Topic: ‘Lean’

What would you use one for?
Well; Microsoft Dynamics AX2012 has a really cool feature which represents a Heijunka Planning Board, except that in AX2012 it’s called the Kanban Schedule Board.
Lean Schedule Groups are designed to allow you to see products or groups of products easily recognizable by colour, in the Kanban Schedule Board. So for folks who can recognize colours easily, it’s an added bonus. Read the rest of this entry »

Learn how AX 2012 can support your transformation from traditional manufacturing to a Leaner, greener manufacturer by leveraging the latest in Microsoft ERP development coupled with Lean principles!

Title: The Lean, Green AX Machine

Speaker: Mike Gooding, I.B.I.S. Consultant

So, there I was setting up my Sales Event Kanban in a training environment, enjoying life and learning something new! Everything was going swimmingly well until I decided to go check the results of my set up in the Kanban Scheduling Board, or for the real Lean aficionados – the Heijunka Board (Why did Microsoft change the name?).
No sign of my Kanban – oops! Then I noticed that I did not see the correct period, silly me! So I clicked on the advance arrow, and it moved forward by one day; not what I expected! Ok, let’s look at changing the period settings, because I don’t’ want to move from January 2011, to January 2012, one click at a time do I? How do you change the period? Read the rest of this entry »

Learn how you can improve your demand planning while implementing lean concepts with Demand Solutions.

Title: Lean Forecasting with Demand Solutions

Speaker: Fred Tolbert, Demand Solutions

Join us to learn best practices in lean and green technology in manufacturing to improve your business in 2012.  Getting lean is more than just a software upgrade; it’s a mind shift, a cultural philosophy and methodology to deliver more to your customers with less.  For over 22 years, I.B.I.S., Inc. has worked with manufacturers to eliminate the waste and redundancies in their systems.

Title: Going Lean and Green in 2012

Speakers: Michael Gooding, I.B.I.S. AX Consultant, and Russell Goble, I.B.I.S. Manager of Manufacturing Solutions

Why would you want to schedule a Kanban? Surely this is not Lean?
Maybe not strictly Lean, but there are circumstances where you may want to compromise. For example, a product that is not frequently used, or does not fit well with a fixed Kanban Rule, or may be based on a Customers’ forecast.
Scheduled Kanbans can also be used in these manufacturing scenarios :
• Level Loading a work cell with scheduled demand on top of the fixed quantity Kanban jobs.
• Creating Kanbans based on a minimum stock quantity and minimum/maximum allocation keys to model seasonal demand that changes over time.
• Modeling build to order scenarios in batch sizes higher than the average sales or picking line, grouping demand into small batches.
• Modeling a mixed manufacturing environment(Trad & Lean ) where it makes sense to use a consistent way of reporting on the production floor using the Kanban reporting transactions. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, Lean actually incorporates the best manufacturing processes from the USA, Germany and Japan…it’s not just a Japanese initiative.
It’s main purpose is to eliminate all the non value added(waste) activities from a process
There are 5 main Lean Principles Read the rest of this entry »

Subcontracting, or outsourcing of production is a common occurrence in the manufacturing world.
Tracking and control of the processes and the paperwork is often time consuming and inaccurate. Finding out what is outstanding at a subcontractor is often dependent on the goodwill of the subcontractor to communicate with you, and visibility in an ERP system is not always obvious.
Microsoft Dynamics has always had the functionality, in a limited way, to set up and control subcontracted activities from a traditional manufacturing perspective, and that option continues in AX2012, but now you also have similar functionality for control of subcontracting from a Lean Manufacturing perspective. Read the rest of this entry »

Why would you want the system to calculate Kanban quantities?
Surely, an ERP system is not capable of doing that?
Well…….one ERP system is more than capable of calculating a Kanban quantity for you. It is also capable of recalculating the quantity!
In Microsoft Dynamics AX2012, we have an ERP system that is capable of taking the sales forecast for a product, actual demand, historical usage, and, coupled with the lead time for the product, calculate the Kanban quantity for a fixed Kanban. Read the rest of this entry »

Takt Time? Cycle Time?
What do they mean?
How can you use them?
Read on and learn a few simple facts, and how they can be applied in AX2012 to greatly improve your order promising, capacity planning and ultimately, your Customer Service. Read the rest of this entry »