Your choice of business systems significantly impacts company efficiency

IT-systems are key to the managing of daily company operations. We happily entrust these systems with many company activities such as finances, stocks, customers, sales and production scheduling. Business systems are key elements in your critical infrastructure. The choice of business systems affects not only the company’s direct costs (purchasing costs and cost of implementation of the systems), but also all other company operations. It is vitally important that companies choose systems suited to support their actual operational and functional needs. Wrong choices can be devastatingly costly – both short term and, most assuredly, long term.

When choosing between IT-systems, a key distinction is to be made between all-in-one solutions and best-of-breed solutions. As indicated in the name, all-in-one systems are comprehensive solutions that aim at managing most – if not all – tasks in a single system. Such integrated system packages are mainly used in ERPs. Best-of-breed systems, on the other hand, are best explained as ”best for the specific task”. Best-of-breed systems are specifically dedicated systems, developed by specialists with specific competences in a specific field. The objective of best-of-breed solutions is to support the company in performing optimally in a particular field. Most companies benefit from application of a mix of an all-in-one solution for some procedures and best-of-breed solutions for others. The great challenge is to know when one or the other solution best serves the company’s actual needs.

Production scheduling requires a best-of-breed solution

Production scheduling is an area in which it makes perfect sense to apply best-of-breed solutions. Production scheduling is a highly specialised area, controlling all the company’s operative assets, such as machines, materials and manpower. It is a complex area that requires a specifically dedicated tool that is both comprehensively tailored to handle both existing and future events and situations, and that is equipped with all relevant features for this particular function. In relation to production scheduling, the smallest marginal factors relating to efficiency, for example, have a profound impact on the bottom line. Furthermore, there is an enormous competitive advantage in something as seemingly simple as being able to provide customers with reliable delivery times, or being able to simulate and visualise the actual consequences of changes or adjustments in production, i.e. when customers wish to change delivery times, or place rush orders, or if the necessary materials are not available at the expected time etc. Production scheduling is an area in which it can be particularly costly if you have not clearly identified your company’s actual needs and requirements before choosing a best-of-breed system. It is important that your choice of system includes the features and functionality that match your actual requirements.

ROB-EX is a best-of-breed solution

ROB-EX is a good example of a best-of-breed solution dedicated to production scheduling. It is a digital tool developed by experts that understand the challenges of trying to make ends meet in bustling daily operations. As best-of-breed software, ROB-EX is developed and dedicated to one highly specialised area: optimal control of production. Production is best characterised as a vital organ in the manufacturing body, and should be viewed as a strategic asset in manufacturing companies.

However, it remains a fact that production scheduling is a major challenge for many manufacturing companies. Many companies find their scheduling systems inadequate and not suited to match the reality in their production, and the reality of modern markets.

”When manufacturing companies contact us, we often find that they have exhausted the possibilities provided by their existing scheduling systems, and that their production scheduling procedures have gradually become exhaustingly cumbersome.  Many companies lose their overview of production, and are unable to recover an overview with their existing scheduling systems. This actually happens because many scheduling systems were, in fact, developed primarily for other organisational functions,” explains Sales Director at ROB-EX A/S, Kristian Skytt Mikkelsen, and he continues: ”The reality that we live in today makes it extremely important and basically essential that manufacturing companies start investing in the right tools for efficient production scheduling. No one can predict the precisce challenges of tomorrow. Over the last several years, we have seen the world changing before our eyes – some changes occur from one moment to the next. Such changes inevitably generate – and will continue to generate – a lot of disruption in the markets and in the supply chain. Today, more than ever, manufacturing companies must be prepared and equipped to manage sudden and unexpected changes in order to survive.”

Crises are inevitable – it is all about being equipped to get through them

Best-of-breed software is specifically dedicated to handling changed production and market conditions and other internal or external variances. Flexibility in relation to changes in internal or external circumstances is incorporated in the development of the tool. Best-of-breed systems are designed for one specific function in the company, and therefore offers a full and comprehensive set of features for all the possible situations that may affect that particular function.

Kristian Skytt Mikkelsen elaborates: ”ROB-EX provides you with a visual overview of the consequences of rescheduling orders, or how down-time on machines will impact production. ROB-EX also shows you whether or not all required materials are available for a given order – and if they are not, it provides the tools for simple and fast rescheduling, ensuring that you utilise capacity most optimally at all times. This means that you are able to minimise the unexpected effects of unforeseen events, such as when a ship is stuck in the Suez Canal. We have also focused our efforts on ensuring that you generate much more value from all of the data that is related to your production. ROB-EX makes it possible to export a large amount of data, so that you are able to analyse and estimate capacity, detect bottlenecks and pinpoint causes of down-time on your machines. We know that this is often an eye-opener for our customers, and it’s a critical area, where you are able to save both time and money.”

Digitalisation and bedst-of-breed solutions improve resilience

ROB-EX is not a competitor to ERP-systems. It is a value-adding add-on. It creates the visual overview that is often lacking in the daily hustle and bustle of production. It is important to note that the implementation of a best-of-breed system such as ROB-EX does not equal a replacement of the core structures of the company’s existing IT systems. As a best-of-breed system, ROB-EX makes use of the data that already exists in the company’s ERP-systems. Intelligent integration allows data to be transferred and exchanged safely between the ERP-system and ROB-EX.

”It’s our clear recommendation that companies digitalise and choose best-of-breed software for highly specialised functions, such as production scheduling. A specifically dedicated tool ensures that you are significantly more resilient and flexible in relation to variances in production conditions. Variances are inevitable. With the right tools, the occurrence of variances will be manageable. The right tools will alleviate a lot of the stress on the organisation that such unforeseen situations tend to generate today,” says Kristian Skytt Mikkelsen, and rounds off: ”ROB-EX is founded on the basic assumption that change and variances are unavoidable. With ROB-EX we accomodate disruptive events or conditions – even those that may be entirely due to external factors. No one anticipated the Covid-19 pandemic or the current energy crisis – and it’s inevitable that such local or global disruption or variance will keep on occurring. Manufacturing companies must have systems that have been specifically developed to handle such change. At ROB-EX, we view disruption and unforeseen conditions as variances, and it’s a core objective for us to provide manufacturing companies with the best solution, also for handling such situations, and getting through them safely.”