Open-Source ERP Software

There are some ERP software systems out there that are “configurable”. You’ll pay a lot of money for some of these systems, and then spend months learning how to configure them properly and get them configured to the point where they can do what you want them to do. It’s considerably more difficult than it would appear at first glance. Even some of your home-grown “I can do that with Access” IT people will have a difficult time with these systems, and it will take just as long as their Access project.

Real open-source ERP software gets you right into the middle of things, “into the weeds” if you will. Custom-tailored software, built on an open-source framework managed by the team performing the custom tailoring, won’t take as long to develop and the finished project will work even better because it was designed specifically for what you’re doing.

It’s also possible to take classes on frameworks such as this so your IT people can help with the management of the software. They’ll be able to track down minor bugs and glitches, and make changes as necessary, with the support of the framework’s development team when the need arises. This kind of support is unavailable with one of those expensive “configurable” ERP systems.

ERP software should assist you in managing your enterprise without that same software bogging you down in the details of its configuration in the first place. Getting a custom-tailored system up-and-running inside of a couple months, with support for another year, with your own people involved in its development and management … this will allow you to focus more on the business of running your business.

That’s really where your focus needs to be.

Artificial Intelligence in Production Scheduling Software

Let’s say you have a few production lines making individual items as part of an overall finished product. Your schedule ends up being all over the place. There are multiple processes, multiple people and multiple machine lines all feeding into the same areas where the finished product is assembled, tested and shipped. Looking at the schedule you’ve set up, either as part of a spreadsheet, a ‘manual’ system of pencil and paper (and lots of eraser marks) or even sticky notes on a painted piece of plywood, you really wonder how any kind of scheduling software could make any sense of what you do.

Production scheduling software can be smarter than you think.

Building artificial intelligence into a production scheduling system is a rather intelligent thing to do. It doesn’t matter how many production lines you have or how many other lines they feed into. The artificial intelligence already takes that into consideration. The intelligence looks at the current schedule and anything that needs to be added to it or deleted from it. It then starts mutating the schedule using a genetic algorithm, looking for the best possible solution for the current batch of jobs for the given lines. Once it finds the optimal solution, the artificial intelligence hands it back to you.

The production schedule it comes up with will likely be a bit different than what you might have done, so you may not recognize it. But the fact is, the schedule is there and, more importantly, it works.

Manual production scheduling systems are all well and good, and are certainly not something to be ignored. But if you want it done right, you’d better call in some artificial intelligence.

Manufacturing ERP Software: What Is It?

“Manufacturing ERP Software”. If you’ve been around manufacturing for any length of time, particularly if you’re a manager or if you’re in an IT department, you’ve probably heard this phrase mentioned somewhere. It seems quite a mouthful and is in fact rather catchy.

What does it really mean?

ERP stands for “Enterprise Resource Planning”. If you look at this web site you’ll find ERP includes management tools for a number of areas, including Financials, Customer Relation Management, Scheduling/Advanced Planning, Quality Assurance/Management, Supply Chain Management, Plant Level Performance Reporting, Business Intelligence, and Inventory, Warehouse and Distribution Management.

Manufacturing ERP looks at the entire organization as a whole, giving access to tools across the board for better managing the entire enterprise, not just one aspect of it. There’s nothing piece-meal about it. While it covers a number of different areas, that these areas interact isn’t something that can safely be ignored.

The problem with a lot of ERP software systems is that they’re either “canned” and users have to change how they do things to fit processes and such into the software’s box, or the software needs to be “configured” for the enterprise, which can take six months or more.

A custom-tailored ERP software system built from a well-constructed framework can take a lot less time to develop, be much less expensive, and can be designed to fit the organization’s needs, not the other way round.

This is what organizations really need anyway.

Location Identification in Warehouse Management Software

In developing a custom C# GPS application for deployment on Windows Mobile 6.x my mind tends to wander. It wanders and wonders about what else can be accomplished with this same technology that would be useful in other areas.

Logistics as it relates to Warehouse Managment Software is quite a large industry. Barcodes and RFID tags are used within a warehouse to track individual packages within the facility. As these are now largely wireless systems they’re exceedingly portable, unlike older wired systems which had to be used in-place as the packages went by. For the moment these systems will remain outside possble GPS use for reasons of accuracy (50-yard variables) and low satelite signal strength inside buildings. GPS tracking transponders are installed on trucks and trailers so the owners and operators can verify where shipments and drivers are at all times.

Only recently have managers realized these operations work best when custom-tailored software is developed to tie all these operations together for complete tracking. Parts, materials and finished products can now be tracked from the beginning of their use in a facility until they get to their final destination at a customer’s facility. And all this is accomplished within one software application designed for how the facility operates instead of attempting to change operations and workflows to match how the software operates.

It’s important to know where things are, particularly when you’re running a business. It’s even more important when you own that business. Custom-tailored Warehouse Management Software can certainly assist in this.

