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Infor LX Tips, Infor LN Tips, BPCS Tips, Baan Tips, Infor M3 Tips & Infor ERP News

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Infor ERP Tips & News from the Experts

Infor LX | Infor LN | BPCS | Baan | Infor M3

What does OTTO do that finite scheduling doesn’t?

Anthony Etzel 0 31587 Article rating: 5.0

Finite scheduling identifies what constraints need to be overcome and it provides the best schedule given the constraints. But the objective is not only to overcome or remove the constraint but to prevent the constraint from even occurring. Only people can anticipate and overcome current constraints, and this requires time for analysis and people to apply their knowledge to the data. OTTO removes the non-value-added tasks of extracting and manipulating data and provides visibility to support people in solving near-term, complex problems. 

Crossroads RMC welcomes MBL (USA) Corporation

Anthony Etzel 0 30997 Article rating: 5.0

Crossroads RMC welcomes MBL (USA) Corporation as our newest Data Collection and Warehouse Management client.

MBL (USA) Corporation, with headquarters located in Ottawa, Illinois, manufactures all types of V-Belts, V-Ribbed Belts, Timing Belts, and Variable Speed Belts for both original equipment and service parts in the automotive, recreational, and industrial markets. In addition to supplying North, Central and South America markets, products are exported to countries worldwide. Their corporate parent is Mitsuboshi Belting LTD located in Japan.

MBL (USA) Corporation’s objective was to improve inventory visibility, eliminate paperwork, and use a bar code scanning solution to manage warehouse inventory and eliminate the manual process for inventory warehouse transactions.

Our discovery was able to highlight improvements to streamline the process in the warehouse and improve inventory visibility. Crossroads RMC is a reseller and support partner for TouchPath Warehouse Management which is integrated to MBL (USA) Corporation’s ERP/LX software. TouchPath Warehouse Management provides the insight into your inventory and the warehouse management tools to help you increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs.

We are proud to have MBL (USA) Corporation as our newest client and look forward to being a strategic partner and support their company growth and success.

Infor LX & BPCS Tip of the Week: Inventory Transfers for Outside Operations

Anthony Etzel 0 58230 Article rating: 5.0

This enhancement allows users who currently perform outside operation processing in shop floor programs to manage the transfer of components used in the outside operations to the vendor’s designated warehouse.

This enhancement provides modified and new INV511D screens and adds new logic to allow the user to identify all shop orders that have components linked to outside operations or to identify all the components linked to an outside operation on a shop order. The shop orders can be filtered by either a date range or by a specific vendor.

Inventory Transfers for Outside Operations enhances the management of external operations by providing screens that simplify the selection of the shop orders or items to transfer to a vendor.

Transfers to the vendor warehouse are performed in the Inventory Transfers, INV511D, screens.

Infor LX / BPCS Tip of the Week: Optional Authority to Maintain Reason Codes

Anthony Etzel 0 54336 Article rating: 5.0

This enhancement allows users to update Reason Code Maintenance, INV140D1, for Transaction Effects that they are not authorized to in any other programs. A new system parameter was added to Inventory Parameters, INV820D. The enhancement allows users who do not actually perform transactions in Infor LX to maintain the reason codes for the transactions.

Infor LN / Baan Tip of the Week: Deleting Records

Kathy Barthelt 0 80787 Article rating: 5.0

To improve performance and reduce database growth, deleting records is highly effective. The disadvantage of deleting records is that data is no longer available. Usually, however, not all records need to be saved. For example, line activities are stored by warehouse. Normally, you do not need to keep these records. Therefore, after closing a warehouse order, line activities can be removed. The User's Guide for ERP LN Archiving describes several sessions you can use to delete old data. Other data such as items and business partners can be reviewed once in a while, after which you can delete the data you no longer need. For every order and contract table a session is available to archive and delete old orders. In these sessions, you can specify several characteristics to select the orders to be removed, such as date or status. Run these sessions on a regular basis.

Explore your IDF programs

Anthony Etzel 0 33465 Article rating: 5.0

If you haven't already, you may want to start to explore your IDF programs. Currently they provide the replacement for the 300 series inquiry programs. In addition, navigation drill downs are far superior to any green screen presentation of the data.

