Settingup an ERPfree production system

Abstract: Efficient information systems can nowadays be used in order to manage production lines, for all the aspects of the thing: planning, running the operations, quality management, cost control etc. During the last century, computer tools have allowed the creation of more and more complex systems, from basic systems to ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) that are today the spinal column of most big companies. At the same time as the development of such systems, new philosophies in term of production management have emerged, especially from Japan: the Lean. Whereas ERP systems aim at being predictive, the Lean philosophy focuses on reactivity. It is a really different approach, even though in the last years ERP systems have evolved in order to integrate the tools coming from the Lean. This paper aims at study the possibility to run a production line without a system like an a ERP, with the modern standards in terms of performance. The study has been made between January and September 2010 within the framework of a factory from the Groupe Atlantic, a French company that had opened a new site in 2009 in Izmir (Turkey) for the production of towel radiators. The thesis focuses on three areas: the planning of the production, i.e. the whole process that transform a customer order into a production order. This parts presents the kind of process and the tools (based on Excel and Visual Basic macros) that can be used for those operations. The management of the physical operations. This part focuses on how to deal with the flow of information and material on the production floor, from raw material to expedition. The management of material consumption: it is a sidetopic, yet critical in terms of cost control, and we show what methods and tools we can introduce in order to control this parameter. The main conclusions are that, if an ERP system is not absolutely necessary to run the daily operations, it might appear very useful in order to get the best from the production tool. An ERP allows the collection of a wide range of data that can greatly help in order to optimize the operations.