Resource Manager-DB for
Lean Manufacturing
User Solutions, Inc. Announces
Resource Manager-DB for Lean
Manufacturing
February 28, 2003: South Lyon, MI: User
Solutions, Inc., has announced immediate availability of
Resource Manager-DBTM for Lean Manufacturing. With a unique
Microsoft Office-centric approach, Resource Manager-DB enables
a "best-of-breed" approach by adding powerful and flexible
manufacturing planning, scheduling, and tracking features to
any system. The intuitive “no-rules” design easily
adapts to how customers are working now, facilitating quick
implementation and easy maintenance. Now, in addition to
traditional MRP and Shop Management functions, the system
supports Lean Manufacturing. This unique combination
facilitates an easy and affordable approach for companies to
adapt Lean Manufacturing methods at their own
pace.
Lean Customer Drives Lean Features
User Solutions worked with the
NIST-Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) on a project to
support Instruments for Industry (IFI), a Long Island-based
electronics assembly company committed to Lean Manufacturing.
As a result, Resource Manager-DB was adapted to support Lean
Manufacturing principles. Orca Technical Services, a subsidiary
of IFI, is now a Distributor for the product, utilizing an
actual live environment as part of an East Coast Training
Center for Resource Manager-DB. According to Robert Krause, MRP
Specialist for IFI, “In my 20 years of working with MRP
and Inventory Systems, it’s refreshing to work with a
product that is so open and flexible to support our
initiatives.” Robert continues, “While the whole
purpose of Lean Manufacturing is to reduce systems – you
still need a system for managing the Purchasing and parts of
the business that are not appropriate for Lean Manufacturing
Techniques. Resource Manager-DB does this and fully utilizes
KanBan Control, automated KanBan signal replenishment, supports
the Front/Back bin, Point of Use principles and is fully Bar
Code enabled.”
Lean Fast for GE Wind Energy
GE Power Systems, Wind Energy Division, is
starting up a new plant for producing the next generation of
windmill blades in Pensacola Florida. According to Jeff
Henning, CPIM, Master Scheduler, “We were looking for a
material tracking system that could be operational in a very
short period of time, while providing the necessary planning
tools and reports of much larger and costlier
systems”.
Mr. Henning and his team selected a
multi-user version of Resource Manager-DB after they sent
sample data via e-mail and User Solutions demonstrated, with
web conferencing, the capabilities of the system to quickly
import in existing Bills-Of-Material from Excel. Jeff
continues, “We are pleased with the flexibility Resource
Manager-DB has to import/export data as well as the
thoughtfully designed inventory management screens. In addition
the barcode reader interface with Excel-based reporting
provided us with an easy to use, yet robust management system
in less than one week's implementation time. We also
needed a system that required very little start-up training and
we have found that operators feel very comfortable with the
layout and the user-friendly Excel based outputs.”
Quick Implementation and Solid Benefits
The GE Team requested the system be
implemented in less than two weeks after their order. With the
initial data used during the Web Conference, User Solutions and
Orca Technical delivered a complete system, including
Palm-Pilot Bar Code Scanners, in just a few days.
According to Jeff Henning, “The implementation was
much faster than we expected and was
customized to meet our needs in a lean manufacturing
environment. The consultant was very knowledgeable and helped
us tailor the system quickly to incorporate the point-of-use
Kanban process we desired.” In summary, Jeff reports
“The key benefits to us have been Excel based reports that
make data mining extremely easy, barcode reading that
simplifies data capture, and electronic signaling for material
reorder or stockroom replenishment using a simple e-mail
process”.
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