastructure stocks and service quality boost economic growth. The growth payoff of reaching the infrastructure development of the African leader (Mauritius) is 1.1 percent of GDP per year in North Africa and 2.3 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa, with most of the contribution coming from more, rather than better, infrastructure. Across Africa, infrastructure contributed 99 basis points to per capita economic growth, versus 68 points for other structural policies. Most of the contribution came from increases in stocks (89 basis points), versus quality improvements (10 basis points). The findings show that growth is positively affected by the volume of infrastructure stocks and the quality of infrastructure services; simulations show that our empirical findings are significant statistically and economically. Identifying areas of opportunity to generate productivity growth, the authors find that African countries are likely to gain more from larger stocks of infrastructure than from enhancements in the quality of existing infrastructure. The payoffs are largest for telephone density, electricity-generating capacity, road-network length, and road quality.Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Infrastructure Economics,E-Business,Private Participation in Infrastructure,Non Bank Financial Institutions

Trusting in Change

Describes the background to a series of changes that led the foundation, beginning in 2000, to implement a new grantmaking approach