Managing Manufacturing Operations

Improving your operational efficiency is a crucial task for manufacturers that requires better management structures and the intelligent application of technology to increase capacity without adding costs. Combining all the requirements that your manufactory needs to compete in the global landscape requires new manufacturing operations management.

Operations is your bread and butter. Always has been. Managing all the processes, vendors, materials, parts, actions, and inspections that are needed to make the modern manufactured good is no small feat. Based on your industry, it is likely that your processes have only gotten more complex with the passage of time. This means you need better tools to help you manage your enterprise.

Tracking Operations

Every division in your enterprise has different systemic needs. This is why there are so many different systems that are required to run a manufactory. You likely know about using an ERP (enterprise resource planner) or a QMS (quality management system). To run your shop floor, you need a manufacturing execution system (MES).

MES is used to monitor and control your shop floor processes, like labor, equipment, materials, outputs, and more. With an MES, you can track your operations by collecting data to analyze so that you can make better decisions to standardize and streamline the tasks you take to improve what you make.

The best option for manufacturers is to acquire an MES system that is integrated with all their other software systems. This gives you the benefits of the higher-level processes, like planning and forecasting along with better visibility to all the other operation-related functions like quality management, maintenance, supply chain, warehouse management, etc. Improving upon an MES is where Manufacturing Operations Management comes in. Manufacturing operations management (MOM) aims to combine all your systems for managing manufacturing processes with a view to optimizing efficiency. In other words, what sets the MOM apart from the pack is that it has been designed to work in conjunction with all the other parts.

By combining your various systems with manufacturing operations management, you can:

• Achieve higher equipment and worker utilization
• Decrease waste
• Improve product quality
• Improve regulatory compliance
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Boost profitability

MOM is the methodology that spurred some ERP software companies to create an ERP that combines all the systems you need into one single-source ERP built for manufacturing, or an MERP, with the goal of making products of the highest quality for the lowest cost as efficiently as possible.