How Xemelgo Supports Factory ?? Physics Principles

There is another resource that I have found to be valuable as a production manager and that is Factory Physics. Factory Physics is a way of looking at the flows of a production system as a math problem to solve. By doing so, one can easily see how changing one variable will affect the others and decisions become much more clear because guesswork is removed. Math is math and that is that.

The Factory Physics concepts I will discuss here come from the book Factory Physics for Managers by Edward S. Pound, Jeffrey H. Bell and Mark L. Spearman. Factory Physics looks primarily at the factors of Variability, Inventory, Capacity, and Time. Understanding these critical elements and their relationship to each other moves our thinking to a better level where we can stop wondering and start solving.

The two most important equations to understand are Little's Law and the VUT Equation. Little’s Law explains the relationship of WIP, Throughput and Time. The VUT Equation explains the relationship of Variability, Utilization and Time. We also learn how adjusting our Buffers around Inventory, Capacity and Time are important levers we can use for controlling our system to achieve maximized outcomes.

Xemelgo’s software aids and supports the concepts outlined by enabling increased knowledge of your system in real time...

• Variability - machine learning as a result of using our Work Order Tracking App and Inventory Management App will give insights into variability occurring on production lines and material stocks. This is accompanied by tracking the starting, stopping and waiting time stamps of work orders and by tracking the ebbs and flows of critical inventory levels.
• Inventory - our Inventory Management and Vendor Managed Inventory Apps give production leaders the knowledge they need to adjust set points for replenishment and re-ordering to avoid line-down situations and overnight fees. Expirations of critical materials can also be avoided.
• Capacity - through Work Order Tracking and Shipment Tracking we can easily gain important insights around capacity. The apps use time stamps of material and work order movements from station to station and dock to customer. Set points can be adjusted to visualize in red, yellow, and green, weather you have bottlenecks now, trouble on the horizon or healthy workflows.
• Time - with all activities recorded and time stamped, you will be able to know what worked well and what didn’t. You will also know the difference between value-added time and waiting time.

Another section of the book talks about how ERP’s are not so good for scheduling & planning - they are really just financial ERP’s. The real world is in constant variability. The ERP attempts to attain a best performance by putting ALL details in the system and constantly reshuffling push outs, pull ins, releases, and cancels. The telling statement in the book says that out of 1000 people surveyed, ALL used spreadsheets to help manage their scheduling and planning activities. ERP’s are necessary for the big, whole picture of the enterprise, but not ideal for dealing with the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity inherent on the factory floor.

Xemelgo is more for what IS in the now.

Bottom line is... We must KNOW and not guess. We must be able to learn and improve from that knowing. In order to be on top of our demands and transformations of stocks and flows, we MUST go by math & science NOT gut feelings, experience and intuition. In manufacturing, we just need to know to manage best.