GPS and Scheduling Your Shipping

The majority of cell phones available today have built-in GPS functionality. While many phones that are manufacturer-specific and those that are much simpler only have GPS available for e911 functionality, phones which run the Windows Mobile operating system are apt to have GPS functions available for the user. Along with the applications which came with the phone and those available for retail, it’s also possible to develop programs for these phones via Microsoft’s development tools.

Custom-tailored production scheduling software can also involve using custom cell phone applications to ensure shipping occurs correctly. When a shipment is delivered the driver would turn on the cell phone and start a specially-built program. This program uses GPS to find the driver’s position, connect to the internet and, back at the factory, automatically record where the driver is and what time he or she is there.

There are many other possible aspects to this kind of software. The cell phone could also be used as a tracking device. If the driver is given "waypoints" such as specific rest and break liocations, these could also be logged back at the factory as check-in locations. This ensures the driver is where he or she is supposed to be.

One point about GPS software, even GPS software that is custom-built, is that it can be … what’s the word … persnicketty. It’s not so much the software as it is the GPS system itself. The satelites are located around the equator. Inside a building the signals from the satelites can be quite weak and the further you get from the equator the weaker those signals become. It takes signals from 3 – 4 satelites for a GPS receiver to calculate correct latitudes and longitudes. Within a wood-framed house at 41 degrees north, this author has found that while 4 satelites are available within the south end of the house, only one satelite can be seen within the north end of the house.

When working with GPS it’s important to acknowledge the system’s limitations. The system is good, it works, and it can obviously be made to work with production scheduling software. It just requires a lot of patience.

GPS and Manufacturing Software

I’m currently working on an application for Windows Mobile 6.1 which will allow drivers to login to a company’s custom-tailored software package while logging the driver’s location and the time he or she was at that location. One question I was asked about this was, “Isn’t this a bit intrusive?”

I don’t believe so. What’s really the difference between this and that same driver getting a signature from someone at a given location, along with a time-stamp on a piece of paper? There’s not much difference whatsoever, except that the other individual isn’t giving away a signature that could subsequently be used in an identity theft.

Asian automaker love bells, whistles, indicator lights, and charts and graphs. But early on, they drew the line at allowing electronic signatures on electronic documents as they felt they simply weren’t good enough. A real signature, even one with a wax sealm was considerably better for them. They’ve given in to electronic signatures recently. However, a GPS tracker with a time-stamp would actually be a better concept for their personal and manufacturing cultures.

Different cultures, both manufacturing and personal, require different software needs. This is why custom-tailored software is such a much better fit for manufacturers today.

Canned Software: What’s The Reality?

Let’s say you need software to run a cash register. You look around and find that even a big-box office supply mega superstore carries the whole thing in a box; Computer tower, monitor, mouse and keyboard, the cash drawer, a barcode scanner with a stand, even one of those nifty little receipt printers. The software in the box is also in a box, and has a whole list of features on the back of said box. You, or some teenager in the neighborhood who’s at least good with video games, sets it up in the store and you’re on your way.

Then you realize everything, including the banana bread your sister made in the rented and health-inspected kitchen on the east side, has to have a barcode label. So you need another printer, and some of those stickers on letter-sized wax paper so you can print the barcode labels. Which keep coming off. Or worse, when little kids with sticky fingers picks up that banana bread with a high-pitched, “But I want some!” The accounting side of the software has a few reports for accounting, but your accountant seems to think you need others. Taking an inventory is clunky at best … what you wouldn’t give for a crew with those handheld scanners like at the big supermarket, eh? Your staff keeps changing settings to create a “best” workflow for whomever is working at the time, adding new items is more a chore than it should be, and the only one who can get the whole system to work right is your twelve-year-old daughter.

True story, except that I wasn’t “some teenager in the neighborhood who’s at least good with video games” … And now that the store is hiring non-family members as staff, they want to know how to give everyone their own login. Honestly, I think I’m going to need to wipe the hard drive and start over. But first I need to backup the database …

Custom-tailored software would have prevented all of this. Even in a retail situation, canned software has a tendency to force the owners or managers of the business to change their workflow to match the software. This may be fine for word processing and spreadsheet programs, but when you get down to business with a business, this type of thing can be frustrating at best.

Let’s say you need a scheduling system. You pull out the “business”-grade software that came pre-installed on your “business”-grade computer and have a look. Basically, you can draw lines on groups of days. You could do that with a spreadsheet and get away with it. Still, you’ve got resources, tasks, … hmm, 3D gantt charts, very cool … Oh, “resources”  are people … that’s odd …

But what happens if you change something? What hapens if things need to work through in a different sequence? Can the software work through the changes and come up with a valid solution?

A better question would be, does the software follow your business and how it works, or are you being forced into the box the software came in?

The situation will likely be the former than the latter. That’s why custom-tailored software will always work better for your business. Unless that is, you’re just writing a letter.

“My Production Scheduling is rather simple …”

Is it? Is the production scheduling you need to do rather simple? You’ve been making those awnings and those canvas boat covers for years. And the crew in the sewing room can repair those damaged rental tents in no time flat. What in the world would you need a Production Scheduling software system for?

