Manufacturing Information Systems Report: J Rotherham Business

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Manufacturing Information Systems (MIS) within the context of J Rotherham, a UK-based stone-working company. The study focuses on the current Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and proposes an upgrade by implementing a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based Manufacturing Execution System (MES). The report explores the benefits of MIS in manufacturing, the role of ERP and MES, and the application of RFID for tracking raw materials and finished goods. It also examines various changeover methods, such as parallel, direct, phased, and pilot changeovers, recommending the parallel changeover method for J Rotherham to minimize risks and ensure a smooth transition. The report highlights the advantages of parallel changeover, including the ability to train staff, identify system errors, and maintain operational continuity during the upgrade. The study also considers the potential challenges of cost and time associated with the parallel approach. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of updating technology to maintain a competitive edge in the market.

MANUFACTURING
INFORMATION SYSTEMS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Knowledge and understanding of MIS........................................................................................1
Different changeover methods.....................................................................................................3
Appropriate change over method.................................................................................................4
Training programs for implementing the MES plan....................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
In this modernised world, human efforts are turned into the mechanical efforts which are
all performed by the computer systems these days. Manufacturing execution system are
computerised system which are used in manufacturing and also helps in tracking the documents
related to the raw material and transformation of such raw material into finished goods (Almada-
Lobo, 2016) . This file is based on the J Rotherham business which is a medium sized company
operated in UK. This company mainly deals with the Stone-working technology in order to
manufacture the luxury stone products. J Rotherham also provides the variety of stone made
products such as hand-finished architectural stone masonry and flooring, Kitchen worktops,
fireplaces and variety of different tables etc.
In addition, the report will help in carrying out the effective manufacturing activities
within the firm via upgrading the ERP system. It will also explore RFID in Manufacturing which
helps in identifying various components or sub assembly of goods. The study will help in
creating a complete understanding about the use of the Manufacturing system which enables
ERP, MES and Machine control work to handled with the up-gradation of the system via RFID.
Radio Frequency identification will be used in the report that help the organization in tracking
the raw material as well as finished products.
PART 1
Knowledge and understanding of MIS
MIS can be defined as a type of information system that is mainly used for controlling,
decision making, visualizing, coordinating and analysing information within an organization. It
is the backbone of an organization's operations. The main purpose of MIS system is to provide
up to date information to the organization, improve decision making, provide appropriate data
for variety of organizational assets for example for financial information, project timelines, raw
materials, marketing, research and development and many more. There are various kinds of
Management information systems such as management reporting system, process control system,
sales and marketing system, Inventory management system, Accounting and finance system,
human resource management system and various other systems. In manufacturing organizations
management information system plays a vital role in Small and medium enterprises as it help in
creating, sharing, managing and using information and knowledge of an organization. One of the
main MIS system used by manufacturing enterprises is ERP which is Enterprise resource
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planning system. It allows a business to integrate all the applications used by an organization
which eventually helps in managing the business and automate all the other organizational
functionalities related to services, technology and human resources used.
Many Manufacturing organizations especially Small and medium sized organizations as
it makes their accounting process much more easier, they can easily manage their inventory
management. Due to which it becomes much more easier for them to analyse and report their
data and information required. J Rotherham business already have their own Enterprise resource
planning system but however they are now trying to update their their current ERP system by
implementing and adopting RFID based manufacturing execution system (MES). RFID is radio
frequency identification which is a manufacturing execution system. These manufacturing
execution system is mostly used in Manufacturing organizations which helps them to track as
well as document transformation of all the raw materials into finished products or goods. These
systems help the organizations to take all kinds of manufacturing decisions, understand their
current production process so that they can improve their output of manufacturing and
production process. There are various kinds of MES systems but mostly used manufacturing
execution system is RFID system.
Radio Frequency identification system uses electromagnetic fields which helps in
automatically tracking and identifying the movement of any object with all the required
information related to that object. All the final products are provided with smart labels that helps
in tracking those objects as well as they also helps in knowing the current status of the product.
RFID systems with the help their radio waves captures those smart labels and identify the current
location of the product and current status of the product in the database (Oghazi, and et.al.,
2018). It works similar to a barcode scanner but it also captures the current status of the product
and directly update the database. If this RFID technology is adopted and implemented with
Enterprise resource planning system by enabling smart manufacturing execution system. It will
help J Rotherham business enterprise to understand their flow of final products within their
database. They will also be able to track movement of their final goods from production
department to sales department. Their are various types of RFID technology applications that can
be used by J Rotherham business enterprise which can be implemented with their ERP system
like inventory management system, assets tracking, personal tracking of products, supply chain
management and various others.
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Different changeover methods
As technology changes a need for change in information system arises. Upgrading these
current system within an organization helps them to improve their efficiency in order to remain
competitive within their current market. It is quite important for manufacturing organizations to
update their technology time to time such that they can improve their manufacturing and
production process so that their overall sales and tracking of products can be improved (Zhong
and et.al., 2015). Most common changeover areas within the manufacturing areas are database
systems, managerial information system and many more. There are various kinds of changeover
methods that can help an organizations to update their current technology such that overall risk
within the organizations can be reduced with the help of these changeover methods. There are
many types of changeover methods but most commonly used methods have been described
below:
Parallel changeover: In this parallel changeover method new system is run and used
simultaneously with the old system for a defined period of time. It is one of the most popular
method that is used by the organizations whenever they need to deal with change in technology.
