Manufacturing ERP needs a new era of joined-up thinking

That was among key outputs from Manufacturing Computer Solutions' CIM Forum event, held recently at the Ricoh Arena, for manufacturing professionals embarking on projects involving ERP and associated systems. Nick Kirkland, CEO of the prestigious CIO Connect organisation– himself a former head of IT for Sony – presented a keynote rich in observations around current moves to streamline, integrate and cut the cost of enterprise IT, but also warning of the risks of "corporate amnesia" and the "technology tsunami" that will soon sweep away current agendas. His advice: check out your data model and beware of ERP systems that have "numbed the brain of too many organisations", which now see suite upgrades as the route to business improvement, rather than real business need. For him, the new world order will include rethinking decisions around social networks, such as Facebook, and unlocking desktops in the face of a new world order that will see apps at a whole new level. For now, though, manufacturing speaker after manufacturing speaker warned that implementing and running ERP and similar systems, in real life production environments, means taking manufacturing people and supply chains seriously – and involving them early to get the best out of any system. Steve Wilson, a director of ISPM with decades of experience in major projects, warned delegates not to forget "the hidden factory" – what really happens, rather than the supposed ideal business processes – when defining systems requirements. He and others reiterated the importance of putting together an inclusive user requirements spec, from the bottom to the top, with people throughout taking responsibility. Many also warned that go-live is rarely the end of the story. Normally, it's the beginning of the next phase, and we need to plan for that fact. With manufacturing speakers covering industries ranging from electronics to medical supplies, capital equipment, aerospace, the utilities and consumer goods, all urging delegates to focus on IT-enabled, extended lean processes at one level, but big picture strategy at another, the messages were clear. As Russell Trotter, operations director of Texecom, put it: "We have now implemented lean ERP, through Epicor, not only in production but also, procurement, logistics and overall capacity planning. As a result, everything is now demand driven. It's all dynamic and we're much better geared for growth and flexibility." Manufacturing speakers at the event were: Russell Trotter, operations director at Texecom; Tyrone White, manufacturing manager of Talley Group; Ruth Joy, planning control manager of Permastore, James Greaves, systems manager for Portsmouth Aviation; Jonathan Buckett, group business systems manager, Ovivo; Ian Mence, business development manager with Bushell & Meadows; and Dean Furlong, business consultant with Karndean International.