Senior Director Cloud-Deployed Epicor Epicor Software Corp. (Austin, TX) Director Product Marketing Manufacturing Epicor Software Corp.

Transcription

1 s Software update Craig Downing Senior Director Cloud-Deployed Epicor Epicor Software Corp. (Austin, TX) news about digital manufacturing tools and software Dick Schultz Director Product Marketing Manufacturing Epicor Software Corp. (Austin, TX) Seeing Manufacturing in Real Time with ERP Software Manufacturing Engineering: How can ERP software help manufacturers improve productivity? Dick Schultz: The basic role of ERP systems for most manufacturers is to align supply and demand for goods and communicate the activities associated with the processes throughout an organization. The real productivity improvements come from providing real-time visibility to and automating activities throughout a manufacturer. This may start with a quote becoming an order, manufacturing building the product for the order, shipping the order to the customer, and ultimately receiving payment and updating financial statements all without ever re-entering information or printing a piece of paper. ME: Gartner Group s Magic Quadrant survey recently ranked Epicor s ERP 10 among the industry s visionary solutions. What s new in your software for manufacturers? Schultz: With Epicor ERP, providing visionary technologies is a base foundation of our system s lineage. With the resurgence of best-of-breed solutions, it is imperative that release of Epicor ERP is focused on expanding the global reach of our product and deepening the manufacturing functionality for our key industries. ME: Cloud-based ERP systems have gotten popular; what are some key advantages of cloud-based solutions? Craig Downing: In the early days of cloud deployment the conversation was centered around reduced TCO and the cost effectiveness of the cloud. We certainly shouldn t underrepresent the costs benefits of the cloud because for most clients that remains a compelling value proposition. But when we speak with clients who have already made the leap to the cloud, the conversation is much broader, and tends to focus on more strategic topics than simply the cost savings. The first of those is Collaboration. Because you re deploying in the cloud, the system is every bit as accessible to everyone across the company and beyond that has an Internet connection. This means we can better bring people together to participate in critical business process and shorten cycles that relied on asynchronous processes like ing The real productivity improvements come from providing real-time visibility to and automating activities throughout a manufacturer. the ERP system has the openness required to allow manufacturers to adapt their systems to changes in their business. With the latest release of Epicor ERP, we expanded our technical capabilities with the delivery of expanded collaboration with Epicor Enterprise Social; choice in deployment from multitenant SaaS [Software-as-a-Service] to traditional on-premise; and options for delivery from Windows clients and Web browsers to tablets and smart phones. In addition to the delivery of our ERP technology foundation, our latest files back and forth. With the cloud, it s simple to have everyone across the organization participate, and it s equally easy to bring external experts contract designers, or even the end customer into the loop. We ve seen it make manufactures more agile and more adaptable. The second is Mobility. Ten years ago we had desktop PCs in the office, and a kiosk PC on the shop floor augmented by 1930s technology [colored paper and clipboards]. With the migration of ERP systems to the cloud, 30 AdvancedManufacturing.org March 2015

2 Software update Image courtesy Epicor Software Corp. we re enabling mobile users across the enterprise to Resource Utilization is another key. Early conversations maintain a real-time connection to the ERP system when- about the cloud included suggestions that you don t even need IT which of course isn t true at all. However, what we ve found is that your IT teams are now able to work on much more strategic items. If you spend a day with IT departments, you ll understand how much of their time is spent maintaining servers, installing security updates, managing backups, and ensuring that systems are replaced before they fail. With cloud deployment, those tasks, and more, such as installing major feature updates, are taken off the shoulders of the IT department, and become the responsibility of the ERP vendor. This frees up the IT teams to work on much more strategic things that support the company s mission. We see clients reporting that their IT teams are now able to deliver the management reports, dashboards, mobile applications, and other strategic projects they never had time for when they were running from fire to fire. ME: How difficult is it to move a manufacturing operation s ERP to the cloud? ever they need to. Field sellers now have access from their mobile phones to the latest inventory availability, and service staff are now able to access warranty and replacement part information from a rugged tablet while out on a job site. But mobility within the four walls of the enterprise is equally compelling. We are seeing more and more tablets deployed out on the production shop floor allowing manufacturing staff to stay productive and engaged and not having to wander back to the shop-floor kiosk every 20 minutes to log their time against different jobs, or look up their next task. The efficiency gains of mobile enablement and elimination of paper alone Manufacturers track key performance variables including invoices, pays for the costs of these mobile devices as orders backlog, and shipments in real-time with Epicor 10 ERP software. soon as they are turned on. 32 AdvancedManufacturing.org March 2015

