How To Choose A Right-sized Manufacturing System
Chapter 2 - Types of Manufacturers
If you have been busy manufacturing for any time, there is a good chance you have never taken a quiet moment to sit down and reflect on the type of manufacturing company yours has evolved to be.
The reason this understanding is important is that the function set provided by one software package or another is often heavily weighted to a particular type of manufacturer.
Here is a list of the types I have worked with over the years:
Assembler
Generally takes a number of pre-assembled units and joins them together to meet the needs of a specific customer. Rarely does any original design, engineering, or procurement.
Make to stock manufacturer
Procures and stocks raw materials which are used to build sub-assemblies and top-level assembled items. These items are kept on hand to fulfill sales orders for standard products.
Make to order manufacturer
Procures and stocks raw materials which are used, in combination with other products, to build sub-assemblies and top-level assembled items needed to fulfill a specific sales order. Top-level assembled items are never kept on hand, although commonly used sub-assemblies may be inventoried when fast turn-around is required.
Custom manufacturer
Procures and stocks raw materials and sub-assemblies which are used in a customer-driven configuration. Sub-assemblies may be standard products used in a custom configuration, or variations of standard products modified to meet customer requirements.
Job shop
Generally makes one-off products following a customer specification for which no standard bill of material exists. Raw materials are often provided by the customer. Rarely does any original design, engineering, or procurement.
Process manufacturer
Performs some discreet process on a specific raw material such as cutting, bending, folding, forming, mixing, grading. Rarely does any original design, engineering, or procurement. Sub-assemblies are rarely identifiable.
By listing these I do not intend to imply that these are the only types of manufacturers. These are simply the most common one.
Now re-read the list. As you do, you will probably identify with one type more than the others, but quite possibly by more than one of these types.
Manufacturing software products are often geared more toward one type of manufacturer than another, so reflecting on the type of manufacturer you are, and identifying with one or more types, will help direct you toward the right kind of software.
This exercise in introspection, combined with your soul-searching of “What do I want to accomplish?” in the previous chapter are important first steps in the process of choosing a right-sized manufacturing system.