It is commonly used because it carriers lowest risk of all the other changeover methods because
if anything at any point of implementing changeover goes wrong then complete system can be
brought back to the old system in its original state. However there is one big disadvantage of this
method which is that running two systems simultaneously can increase the overall coast of the
project but is beneficial in one way that is it can help in reducing time consumption.
Direct changeover: In this direct changeover method immediate replacement of the older system
is done. It is one of the least chosen changeover technique as it increase the risk associated with
this instant changeover or instant replacement of the older system with the new one. In other
words in this technique as soon as the new system is switched on, older system is switched off
permanently. It is one of the most risky technique because if anything goes wrong changing or
shifting back to the old system becomes next to impossible which can become one main reason
for the disaster of the organization. Due to this reason direct changeover is less preferred by the
enterprises.
Phased changeover: This method is a compromise between direct and parallel changeover
method. In this the new system is implemented within the organization in stages i.e. one stage at
a time. One of the biggest advantage of this system is that it helps in reducing isolated errors and
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also helps in lowering the overall cost of implementation. But there is also one disadvantage of
this system which it is quite time consuming changeover method because whenever changeover
is required it is required to be implemented immediately. .
Pilot changeover: In this changeover method the new system is tried and tested before launching
it within the company i.e. the new system is also used within an organization but at a much
smaller scale. It is one of the most cost effective method but increases the overall work of
implementing the new system within the organizations.
Appropriate change over method
For sustaining the successful position in the competitive market J Rotherham is required
to regularly upgrade its technology so that its computer system can provide optimum efficiency.
The organisation must use parallel changeover technique. One of the advantage of using parallel
changeover technique is that as it does not immediately replace the existing ERP system of the
organisation so it minimises the failure risk as well (Monostori and et.al., 2016). For instance it is
not possible for the staff members of J Rotherham to quickly understand the technical and
functional aspects of RFID based MES system.
Thus, until staff members can understand new system the parallel approach will help to
ensure the functional continuity without any kind of errors. Though higher cost and time taking
process can make this changeover technique less favourable choice for the organisation but as
compare to other techniques it is considered as more suitable (Giret, Garcia and Botti, 2016).. In
the context of RFID system direct changeover is not preferred. If organisation replaces the
system immediately then in case of failure it will not be possible to revert back to the original
system.
Along with this drawback direct approach also has some functional challenges. For
instance for the staff members it may be hard to quickly learn the features of new system and it
can be stressful for the developers to transfer all data from existing system to new one (Tao and
et.al., 2017). Though pilot changeover can also be one of the alternative of parallel changeover
but it can be time taking and more complex for the organisation. It is necessary for the
organisation to ensure that new MES system and ERP system must run for sufficient time
duration. It will assure that all aspects of the new systems are well integrated with the
functionality and requirements of organisation.
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In the context of the tracking applications provided by RFID it may seem less reliable to
provide the same input to both ERP and MES and the to compare the outputs of both the
systems. However, this approach provides scope for improving the proposed system. For
example when the outputs of both the systems are compared then if there are any kinds of errors
or the functional drawbacks in the MES system then J Rotherham will be able to identify such
errors. Thus, organisation can get time to use the existing systems for overcoming the errors or to
suggest suitable modifications for improving the new system (Morariu, Borangiu and Raileanu,
2015). Another advantage of this approach is that it also allows organisation to train their staff
members as per the features of new system. In addition, employees can also get time to accept
the proposed changes.
On the other hand the direct change over technique may not allow users to accept the
changes. For example the complete replacement without training or testing the new system not
only makes the staff members in difficulty but also eliminates the scope of testing efficiency of
new system against existing system. However, J Rotherham may face extreme difficulties in
terms of cost and operational time. Parallel changeover requires maintenance on frequent basis
so organisation must try to keep the duration of parallel changeover as minimum as possible.
One of the critical advantage of using parallel conversion is that it ensures the smooth
functionality even during the changeover period.
It eliminates the risk of terminating the operational continuity or the efficiency while
organisation is undergoing through changeover process (Giret, Garcia and Botti, 2016). Thus,
contrary to the other discussed approaches parallel approach will allow identifying the needs of
customization and optimisation in the new system. According to Theorin and et.al., 2017 when
same work is performed simultaneously on two systems then it demands for the additional
resources and efforts. It may slower the production process and several other cost related
complications.
The pilot approach of change over may lack the effectiveness in terms of demonstrating
full scale implementation. Since in pilot approach only limited number of operations are replaced
by the new system it can be hard to identify the overall efficiency of the complete system at full
operational scale. It enhances the risk of failure of the project because it is possible that in one
kind of operation MES may work effectively but it may not show the errors or drawbacks of
other operational mode. Contrary to this the phased approach is also considered as more
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structured changeover with low risk (Rosen and et.al., 2015). However, its direct implementation
may take time and it can be very complex and time consuming to wait for the implementation of
all phases.
