Seminar 7

Seminar 7 Manufacturing Execution

Although James reminded us that we have already made half way here, the arrival of project 2 is saying that there is still a long way to go… This feeling is like when in order to cheer you up, your friend says “There is only 20 days to the summer vacation!”, but what you hear is “There is only 2 weeks to the final exam!” Haha, just joking. Study is not easy, but it is easier than many other things, because you’ve achieved the goal once you have learned. So I’m quite ready to embrace the next learning opportunityJ!

Some Insights regarding ERP and Project 2

James always emphasizes the importance of connection from knowledge learned during class and lab to the experience and observation in real life. It is a bit hard for me, because I haven’t worked in a company. All that I can touch is a company’s sales department when I buy things from it, and marketing department when I seek sponsorship from it. But ERP is more like an internal management system, so I always ended with imagining the shape of it in the real cases. But today’s role play has opened a door for me to observe ERP in day-to-day life even without formal business processes. 
It was at a home, where some basic things, like sugar and salts are missing all the time, while other things are not able to be used up. The husband likes to buy things in large quantity, which is not always cheaper if the things bought are not necessary while necessities are not bought. The mother does not know how many dishes to cook, while the wife always plans out of expectation.  For example, the children have CCAs and won’t have dinner at home. And the maid is overwhelmed by the scattered ingredients and food, and makes wrong stock estimation. 
This role play was interesting not only in the sense of the funny performance of my classmates, but also in the sense of the embodiment of a mini company. The husband is purchasing department; the mother is manufacturing department; the wife is sales department, and the maid is warehouse. I was amazed by the exquisite analogy! The small business is facing problems like lack of key materials and waste of storage space for unnecessary materials and excess inventories etc. 
ERP indeed cannot solve all the problems. As stated in the Wiki for MRPII last time, the MRPII process needs both strong software management and strong human management. The employees of each department need to know how the process works besides the business skills within their own areas. Therefore, a clear vision and goal is significant, so that the employees can work towards the same direction with the organization.

Back to SAP, we all know that there are 3 sets of information to be kept in a customer master data, and we have different transaction codes to create a customer master data. So which one to use? What is encouraged by SAP is that finance department uses FD01, while sales department uses VD01, so that finance people will have general data and company code data (payments info etc.), and sales people will have general data and sales area data (shipping info, partner functions etc.). James then used a cube to help us understand the concept of sales area, which is the combination of each of the sales organizations, distribution channels and divisions.

Manufacturing Execution

Today’s student-led activity made us experience the process of manufacturing execution. I was allocated to the warehouse, and all I need to do was to receive and pass out inventory when necessary and update the inventory sheet. So most of the time I just sat there relaxingly watching the messy tables of accountants and producers… Of course I have discovered some problems. For example, I didn't know to whom I should pass the raw materials, so I just gave out the materials if I recognized that the person was from my “company”. Later the “real” receiver came and asked for the materials again, and he had to go and found the materials by himself. And accountants kept asking me how many hours I have worked, but this was decided by my supervisor. They also need to estimate other costs, which was very troublesome.

In this case, ERP system is able to change the way the roles were conducted, so employees could put more efforts on the coordination works to make the process more efficient. ERP usually cannot wipe out the roles. It even creates some new roles, like master data managers.

And there is a software system called Manufacturing Execution System (MES), which has some overlap with ERP system. Sometimes, ERP system needs to collaborate with other systems to perfect the functionalities and enhance the efficacy.

This seminar was quite interesting, and we got some cute box dolls produced by our classmatesJ.