Dusty Alexander is president and CEO, and Mike Melzer is vice president, operations, for Global Shop Solutions (The Woodslands, TX), a developer of ERP software solutions for manufacturers.
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Shop-Floor Productivity PASSWORD
ME: How can ERP software improve machine shop ef- ficiencies and productivity? Dusty Alexander: At Global Shop, we say ‘if you can mea- sure it, you can gain efficiencies by sharing it.’ And that’s the essence of ERP software—putting real-time information in the hands of people when they need it, so they can run the shop floor more efficiently. ERP creates real-time workcenter efficiencies in many ways. It allows machinists to electronically clock on the job at their workstations. As soon as a job is fin-
and efficiencies between each machine so that it doesn’t have to be done manually. ME: What are some key trends in ERP for manufacturing? Alexander: Going paperless. With ERP, having everything in one integrated system eliminates the need for separate spreadsheets, databases, and the double entry that goes along with them. With all the data electronically available at every workstation, there’s no need for printed documents on the shop floor.
“We say ‘if you can measure it, you can gain efficiencies by sharing it.’ And that’s the essence of ERP software—putting real-time information in the hands of people when they need it, so they can run the shop floor more efficiently.”
ished, you can log into the system and instantly compare how you did with what you estimated. And at any point in time, you can look at a workcenter and see who’s running what job and how long it’s projected to take. Mike Melzer: ERP also gives you real-time access to job-
related documents, such as drawings, part specifications, or even videos on how to set up the machine. Operators don’t have to walk all over the shop floor to find the docu- ments they need because they’re accessible right from their workstations. ERP also encourages operators to work on multiple machines by tracking the work done on each machine. And Global Shop automatically calculates costs
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ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | April 2013
This goes hand-in-hand with the trend of document control, which makes all the drawings and other job docu- mentation instantly available throughout the shop. The key is making sure two people can’t work on the same document at the same time. At Global Shop, our Document Control Vault prevents this from happening. When someone checks out a document from the vault, nobody else can access it until it gets checked back in. Most ERP systems require an expen- sive third-party package to achieve this level of document control. At Global Shop, we build it right into the system. Melzer: Mobile is another hot trend. With iPads, hand-held printers, and other wireless devices, you can do things on
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