Never mind the mantra that the customer is always right, according to the findings of research from IDC Manufacturing Insights into the strategies of the discrete manufacturing sector, the customer is seriously high maintenance. 

If you’re in the manufacturing sector, you’ll be well aware of, and no doubt responsible in part for, the dynamic of living in the ‘now’ society.  We expect products how, when and where we want them, and this trend shows no signs of abating.
 
The knock-on impact of the ‘now’ society is that manufacturers are citing increasingly or rapidly changing customer requirements and demand volatility as serious concerns when it comes to servicing the customer effectively.  Manufacturers were asked how concerned they were about a range of issues on a scale of 1-5 and both demand volatility and changing requirements came in at a ‘very concerned’ 3.41.

Interestingly, despite these concerns, manufacturers believe that their customer fulfillment is excellent and precisely where it needs to be in moving forward.  They are less confident about areas which can add major value in addressing these concerns, most notably demand planning and bid and project management, citing a significant gap between where their current capabilities are and where they need to be over the next two years.   

How concerned are you about servicing an increasingly volatile and demanding customer base?  If our findings serve us right, all manufacturers are feeling the heat to some degree – wherever you are in the world. 

Want to learn more? View the full post on this topic, as well as other posts just like this on the Manufacturing Matters blog, where Infor's manufacturing experts are on hand to share relevant information that matters to Infor manufacturing customers.

SyteLine User Network (SUN) Conference

April 6-8, 2011
Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa, Lake Buena Vista, FL

Infor ERP SyteLine users have banded together through the years to share information and learn how best to maximize your investment in SyteLine, which has been the foundation of success for a multitude of companies and is coming up on its 25-year anniversary.

The SyteLine User Network (SUN) Conference, is the number one conference and expo for the Infor ERP SyteLine user community. Over three days in April, there's the opportunity to hear from Infor experts and fellow users about the latest advances and integrations of the Infor ERP SyteLine solution, including roadmaps, mobile enhancements, and Infor Barcode, for starters.

And, not to mention, there are many educational and break-out sessions, valuable networking with peers, and the Vendor Expo, where Infor and partner solutions—like Infor PM, Infor PLM, and Infor EPAK—will be in action.

Plus, one of the conference highlights, Bruce Richardson’s keynote session is on Thursday.

Click here to learn more about SUN.

Follow the newly refreshed Manufacturing Matters blog for full coverage on this week's event.

As always, we want to hear from you, are you attending?  Leave your questions and comments here.

Posted by Mark Humphlett, Director Product Marketing, ERP

I just returned from a trip to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou to support the launch of Infor Process Essentials, a suite of ERP, supply chain, event management, and enterprise asset management solutions, for the Chinese market. China is one of our fastest growing markets and this was an important launch for Infor. China’s domestic process manufacturing industry is massive, and while we already have a number of customers there, the new capabilities and localization features address some needs for manufacturers in the Middle Kingdom.

China’s domestic market reflects some of the same trends that more industrialized countries faced a few decades ago, but at a greatly accelerated pace. There is a huge emerging middle class in China that has discretionary spending power, and they are demanding fresher products and more choices. This growth has led to some problems in food safety, which have shaken confidence for consumers both at home and abroad.

This month China rolled out a new food safety law, which has safety and recall standards and requires producers to list all additives. This is meant to protect consumers and China’s brand as a food producer. I’m no geo-political expert, so I don’t know how effective the government will ultimately prove at enforcement, but it’s undeniably a step in the right direction. Here’s what I do know: Food safety is challenging, and getting more complex every day. With increasing time pressures, regulatory complexity, and consumer requirements, it’s become more important than ever for companies to integrate quality and compliance into all aspects of their business to minimize the total cost of quality and compliance.

In China, this means implementing systems and quality processes that ensure product quality extends all the way to the retail shelf. Things like:

• Material quality—Complete definition and enforcement of non-allowable attributes and required attributes. Processes for supplier audits and supplier enablement.
• Integrated quality and HACCP capabilities—Full lot/sublot track and trace, shelf-life, and “best by” capabilities, and active HACCP monitoring and enterprise critical control point issue mitigation.
• Cold supply chain infrastructure and processes—More investments in cold storage and trucking.
• Forecasting—Producing the right products and reducing unsalables.
• Planning and scheduling—Planning to make more profitable proximity decisions and scheduling to react to disruptive events.

These are just a few of the processes that Chinese companies are coping with. While many of these companies are lagging behind in food safety, they are by no means alone in playing catch-up. The recent salmonella-tainted peanuts issue in the US showed us the importance of vigilance and that every company must take responsibility. The good news is that companies that make these investments in food safety, protect not only their brand and consumer health, but also realize increased profitability.

