Systems Feeding ERP

You may want to get very detailed information from information sources such as production, human resources, CRM, trade portal of an enterprise. You can also achieve this with ERP. However, you may not want to exhaust the database of ERP with very dense information coming from the lowest level. By dense information, I mean processes that produce over a million records in an hour. In a factory that produces 450-500 thousand products a day, ERP alone may not be enough to follow the production processes of each product. 3rd party software collects and analyzes detailed information and sends summary information to ERP. This is more efficient.

It does not slow down the data entry of other users entering data into the program.

The flow of information from external software to ERP is done in different ways depending on the infrastructure of the system. This is usually done by transferring information to ERP via external software at certain frequency intervals.

Manual: The user exports the data produced by the external software in .xlsx, .csv, .txt format and then embeds the same data into the ERP system. Or the records in the subprogram are inserted into the ERP tables with a script written in SQL.

Replication: At certain intervals of minutes, hours, days, the data in the software program is automatically integrated with the ERP. The time unit depends on how up-to-date you want to see the data in ERP. However, the shorter the time you integrate the data, the lower the performance of the ERP will be. This is because, while you are trying to update the table in ERP, the user is trying to create records on the forms, which causes conflicts. The most ideal replication method and frequency is to update between 24.00 - 06.00 at night, when the system is most inactive. You can do this automatically by setting up the hours with batch jobs on ERP.

The most common external software applications are field applications. The most needed field application is to monitor the performance of the machines in the production area. As I mentioned in the first article, if you want, you can follow the flow of production in ERP in detail of each process and product serial number in all machine centers. But this is not recommended for performance. You will have to keep 10 times more records than normal in the Inventory transactions and capacity transactions table and you will unnecessarily slow down other users who enter records and receive reports on the stock-production side.

The recommended method is to keep the data with all the details in external software and to see the main steps of the production flow in ERP.

When I worked at Sek Süt, we used MAS software that works in the way I mentioned. This software, which was developed by a local company, is web-based and can be used 24/7 via cloud and can be accessed from anywhere as an administrator.

After the program is installed in your company, you can access the program on each line in production and monitor instant production on touch screens. Operators enter data into the program 

Daily production plans made through ERP were automatically transferred to MAS. Since the production data flowed into this program in real time, we could compare the production plan with the actual production plan on the basis of each production line / product / operator on the morning of the next day. For example, when you saw that the production of a product planned as 1,000 cases was realized as 600 cases, you could understand that something was wrong without having to ask anyone. Conversely, when the production was 1,400 cases, it was clear that the remaining raw material was being utilized in this way.

Another form of observation can be based on the machine center on the production line. When you see that a machine that produces an average of 1,000 parts per hour remains at 400-500 levels, you would again understand that either the staff is working incomplete hours, there is an interruption / problem in the energy systems, or there is a stoppage in the machine. In this way, having a system that notifies abnormal fluctuations in production figures allows you to intervene in the system immediately. In addition, you see the problem yourself from the system and intervene immediately, rather than second-hand after some time has passed.

MAS software gives you an idea about the efficiency of the system by giving you monthly average production figures against the production capacity of the system. It draws your attention to the products that are stuck in quality approval and wastage. Since operators enter information into the program during the production phase, all stops are indicated minute by minute. When you pull the downtime report, you can observe machine and material wastage and develop new solutions to reduce it.