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CMS Product Features

Beyond ERP and MRP-II :: Breadth, Integration, and Flexibility :: Dynamic Planned Inventory Position (PIP) :: Available To Commit :: True Finite Capacity Planning :: Real-Time Demand Driven Production Planning :: Interactive Planning at Order Entry Time :: Advanced Pegging :: On-Line Tracking of Future Capacity Needs :: Core Banking and Core Tear-Down :: Comprehensive Valuation and Cost Modeling

Beyond ERP and MRP-II

The CMS System is the premiere tool for mid-range discrete manufacturers looking to achieve significant improvements in all operational business areas.

CMS enhances a manufacturer's agility and responsiveness by providing a high degree of control with its dynamic real-time processing.

CMS provides greater results than traditional ERP/MRP-II systems by bridging the spectrum from dynamic forecast logic-based 'Re-Order Point/Safety Stock' method to the ultimate in 'Just-In-Time' planning.

CMS meets your needs today, and most importantly, it provides a flexible solution that is designed to change and expand to meet tomorrow's business challenges.

Breadth, Integration, and Flexibility

CMS is distinguished from its competitors by its depth and breadth of product functionality.

CMS encompasses thirty (30) modules supporting accounting, planning, and production control functions of a manufacturing enterprise. All modules share a common database, and the database is updated in real-time. Transactions recorded in one area of the company immediately provide results that can impact, and be viewed by other areas.

CMS Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Purchasing & Receiving, Order Entry & Shipping, and General Ledger modules are all tightly integrated to the Manufacturing and Inventory functions. No duplicate data entry or batch entered data across interfaces is required. Because the General Ledger is posted automatically and immediately as inventory and accounting transactions are recorded across the system, statements of financial condition can be produced that are up-to-the-minute. Specific period as well as annual closing processes are automated and quick.

Each module can be tailored to fit the needs and manufacturing style of the user by setting "behavior switches" that govern the features and process within the module. These switches, for example, provide user-control over time fences, tool planning, rules for use of alternate materials and workcenters, whether to plan single level or full explosions, and many more features of the manufacturing control process.

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Dynamic Planned Inventory Position (PIP)

The PIP is the quantity of a part that is expected to be in inventory on each day of the planning calendar. CMS calculates and stores the PIP quantity for every finished goods item, component subassembly, and raw material item. Uniquely, CMS updates the PIP quantity moment by moment as transactions occur. For example, if the purchasing department learns that a vendor shipment will be late, upon entering this information to CMS, the PIP for that part is adjusted. If that late delivery causes a shortage on any future date, that information is immediately visible to concerned parties throughout the company. In the same way, the company is alerted to problems caused by a production job running early or late. CMS automatically tracks all parts which are currently expected to have a shortage or surplus on any day in the future. For each such problem condition, shortage or surplus is flagged, the quantity involved, who is effected, what the cause of the problem is, and how long it will last. All tools needed to analyze the problem and resolve it are provided on-line.

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Available to Commit

The available to commit (available to promise) information is calculated from PIP, and is therefore accurate to that moment in time, across all the departments of the company.

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True Finite Capacity Planning

The CMS production planning process provides user selection of finite scheduling, for resources that constrain production and infinite capacity scheduling, for non-bottleneck resources. The current load for each manufacturing resource is maintained, real-time, in detail for the entire planning horizon. As each new demand is planned, the system searches for available (unused) capacity in the necessary workcenters, machines, cells, etc., and reserves the necessary capacity in detail. CMS considers the current load in the plant for each workcenter at the moment the plan is made.

The capacity of a workcenter can be expressed in any unit of measure, i.e., machine cycles, hours, minutes, shifts, pounds, meters, team hours, etc. The planning process can be further constrained through the use of the "concurrent workcenter" feature, which can plan capacity for both machine and operator, and more complex scenarios with up to four (4) workcenters, operating on the same operation simultaneously. Overlapping operations, 'decoupled' operation processing, alternate workcenters, and shift-based production are also supported.