Consistently meet customer commitments without last minute surprises

George Moroses 0 23425 Article rating: 5.0

What if you had a solution that allowed you to consistently meet customer commitments without last-minute surprises and unexpected extra effort and cost?

We do this by preventing slippage — slippage is any break in the plan that disrupts both normal material flow and the rhythm of the plant that is preventable by timely key user intervention.
Click here to learn more about OTTO, On-Time Orders.

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Tips:  LX | BPCS | M3

New IDF Inquiries 

Infor LX has a long history of providing IDF inquiries over most critical business areas, but there are still some areas that lack this capability.
The following IDF inquiries are now available in 8.4.2:

  • Customer Quote
  • Customer Quote Line
  • RMA (Return Material Authorization)
  • RMA Line

Benefits

  • Ability to sort, subset, filter, and view information in a modern and intuitive way
  • Point and click navigation to related information – 360 views
    • Exceptional personalization and extensibility capabilities

New IDF Inquiries 

Infor LX has a long history of providing IDF inquiries over most critical business areas, but there are still some areas that lack this capability.
The following IDF inquiries are now available in 8.4.2:

  • Customer Quote
  • Customer Quote Line
  • RMA (Return Material Authorization)
  • RMA Line

Benefits

  • Ability to sort, subset, filter, and view information in a modern and intuitive way
  • Point and click navigation to related information – 360 views
    • Exceptional personalization and extensibility capabilities
Last

Tips: LN | Baan

Infor LX & BPCS: Why You Need MES

You know your plant better than anyone, and most likely you'd admit that there is room for improvement. Perhaps too many defects are causing costly issues down the road, or maybe your production is behind and orders are shipping late? Do you know what needs to be improved? Do you know about the root causes of the problems that you’re experiencing? Is it fair to say, you don’t know what you don’t know … yet?

MES helps you dig into the problem and better yet, SOLVES the problem!

What Is MES and How Does It Work?

Many companies still enter data manually or share work instructions on paper. Most of them, however, know there’s a better way to organize the mass of activity happening on the plant floor. MES provides visibility to that activity as well as the underlying data and uses that data to improve how that activity is done and makes it repeatable. MES connects multiple sites, integrates with equipment, and raises the effectiveness of business applications all to better optimize operations.

The 3 Pillars of MES:

  1. Establishing a plan and staying on schedule. The system takes your input — production shifts/times, production goals, etc. — and calculates the rate at which you need to complete production in order to meet customer demand. Operators see real-time progress on dashboard graphics, knowing the progress at every moment.
  2. Enforcing a repeatable process. Knowing your process is being followed exactly as defined provides the ultimate peace of mind. Every target, from fastening to product routing, is achieved just as you defined it time after time.
  3. Creating a rich data set. Capturing data is one thing; being able to act on that data is really the key to driving improvement initiatives. Use your analytics, explore your data set, and identify and solve your hidden inefficiencies.

All three of these MES pillars are used to help you reach productivity and quality goals by:

  • Solving production scheduling challenges
  • Discovering and sharing your best operators’ insights
  • Uncovering inefficiencies in your process and fixing them
  • Reducing the exhausting task of putting out fires
  • Establishing a continuous improvement philosophy
  • Increasing operator engagement and dedication

And if you need another reason... according to Forbes.com, MES ranks in the Top 5 Key Areas to Affect How Goods Are Made in 2023 - Five Predictions For Manufacturing And Logistics In 2023.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/02/13/five-predictions-for-manufacturing-and-logistics-in-2023/?sh=1155863f1f76

So, what's next? Work with Crossroads RMC, an experienced MES partner who has seen situations just like yours and who has guided companies in your position. And best of all, Crossroads RMC doesn’t just know MES, we have a team of experts who are knowledgeable about manufacturing best practices, your Infor ERP, and MES and can bring all of that knowledge together to help you formulate the right plan for your company’s success.

Contact Anthony Etzel at Crossroads RMC today. He can provide you with a free MES ROI calculator to give you some concrete numbers to help you see what MES can do for your business. 800.762.2077

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