Supply Chain Management

Synapse Supply Chain is built upon the powerful Synapse application development and on-line transaction processing environment. Instead of canned packaged best practices for the various manufacturing vertical markets, this design provides for broad adaptability throughout a wide variety of manufacturing scenarios. This allows an individual company or location to describe their proprietary best practices rapidly within the Synapse model. The Synapse for Manufacturing framework brings an additional layer of rapid application development, optimized for the automation of the manufacturing plant's processes. Functionality includes:

In this instance, Synapse Supply Chain provides an interface link to obtain the intra-operational production and parametric data contained in the forms and records attached to the production unit. This data can be collected from the factory floor either manually or automatically from process equipment in real-time. This collection of data can be from bar coding, RF tags, PLC data, scales, counters, or data fed from other systems and various legacy programs.

Synapse Supply Chain provides constant visibility to the location and disposition of work-in-progress. Status information may include current users, component materials by supplier, lot, serial number, current production conditions, and any alarms, rework, or other exceptions related to the product. The on-line tracking function creates a historical record as well, allowing "trace-ability" of components and usage of each end product.

IMS tracks all items and materials through the manufacturing process into finished goods and order shipping. The available information might include the identity of the employee working on a given item, the time of the work, the current production conditions, the number of items in each bin, and the location from where each product comes. Because each item is assigned a unique "fingerprint" that follows it throughout the plant, IMS can precisely control inventory levels and concisely provide information. In effect, this enables 100% accuracy in inventory. IMS also provides extensive cycle counting capabilities, supports scrap handling, handles master containers, and controls interplant transfers.

EMS is based on a "bill of operations" approach to manufacturing, maintaining every process from scheduling to locating and moving materials all in real-time. EMS' rich functionality allows the user to know what needs to be done, when and where, based on information from orders, inventory, shipping, and management decisions. Because EMS can be linked to external databases, such as ISO documentation and procedure manuals, it can provide instant access to resources needed to accomplish a particular task.

Synapse Supply Chain manages resources including machines, tools, labor skills, materials, instructions, set-up information, specifications, equipment, and reference entities (such as documents, drawings, photos, and order processing files) that must be available for operation. It provides a detailed history of resources, ensuring that equipment is properly setup for processing and providing status in real-time. Managing these resources includes reservation and dispatching capabilities to meet operational scheduling objectives.

The scheduling function sequences manufacturing events based on priorities, attributes, characteristics, and/or recipes for specific production units (such as shape, color, sequencing, or other characteristics) which, when sequenced properly, minimize setup. Synapse Supply Chain continually "sees" the floor and recognizes alternative and overlapping/parallel operations in order to calculate [in detail] exact time or equipment loading requirements and to adjust to workers' shift patterns and equipment status.

Synapse Supply Chain manages the flow of production units as jobs, orders, batches, lots, and work orders. Dispatch information is presented in the precise sequence in which the work needs to be completed. This presentation changes in real-time as events occur on the factory floor. It has the ability to alter the established schedule on the factory floor. Data on rework and salvage processes are available along with the ability to control the amount of work-in-progress at any point with buffer management.

This function controls records, forms and other documents that must be maintained within the production unit, including work instructions, recipes, drawings, standard operation procedures, parts inventory programs, batch records, engineering change notices, and shift-to-shift communication. Synapse Supply Chain offers document control and features the ability to edit "as planned" and to record "as built" information.

As a basis for activity-based costing, Synapse Supply Chain provides labor management by providing real-time, as reported, status information of personnel. This includes time and attendance reporting, certification tracking, and tracking of indirect activities, such as material preparation or tool room work. It can also track incentive pay, production, qualification for tasks, access control eligibility, and units of work performed.

Synapse Supply Chain provides up-to-the-minute reporting of actual manufacturing operations results, comparison to history, and expected business result. Performance results include such measurements as resource utilization, resource availability, product-unit cycle time, conformance to schedule, and performance to standards. This feature gathers information from various functions that measure operating parameters. The results can be prepared as a report and/or presented on-line as a read-out, displaying current performance.

Synapse Supply Chain feeds information to and captures information from statistical quality management systems in real-time. Both packaged systems and in-house developed legacy systems easily integrate with Synapse Supply Chain to capture event-based tracking information.This module can detect quality problems and route them to rework, while attempting, via statistics, to identify sources of problems. Synapse Supply Chain's tracking capability can detail where and when an item went through various processes prior to a quality check. For example, a dent in a stamped part can be tied to the exact operator, die, and stamping machine which introduced the dent. This allows setting up true, continuous improvement loops, minimizing rework and providing a solid foundation for effective, on-going productivity and quality improvement initiatives.

By design, this function manages customer order and product status information as well as information on the use of material and process efficiency. Data points from SCADA systems feed Synapse Supply Chain's floor scheduling and resource allocation modules in real-time for detailed tracking of materials, settings, and events to and from the process management system. Synapse Supply Chain is not intended to be part of closed control loops. It is designed to pass job setup information to and capture data-point information from those loops. Synapse Supply Chain performs job control and data collection by directly feeding SCADA systems, distributed control systems, or PLC's.

Synapse Supply Chain complements any existing maintenance package and feeds it event-based activity information to continually update its database. Synapse Supply Chain's machine tracking can do predictive maintenance. (Although this module does not maintain replacement parts and repair history, if required, the configuration structure and rule base is present to develop that specific functionality.) Both legacy systems and packaged maintenance systems easily interface with Synapse Supply Chain's event-based, messaging environment.

Integration with IMS also enables immediate access to inventory lot tracking and automatic printing of documents such as production dispatch lists, lot tickets and work-in-progress labels. EMS maintains interfaces with machines, radio frequency data-collection devices and with other systems such as general ledger and time and attendance. These interfaces allow for seamless and instantaneous flow of information with minimal personnel involvement, eliminating the flow of paper that can slow down production. EMS monitors resource requirements for the plant floor and can dispatch replenishment notices or release messages to vendors via electronic mail or facsimile.