CMS provides "Just-In-Time" scheduling whereby materials not needed until later in the process, are planned to be available just in time to be used. Compound yield losses are properly planned for by calling out yield losses, at the particular step in the process where the loss occurs.

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Real-Time Demand Driven Production Planning

The CMS planning system is a system based on real-time, demand-driven logic that is clearly superior to traditional MRP-II processes.

'Demand driven', means planning can be invoked by a simulation request, customer order, change-to-plan, or partitioned for a particular product family or a range of MPS items. Planning provides a complete plan that is feasible from inception, and constantly evolves as new demands on the manufacturing enterprise appear or information changes. CMS is a dynamic system whereby every new event activates processing.

The CMS planning system accomplishes Master Production Scheduling, Material Requirements Planning, and Finite Capacity Planning together in a unique simultaneous process that plans capacity before it plans for materials. CMS produces plans that can be met because it considers capacity and then synchronizes the material plan to the resource dependent schedule. If capacity is not available, or if materials cannot be obtained, the system will forward schedule to determine the first possible delivery date. A suite of on-line tools is provided to adjust the plan as necessary in real-time, to react to events that impact the plan.

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Interactive Planning at Order Entry Time

The CMS production planning features can be invoked during sales order entry. While the customer is still on the phone, production can be planned to meet the new order and realistic delivery dates can be promised as a result of the unique nature of the CMS Planning process; these are customer delivery promises that can be kept. If the entire order cannot be met by the customer's desired date, CMS shows how many units can be provided by that date and when the remainder will be available. CMS also highlights which orders would need to be rescheduled to allow this new order to be filled early.

CMS can be configured to allow order takers to schedule only the final assembly, leaving planning of the subassemblies (and lower levels) to production planners. If order takers are not allowed to plan production, they still have the benefit of PIP to see inventory levels for every part on every day into the future. This is a tremendous tool for companies who sell from stock or have stringent requirements for the delivery of replacement or service items. Through the "hard allocation" feature of CMS, at order entry time, available stock can be immediately committed to a particular customer, without waiting for formal production planning to occur later.

CMS also provides for selection of optional components to automatically reconfigure the production routing. With this feature, the production process can be tailored automatically to the 'as sold' configuration.

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Advanced Pegging

The CMS system explodes down from each requirement reserving both capacity and available inventory, and planning for production and purchases as necessary. All resulting detail plans are pegged to the next level and if desired, by order, back to the original demand. This pegging can be traced on-line to provide quick assessment of the impact of unforeseen events, and clear visibility of the complete, multi-level status of production for a customer's order.

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On-Line Tracking of Future Capacity Needs

CMS tracks future capacity usage and shows where resource-related problems are expected to occur in future periods, given all current plans and the plant capacity. Like the PIP data, capacity data is updated moment-by-moment so results of new orders arriving from customers, changes in the Master Production Schedule, and progress on the shop floor can be immediately seen in the resource utilization schedule.

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Core Banking and Core Tear-Down

The Core Management Module provides complete core banking, teardown, and core value tracking functions for Remanufacturing companies. The core bank provides automatic two-way application of received cores against finished goods sold. Substitutions, "Core Parents", and drop-off invoices are all supported. Bills of material for teardown jobs can be expressed including expected yields. The core value is isolated from value added throughout the inventory and production functions.

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Comprehensive Valuation and Cost Modeling

CMS includes a complete cost modeling module in which 'cost sets' can be defined describing various cost scenarios for any or all parts, now and in the future. A particular cost set can be frozen and implemented as the basis for standard costing. Meanwhile, a new cost set can be created to describe next year's costs. In CMS, all standard and actual costs are tracked in up to twelve (12) user-defined cost buckets. Additionally, roll-up and complete fold-in mapping are provided, all under user control.

Eleven (11) inventory valuation methods are supported and can be assigned by part, warehouse, or even by lot. The features of the inventory control module coupled with automatic real-time posting of the general ledger, provide state of the art tools for assuring that book and physical inventory are constantly in balance.

The G/L accounts for inventory can be determined by the part, warehouse, or even the lot involved in a transaction.

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