Well frankly, you need it for a lot of reasons.

In a lot of locations a tent and awning shop is seasonal. New orders can come it at any time through the year, and if the shop has a booth at the spring home & garden show there might be dozens of new awning orders. But then there’s the seasonal awning business. Awnings are stored in the winter at your storage facility and installed in the spring. Installations could easily take a month. Repairs have to be made if anything is found to be damaged prior to installation (danged mice …) Through the summer the tent rental season is just hopping, what with graduations in May, weddings and other events in the summer, and the fall festivals. In the fall the awnings have to be collected from the homes they were installed on in the spring, inspected for damage (high winds and driving rains can be nasty), dry-cleaned, and packed for the winter storage. Winter is also the best time to get all those tents inspected for damage from usage.

In all that we didn’t even mention the boat covers …

How are you keeping track of all this now? When the Mayor’s house calls and wants their awnings installed tomorrow morning as the Governor is coming for dinner and all three installation crews are already booked, how do you rearrange the schedule to accomodate such an event without going through all kinds of discontent?

If you just happened to have a Production Scheduling system with a bit of artificial intelligence to handle such matters, it would make life so much easier.

It’s a matter of perspective. You may not believe you need Production Scheduling software. But you very well might.

Think about it.

Production Scheduling Software: Not Just for Automated Manufacturing

For a year or so, from 2000 to 2001, I worked in a facility having hundreds of workers and almost zero automated processes in manufacturing. Faraday was a company that turned 125 that year, manufacturing synchronized clocks, modular and customized fire alarm control panels, and horns and strobes for those fire alarm systems. The majority of the manufacturing, sheet metal forming, welding and painting, horn and strobe assembly and testing, control panel circuit board assembly, and the final assembly of the control panels, these were all done by hand. The only real automated processes were some of the parts inserted on the circuit boards, and the wave soldering of the finished boards.

Each area had its own scheduler, its own schedule nearby showing workers and supervisors what was needed and when. We tried developing an automated scheduling system while I was there but it wouldn’t have helped by that point. Faraday was absorbed into Cerberus Pyrotronics the following year.

Part of the problem was an overall resistance to change. Some of the people in the facility had been there for decades. Some of the products, particularly the clocks and the older modular fire alarm control panels, had also been around for decades. Those of us working in R&D were working on smaller panels having embedded processors (8051-based, for those readers interested). We were making these panels as flexible as we could through a front panel programmability feature, and had started working on networking the panels for larger installations. But these weren’t seen by some as as solid products as the old standby.

The same went for the scheduling of the manufacturing. It was all done by hand on paper, with instructions being distributed as to what needed to be built and when it needed to be shipped.

Could Faraday have benefited from automated production scheduling software? Those of us who were in R&D thought so. The manufacturing operation was clunky at best, with the most modern piece of equipment being a new high-end wave soldering machine, about 15 feet long, with all kinds of features and abilities. Everything else was rather ancient, including the parts-insertion units for circuit board assembly.

Since replacing all that equipment with automated manufacturing was prohibitively expensive, Production Scheduling software to schedule the workers and their processes would have certainly brought a better efficiency to the facility overall. This would have certainly been helpful in regards to priority projects, and R&D projects needing one-time assembly of multiple panels for testing.

Yeah, that was an interesting job. I sure don’t miss all the bells, whistles and flashing lights though.

‘Roll Your Own’ Software; Worth It?

At some point in almost every discussion about purchasing software for a business, someone will think or even say, “Why not just make our own? I mean, we have all these IT people … it should be easy for one of them. Won’t take any time at all and it’ll save us money.”

Yes, it will take time, and it’s doubtful you’ll save any money whatsoever.

Software development takes time. Someone somewhere has sat down and figured out every piece of software you’ve ever used and they’ve done it from scratch. From solitaire games, to presentation software, to the software on the cash register at the grocery store, these applications have gone through multiple permutations over the years to get to how they operate today. Someone had to work through all the initial mechanics of what the software should do, came up with all the features, created the relational database, made it all work, debugged it, beta tested it, reworked it to get rid of the bugs …

This all takes time. A lot of time. A lot of hard work and patience.

And how much do you pay those IT folks? $15 an hour? Maybe $20 an hour? If they spend a total of six months working on this software just to get it running, how much does that work out to be?

Unless you plan to sell the finished software when you’re done developing it, there’s really no point in reinventing the wheel. There are developers out there, freelance and those in software companies, who do this every day for a living. The software you’re looking at developing has likely already been developed multiple times by multiple companies who have a history with that software and can do it quite well. Do you really think anything developed in-house will be able to stand up in comparison.

Probably not.

Software that’s custom-tailored, developed from a framework with customizable modules, by those who know what they’re doing … that’s the real deal. You’ll get a quicker turnaround, you’ll get exactly what you want, and it will look and act like the professional software you’d planned for in the first place.

Isn’t that what you really want anyway?