Posted by Rory Granros, Product Marketing Manager, Process Industries

It has been only months since the peanut contamination caused public outrage, hundreds of illnesses, and the downfall of a corporation. Unfortunately, I expect the number of high-profile recalls to increase in the future. There are a number of factors at play here, such as mega-farms and large retail outlets, which can amplify small problems to national proportions. Consumer demand for fresher foods and more outsourcing increases complexities and makes the need for greater vigilance more pressing than ever.

To manage this growing complexity, manufacturing companies need to have solutions in place that mitigate the risk of a recall and, if one is required, provide the ability to rapidly execute that recall to prevent public harm and brand damage.

Different types of enterprise software are involved in ensuring food safety in manufacturing. Below is a basic overview of some of the most important ones; the solutions aren’t necessarily presented in order of importance because of the unique drivers facing each business.

For a more in-depth view, P.J. Jakovljevic has an excellent post on the TEC blog that outlines Infor’s Product Compliance Strategy.

1) Enterprise asset management (EAM)
Companies that are serious about avoiding contamination in their products need to get serious about EAM. Proper maintenance of assets and facilities is critical. For example, one of the allegations in the peanut recall was that the bacterium listeria entered the food chain through a leaky roof over a storage container. Problems aren’t always this obvious. Preventative maintenance for complex equipment or complete routings should include sanitation and visual inspection of all adjacent areas. As part of the preventative maintenance process, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) documentation can be automated and support audits.

Shaklee Corporation knows how to leverage its software for maximum impact.

The company, a manufacturer and distributor of nutritional supplements as well as products for skin care, cleaning, and filtration, has operations in the US, Canada, China, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Mexico.

It was the first company in the world to obtain Climate Neutral™ certification and completely offset its carbon dioxide emissions, resulting in a net zero impact on the environment.

And after using Infor ERP BPCS for 10 years, Shaklee upgraded to Infor ERP LX to unify its operations and enable real-time reporting in multiple languages and time zones from one centralized database..

According to Shaklee’s IT technical lead: “We found that we can run our business at 100% efficiency without customizing the code.” Now that’s the way to spend less time on non-productive activities…and more time on growing your business.

Hear what else Shaklee had to say. Watch their video and download the case study.

Posted by Julie Brown, Customer Testimonials Manager

Last week, the world’s best-in-class manufacturers were recognized in Managing Automation’s 2009 Progressive Manufacturing 100 (PM100) Awards. The PM 100 recognizes the top manufacturers demonstrating mastery of the Progressive Manufacturing concept—which advocates manufacturing transformation supported by advanced technology.

Several Infor customers were among those recognized as superior technology-driven businesses in 2008. They include: Mohawk Fine Papers, Organic Valley Family of Farms, Rodgers Instruments, Weston Bakeries, and Graphicast.

The award winners will be acknowledged in the June 2009 issue of Managing Automation magazine and during the Progressive Manufacturing Summit & Awards ceremony that month.

Infor customers are a mainstay on the annual PM100 list. This year’s winners used Infor ERP, CRM and PLM solutions, as well as the Infor Open SOA framework, to reach their business goals and bring home the award hardware. 

Congratulations to these innovative customers, who demonstrate excellence in manufacturing.

Posted by Lauren Banks, Public Relations Specialist

Infor just announced availability of Infor MyDay for ERP Adage, software that can help users of our popular process manufacturing ERP solution get more relevant information, faster. We announced Infor MyDay at Inforum 2008. This represents its first general release for one of our ERP solutions.

For users, Infor MyDay provides immediate access to issues that require immediate action or reassurance that situations are under control. It allows users to diagnose the most critical business situations they face and immediately drill into the source transaction systems to get the data they need.

Previously, we've talked about Infor's research into personas to deliver actionable and function-specific content to people. Let's look at a specific example of that for users of Infor ERP Adage.

Process manufacturing companies need to do more with less and accomplish this more quickly than ever before. One issue that almost all of them can relate to is cost to service customers.

In most ERP systems, actual cost of production, post invoice rebates, unallowed discounts, unsalable allowances, and return data are just some of the data captured over time. This data often resides in ERP modules or disparate, standalone systems. Most companies struggle to pull this information together with customized reports, spreadsheets or complex general ledger allocations. The problem is, by the time you sort through all the noise, the information is months old and the impact is diluted.

With Infor MyDay, the information is immediately at your fingertips, without having to call IT to develop a custom report. This information is built into the Infor MyDay personas for finance and sales managers, who receive these reports on their personalized page and can now better control cost to service and ensure their most profitable customers get the most profitable products.

This is one example of how Infor MyDay benefits users of Infor ERP Adage. Infor MyDay has other quantifiable benefits as well, like reducing the total cost of quality and compliance, assessing vendor viability, improving cash flow, and providing that extra edge to take market share from struggling competitors.

Posted by Rory Granros, Director of Solutions Marketing, Process Industries