3 Downing: Surprisingly easy. Indeed, most end users will never notice the migration from an on-premise deployment to a cloud deployment if it s done properly. The technical migration and user experience have been optimized by the tens of thousands of companies who came ahead of you. To be fair, there are some key ERP processes that are obvious candidates for cloud deployment [order entry, reporting or forecasting], and some that are less urgent, or in some cases less appropriate, for cloud deployment. Let s explore, for example, Manufacturing Execution Systems [MES]. These technologies monitor the health of machines and other critical details about its day-to-day operation. Moving the centralized reporting component of those systems to the cloud is a reasonable plan so the VP of Operations can oversee all 30 factories operational readiness from his desk. However, it s important to determine how much benefit you d get from moving the monitoring component of those systems to the cloud. If a tool breaks, or a machine heats out of tolerance, or some other critical exception triggering event occurs, chances are that the alarm and notifying systems are based on summoning local technicians to intervene. In that instance, the benefit of deploying to the cloud is arguably less compelling for most companies. It s important to remember that migrating to the cloud doesn t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Some systems just have a higher ROI on their cloud migration than others, and most companies want to start with those high ROI systems first. ME: What s the potential for improving ERP performance with in-memory computing technology like SAP s HANA? Downing: High-performance computing, of which in-memory computing Solid Modeling is certainly a good example, has the potential to bring the next wave of operational efficiency to companies of every size. Many clients run their Manufacturing Resource Planning [MRP] processes on a nightly basis [some even less frequently] because of the lengthy run times for large manufacturers. But what if you could Change your shop s view of complex jobs. If you re looking for powerful CAM software that makes complex jobs seem like a day at the beach, GibbsCAM is YOUR CAM software solution. 2-5 Axis Milling High-Speed Powerfully Simple. Simply Powerful Multi-Task Swiss Tombstone Turning Mill/Turn Wire-EDM March 2015 AdvancedManufacturing.org 33

4 Software update run the MRP, sales forecasting and procurement recommendations hourly or four times an hour? And what if the organization could use the output of one to be an input into the other? Or perpetually in real-time? Your Eye Inside 80 Models of Hawkeye Rigid, Flexible, and Video Borescopes Depending on the scale of an operation, a business could become much more agile by quickly reallocating resources across its manufacturing and distribution workflows in response to consumer trends, meteorological forecasts that will impact logistics processes, or even shifts in consumer taste. The manufacturing graveyard is littered with companies who thought they were responsive enough to consumer demands, but in today s world, fast just isn t fast enough when dealing with consumer and environmental trends that impact demand cycles. In-memory systems also allow manufacturers tremendous what-if modelling capabilities, which significantly increase the ability to continually challenge assumptions and sensitivity to input costs, demand forecasts, materials design changes and more. Visit us at: Booth # 3219 Anaheim, CA May 12-14, 2015 Any Hawkeye Rigid or Flexible Borescope can quickly become a videoscope by simply attaching our Luxxor Video Camera, allowing high-quality video inspection images to be displayed on portable video monitors, or, laptop and desktop computers. Those images can be saved, documented and ed. Our newest Hawkeye V2 Videoscopes are fully portable, and offer 4-way articulation. We manufacture over 80 models of rigid, flexible, and video borescopes. Most are in stock and ready for overnight delivery. gradientlens.com Made in USA New Releases CAD/CAM developer Vero Software (Cheltenham, UK) has released its latest Edgecam 2015 R1 software, which adds more than 50 new and enhanced capabilities including new Workflow, Waveform turning, multiple machining sequence support, ribbon bar and interface updates. Edgecam s Waveform roughing for milling has been under development during the last two years, the new version introduces a new turning cycle, Rough Waveform Turning, that maintains a constant cutting load, enables significantly faster cutting, and helps prolong tool life. Similar to other turning commands, the cycle is sensitive to the stock condition and eliminates freshair cuts. The new release adds other Workflow enhancements by supporting multiple setups in both the turning and milling environments. This means both the component and stock and fixtures 34 AdvancedManufacturing.org March 2015

5 can be passed to subsequent new, machining sequences. The Wire EDM product is now available in the Workflow environment, and Edgecam 2015 R1 offers full machine simulation, including stock and cross-section display. Acquisitions Simulation software developer Ansys Inc. (Canonsburg, PA) on Feb. 4 announced it has acquired the assets of Newmerical Technologies International (NTI; Montreal), a developer of in-flight icing simulation software and associated design, testing and certification services. No financial terms of the deal, which closed in early February, were disclosed. NTI develops advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and offers flow simulation services in the aerospace, architectural, automotive and marine industries. NTI s suite of specialized software can solve problems in aerodynamics, in-flight icing, heat transfer, fluid-structure interaction and wind engineering. Ansys plans to augment its own CFD software offerings with the acquisition. Partnerships System Insights (Berkeley, CA), a developer of manufacturing operations management software, and Cloud GmbH (Stans, Switzerland) Feb. 2 announced a partnership to develop an interface to Cloud tooling databases for System Insight s Vimana software. Under the agreement, Vimana software will be integrated with Cloud s databases using cloud technology and industry standards for cutting tool data including ISO 13399, GTC, STEP and MTConnect. The Vimana software delivers predictive analytics to improve manufacturing efficiency, and Cloud s databases offer users digital product data for cutting tools, machine tools, workholding and specialty products. Software Update is edited by Senior Editor Patrick Waurzyniak; pwaurzyniak@sme.org. Reduce cycle time by 75% Increase Tool Life by 500% Experience the ride Putting you on the right path March 2015 AdvancedManufacturing.org 35