Training programs for implementing the MES plan
MES based system minimises the use of paper and replaces all manufacturing floor
operations with the electronic software system. Instead of recording various costs such as
maintenance, labour and scrap on papers organisation records information in real time system
directly from the shop floor. Thus, there is need of training programs which can be incorporated
within organisation. The training is essential so that staff members of the manufacturing industry
can learn to manage their records. It is possible team members may not be aware of the
electronic based handling of the records (Cheng and et.al., 2018). So it is very essential that all
users must understand the ways to manage, store and access the information.
The training can make it possible to effectively and quickly replace the spreadsheet or
paper based record system. Another characteristic feature of the RFID based MES system is that
it can provide the real time tracking of inventory, raw materials and finished products. The staff
members of J Rotherham may must be provided training regarding applications and risks of
RFID (Giret, Garcia and Botti, 2016).. The tracking application helps to improve the
manufacturing process and supply chain but it is equally important that the risks associated with
the unauthorised access must also be understood.
It has been also observed that many organisations implement RFID based system but they
do not provide training related to security threats or the safe usage of new systems (Zhang and
et.al., 2015). For instance the products which have RFID feature can be easily tracked and thus
the production line can also be tracked. Hence, there are possibilities that the if information is not
shared and stored safely then it can create challenges for the organisation. Due to this reason it is
necessary for J Rotherham to incorporate training programs so that along with the functional
features users are also aware of the security risks and other possible challenges associated with
MES.
It has been also analysed that for increasing competitiveness the use of RFID based
system is rapidly increasing in the manufacturing industry. However, the novelty of the
technique causes several managerial challenges in the implementation of proposed system. Thus,
if these challenges are not addressed then there are higher possibilities that MES implementation
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may get failed and resource utilization may fail (Zhong and et.al., 2016). Thus training program
must be conducted by J Rotherham so that practitioners can make accurate decisions and
significant considerations related to RFID implementation can also be taken into account.
Another reason which justify the need of training session is the differences in ERP and
smart MES system. The existing ERP system of the organisation does not account for the
variations in the scheduling or the critical details of shop floor. Thus, it is necessary that all staff
members of the organisation must understand these changes so that they can make optimum
utilisations of the benefits of MES system (Ding, Jiang and Su, 2018).
CONCLUSION
As per discussion, it concluded that human always move towards the mechanical concept
that are putting some efforts to perform the multiple operation and function by the computer
systems. Manufacturing execution system is based on the computerised system that can useful
for manufacture to identify the specific raw materials to convert into the product development. It
useful tracking the documents to store all necessary resources which required for manufacturing.
Furthermore, the report is describing the e effective manufacturing activities within the
organization through ERP system. It is also describing RFID technique which applicable in
Manufacturing to understand the sub components for producing the goods in marketplace.
Moreover, it is creating a complete understanding about the use of the Manufacturing system
which enables ERP, MES and Machine control work to handle with the up-gradation of the
system via RFID and this technology is applicable in the business operation for tracking the raw
material as well as finished products.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Almada-Lobo, F., 2016. The Industry 4.0 revolution and the future of manufacturing execution
systems (MES). Journal of innovation management. 3(4). pp.16-21.
Cheng, Y. and et.al., 2018. Advanced manufacturing systems: supply–demand matching of
manufacturing resource based on complex networks and Internet of Things. Enterprise
Information Systems. 12(7). pp.780-797.
Ding, K., Jiang, P. and Su, S., 2018. RFID-enabled social manufacturing system for inter-
enterprise monitoring and dispatching of integrated production and transportation
tasks. Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing. 49. pp.120-133.
Giret, A., Garcia, E. and Botti, V., 2016. An engineering framework for service-oriented
intelligent manufacturing systems. Computers in Industry. 81. pp.116-127.
Monostori, L., and et.al., 2016. Cyber-physical systems in manufacturing. Cirp Annals. 65(2).
pp.621-641.
Morariu, O., Borangiu, T. and Raileanu, S., 2015. vMES: Virtualization aware manufacturing
execution system. Computers in Industry. 67. pp.27-37.
Oghazi, P., and et.al., 2018. RFID and ERP systems in supply chain management. European
Journal of Management and Business Economics, 27(2), pp.171-182.
Rosen, R. and et.al., 2015. About the importance of autonomy and digital twins for the future of
manufacturing. IFAC-PapersOnLine. 48(3). pp.567-572.
Tao, F. and et.al., 2017. Advanced manufacturing systems: socialization characteristics and
trends. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing. 28(5). pp.1079-1094.
Theorin, A. and et.al., 2017. An event-driven manufacturing information system architecture for
Industry 4.0. International Journal of Production Research. 55(5). pp.1297-1311.
Zhang, Y. and et.al., 2015. Real-time information capturing and integration framework of the
internet of manufacturing things. International Journal of Computer Integrated
Manufacturing. 28(8). pp.811-822.
Zhong, R.Y. and et.al., 2016. Visualization of RFID-enabled shopfloor logistics Big Data in
Cloud Manufacturing. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing
Technology. 84(1-4). pp.5-16.
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