Talk of advanced manufacturing across all industry sectors has exploded in the last 12 months.
But what does advanced manufacturing really mean for UK companies in terms of processes, skills and competition? Jane Gray finds out.
Examining ERP John Darlington of the Lean Enterprise Research Centre examines the rise of ERP, its foibles and the forces it brings to bear on manufacturing operations.
UK manufacturers assessing the fallout of the Emergency Budget need to look no further for their IT silver lining, as next generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems embrace the pay-monthly SaaS model. This presents new opportunities to get ahead, provided that manufacturers aren’t seduced by fly-by-night ERP pretenders, warns Steven Hargreaves, group product director at Solarsoft.
Is green manufacturing possible? It is, according to Siemens. Roberto Priolo visits Answers for the Environment in Coventry, a two-day event the company has organised to address environmental issues.
Early last month, a group of East Midlands manufacturers assembled in Nottingham to sample the culinary delights of local fine dining favourite, Harts. The group discussed their experiences with IT and specifically ERP and, as Tim Brown writes, while no two experiences were the same, the consensus among those present was that paper based systems are unequivocally a thing of the past.
If lean manufacturing and quality management have made serious impacts on what is expected from ERP solutions, Simon Holloway asks: What have they done to the Manufacturing Execution Systems that run our plants?
Despite the promise of more efficient warehouse management, radio frequency identification (RFID) is often considered too costly for those wishing to optimise supply chain operations. But with big retailers starting to demand RFID compliance, it may be something you can’t afford to overlook. Brian Davis explores.
Devon-based HepcoMotion is hoping to save more than £60,000 every year thanks to a number of projects managed by staff as they work towards a qualification developed by the National Skills Academy for Manufacturing - part of Semta, the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies.
In the final part of his diary for The Manufacturer, HepcoMotion manufacturing director Barry Engstrom talks about the projects that have been completed, the benefits they have brought to the company and the sense of achievement felt by staff who have taken part in the Business- Improvement Techniques (B-IT) NVQ programme.
