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Brooks Software Announces Real-Time Manufacturing Productivity Solutions
Brooks Software, a division of Brooks Automation, Inc., and a provider of real-time applications for enterprises with collaborative, complex manufacturing operations, announced a suite of four aerospace and defense (A&D) manufacturing solutions that it intends on rolling out in 2005 aimed at improving manufacturing productivity and enhancing enterprise performance. As part of today's announcement, Brooks Software announced the availability of its Lean Manufacturing Solution for the A&D industry.
Brooks has worked closely with industry leaders to tailor its suite of A&D solutions to address four key strategies being implemented by leading manufacturers. Brooks' four A&D manufacturing solutions include the following:
* Lean Manufacturing Solution -- Allows A&D contractors to gain additional improvements with their lean manufacturing initiatives as they come under continued pressure to meet aggressive delivery dates and simultaneously improve efficiency;
* Supply Chain Execution Solution -- Helps eliminate the typical information latency inherent in enterprise applications, particularly in multi-site, collaborative environments;
* RFID Solution -- Meets the Department of Defense's RFID mandate requiring a comprehensive, integrated solution that collects, records and presents RFID real-time data to multiple enterprise systems including MES, ERP and PLM; and
* Reporting Solution -- Provides A&D contractors with data intelligence tools to ensure that parts and processes are tracked and traced throughout their extended supply chain with enterprise-specified granularity such as onshore vs. offshore origin, supplier origin and batch origin.
Built on Brooks' Sense Decide Respond(TM) architecture and optimized for the specific business and regulatory demands of the A&D industry, these solutions give manufacturers' real-time visibility, analysis and decision support for operations on the factory floor and throughout the extended enterprise, including the supply chain. The newly-available A&D Lean Manufacturing Solution allows manufacturers to enhance profitability by improving quality, reducing waste and enabling just-in-time efficiencies while facilitating regulatory compliance.
"Aerospace and defense manufacturers operate in complex, high-mix, variable environments," said Matthew Hobson-Rohrer, Director, Aerospace and Defense, Brooks Software. "Real-time insight into operations in the factory and across the enterprise is crucial for success. Brooks' Lean Manufacturing Solution collects real-time data from RFID, bar code and other inputs and provides the visibility and decision support that enable lean efficiencies in inventory and productivity. Real-time events, decisions and corrective actions are also captured for further trend analysis. Additionally, this solution enables manufacturers to meet multiple industry and governmental 'track and trace' mandates."
Enterprise-Wide Real-Time Visibility and Decision Support
The Brooks Lean Manufacturing Solution gives A&D manufacturers the real- time information and tools they need to produce higher quality products in shorter times with less productivity waste including smaller inventories. Brooks' solution links disparate information systems such as MES, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and product lifecycle management (PLM) with real-time, actionable data from manufacturing operations and the supply/demand chain, synchronizing logistics and production to improve decision-making from the factory floor through the entire supply chain. Additionally, A&D manufacturers can capture/define decision-making rules and automate corrective actions, freeing decision makers to focus on more complex or important decisions. The combination of enterprise-wide real-time data, decision automation and decision support results in improved manufacturing performance metrics.
Lean Manufacturing
Like other discrete manufacturers, A&D contractors are looking for ways to find additional performance improvements with their Lean initiatives. "Many A&D companies have struggled to keep Lean on a continuous improvement path," states Julie Fraser, Principal & Industry Analyst at Industry Directions Inc. "They often do not have adequate data collection mechanisms in place to track improvement progress, identify Kaizen opportunities, see emerging problems and re-balance operations when demand changes. Some cannot leverage the progress in the plant across their entire enterprise or supply chain. The logical next step for these companies -- and for those with high mix or a need for product genealogy -- is to leverage plant IT systems and their real-time data to stay on track and extend Lean beyond the factory walls."
Brooks Software will host a Webinar on Jan. 19, 2005 to kick-off its lean manufacturing solution for the A&D industry (http://www.brooks.com/pages/4350_webinars.cfm). Highlighting the session will be Honeywell, who will discuss their Lean Manufacturing Techniques, and Industry Directions, a leading manufacturing and supply chain analyst firm, who will discuss overall Lean trends within the A&D industry. 12.01.2005, Brooks Automation, Inc.
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