As one man, I wanted to buy the MES system

That was about a month ago. Vasily came to our office. He is a top manager of a company that manufactures equipment for theater scenes. From the door he declared that he needed an MES system or an APS system and that he had not yet fully decided which one of them was. “Why the MES system?” I asked.

- I have been studying the issue of solving our production problems for several months now. I met with representatives of several companies that produce MES and APS systems. They said that their systems solve our problems. And I was told that only such systems are able to solve our problems. Do you also have a MES system?

- No, we have an ERP system. Yes, it does not matter, forget about all sorts of abbreviations. Let's just talk about your problems.
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- Do you think your system can solve them?

- Vasily, problems are solved by the management of the company. And software only helps to do this. But software itself does not solve problems. I think that some of your problems are solved without software, and some can help solve our software. What do you think your problems are?

- It's simple: we never do anything on time. This is our main sore. And a bunch of others. For example, very often when assembling a node, suddenly it turns out that the necessary components for it simply do not exist. And other components are heaps.

- And this problem can be solved using the MES-system?

- I was shown a presentation. I really liked it. The fact is that in the MES system you can plan everything in advance and if you do everything as planned, everything will be fine. There are graphics, everything is very clear.

- The key phrase “do as planned”, I do not think that you will succeed. Do you think there were MES systems 50 years ago?

- Of course not.

- Does this mean that absolutely all companies have never done anything on time before? And Ford, and Toyota and thousands of other manufacturers, some of which have been operating for more than one century. According to the people who presented the MES system to you, this problem cannot be solved otherwise.

- I do not know, did not think about it.

- By the way, you didn’t ask them how this system will be integrated into all other business processes of the company? Well, there, I do not know, purchases, sales, warehouse, finance, etc.

- Hmm, yes, interesting. We did not discuss this question, I do not know ... I will ask.

- What do you produce?

- Winches. Big winches, not for cars, but more serious.

- Good. If all the components are in stock, how much time is needed to produce one winch?

- uh, I think five hours.

“And if I order a winch right now from you, when will I get it?”

- Hmmm, I think that in ten days exactly.

- Strange. You have a very good balance of net labor intensity and total time. Something around 15. This is a great value for our country. In the west, and especially in Japan, it is certainly much less, but in Russia it can be hundreds. And you have fifteen. Very strange ... Well, well, let's understand further. What component need to buy the longest?

- Engine.

- How long does it take to purchase it?

“Maybe forty days.”

- Do you keep them in stock?

- Not.

- Wait a second. Then where are the ten days?

Basil is confused.

“I don't know, it always seemed to me that ten days was enough for us.”
Then it becomes clear to me that the control ratio among them is actually “traditional”, something around a hundred.

- The rest of the accessories as you can buy?

- Quickly. Day or two.

- Well, here's your first problem. It is called the "engine". Why don't you keep a small buffer of engines in the warehouse?

- We thought about it. But it does not work. The fact is that they come to us with couplings. Couplings are very different. There are about a dozen different engines, and there are much more couplings. Therefore, a lot of combinations. It is necessary to keep in stock a huge amount of these engines.

- Couplings you can mount?

- Yes, it is not difficult. We have the same production.

“Why aren't you doing this?”

- uh, I don't know. It always has been.

- I think the solution to the problem of forty days lies roughly in this place. Think about mounting the clutches yourself and keep a small engine buffer in stock. Manage your order-by-order buffer. Took the engine - order it from the supplier. This is the first. The second. Never proceed to a production task if the previous task has not been completed. Then you get rid of the problem called "when we do something, we find the absence of components." Correctly arrange the sequence of tasks, always make the most burning ones.

- I do not know. I'll talk to the chef, but he caught fire with the MES system. Everything is very nice there. The chief wants to approve the plan and not to think about breaking the deadlines after that.

- This is, of course, his right. And if something goes wrong?

- Not understood. What do you mean wrong?

- Well, look. You have people of different qualifications, there are different machines. It would seem all difficult. MES (and even more so APS) system takes all this into account when planning. So?

- Yes, I myself saw the presentation.

- And now a simple situation. God forbid of course, but let's imagine tomorrow, 08-00. One of the key engineers (locksmiths) on the way to work falls and breaks his leg. Without it, one of the products, which unfortunately stands in the plan for today, can not be done. What to do?

- Well, I don't know. MES-systems can all quickly reschedule.

- No doubt. But they do not plan MES-systems, but management. You yourself said that the plan is approved by the chef. But unfortunately he is now on vacation ... What will you do?

- Well, I do not know exactly, did not think about it. I think the production manager will decide what needs to be done right now.

- Vasily, I brought you one of the simplest cases of external influence on your production plan. In fact, such impacts are much greater and they can be much more complicated. And they will happen daily, unfortunately. As a result, your production manager will make “willful decisions” every day. And after some time you will make plans only because “you’ve thrown a lot of money and not throw it away”.

- So what do you suggest?

- Have you read Goldratt's "goal1"?

- No, and who is it?

“Goldratt is a terrific man who invented a brilliant (like all simple) management system. Let's do this. You will read it, and then we will meet again and just talk. I highly recommend it. In my company, all processes are based on this theory. Over the past two years, the company has grown three times.

- And here's another question. Your system can determine the position of the car?

- Lord, why do you need it?

- You see, our boss very often interferes with the process and calls the drivers when they have already loaded and left, finds the nearest one, returns him back, he unloads and loads with an urgent order, because someone called the boss there. Yes, and in production it happens often that the boss intervenes and demands to produce something else ...

- Well, here's another problem of yours. She is called "chef." You told me about some of your problems and instead of trying to solve them, you want to close them up with clay.
Then I drew him very simple production schemes on the board, but this is a topic for a separate post.
And he left in thought.

Just a few days after this meeting, I flew to Novosibirsk. More precisely in Akademgorodok, and more precisely in Technopark Akademgorodok. All production processes are based on the Goldrat theory of constraints. This is an amazing sight.

Details of the trip I have in LJ