Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Supply chain management is defined as planning and scheduling the flow of material through one or more organizations over time to satisfy end-customer demand. Whether you’re a small or midsize manufacturer, your enterprise is a supply chain and your own supply chain is a link in broader chains that include your customers and suppliers.

With Made2Manage Supply Chain Management (M2M SCM), you can more effectively manage your supply chain by synchronizing the demand for your products with your production capabilities, optimizing your resource usage and maximizing your throughput so there are less disruptions and fewer fires to put out.

M2M SCM offers flexible forecasting, planning and scheduling tools that will maximize your unique production environment. You can execute any or all of these tools in any combination of finite/infinite planning and scheduling, depending on your unique environment.

Whether you are a repetitive, make-to-order, engineer-to-order or mixed-mode manufacturer, the M2M SCM application suite can meet your specific needs. For example, if you are repetitive manufacturer with a relatively simple, lean shop floor, you may just need advanced (finite) planning tools to generate a capacity-based daily build plan. If you operate in a more complex environment, perhaps as a make-to-order and/or engineer-to-order shop, you can employ a combination of planning and advanced (finite) scheduling tools to streamline production. Finally, if you are a mixed-mode company with complex shop floor operations, you can take advantage of both finite planning and finite scheduling tools to drive more product through your plant.

To help you synchronize your entire operation, M2M SCM employs a memory resident application server known as the M2M Synchronizer Foundation. The M2M Synchronizer Foundation simultaneously shares data from the back office (M2M ERP) and the M2M SCM planning and scheduling applications, so you have the real-time information you need to make the best possible production decisions for your operation. The improvements in overall throughput and synchronization will raise your customer service levels, lower your costs, and increase your profits.

At the outset of a production run, you can use M2M Demand Forecasting to accurately forecast future demand for sold parts or stock raw materials. You can simulate changes in sales, production and demand, and see their impacts on forecasts, budget targets, and other areas of the company.

For generating job orders, M2M SCM offers finite manufacturing planning tools that ensure feasible supply due dates by balancing demand against available capacity and material constraints.

Of course, you have to promise realistic delivery dates during the sales process to keep your customers satisfied. To keep your sales in line with production, the embedded Capable to Promise (CTP) feature, accessible through M2M Advanced Planning, M2M Advanced Scheduling, or within the sales order screen, helps your order takers quickly and accurately determine whether or not you can meet requested delivery dates based on available capacity and constraints.

For real-time scheduling, maximized shop throughput, and seamless communication between your shop floor schedule and the rest of your enterprise, Made2Manage offers Theory-of-Constraints-based production scheduling with its powerful finite scheduling tool. M2M Advanced Scheduling loads and sequences all operations for all job orders in work centers so that you can better meet your delivery dates.

To improve coordination with your suppliers, M2M SCM features broad procurement planning so you can be sure that purchased materials are ordered and received on time and that manufacturing plans and schedules consider material constraints within supplier lead times.

If your operation includes multiple manufacturing facilities, M2M SCM offers complete supply chain optimization to coordinate supply plans across multiple sites, so you can make critical sourcing decisions, and maximize on time delivery and profit.

Streamline your own supply chain with M2M SCM and become a more reliable partner to your customers and suppliers. Seize all opportunities to wring maximum profit out of your organization by minimizing disruption and reducing bottlenecks. With M2M SCM, you can take your place in the automated, interlocking supply chains of today’s manufacturing marketplace and maximize your profits.