Acheiving Operational Excellence in an Attribute-Based Product Environment

Achieving Operational Excellence in an
Attribute-Based Product Environment

White PaperSAP for Mill ProductsCONTENT
4 Executive Summary ^ 8 Key IT Process Enablers for Seamless Integration Across ^ 5 What Makes Mill Products the Supply Chain C­ ompanies Unique? 8 Sales Order Management 5 Mill Products Supply Chain 9 Production Planning and C­ hallenges ­Execution 6 Units of Measure Can Differ 9 Inventory and Warehouse Throughout the Customer Order ­ManagementLife Cycle 9 Transportation and Planning 6 Products Being Manufactured Are ­CostingGrouped into "Families" 10 Complaints and Returns 6 Effective Scheduling Is Important 10 Analyticsto Mill Productivity 6 Semifinished Inventories Can Be ^11 What Is the Value That Mill "Finished" into Many Product ­Products Companies Realize by Variations Using Best Practices to Improve 6 Inventory Is Tracked at the Piece Their Operations?Level 11 Blueprint for Success 7 Inexact Quantities Are a Way of 11 The Road AheadLife 11 For More Information 7 Shipping and Receiving Logistics Is a Key Aspect of Mill OperationsExecutive Summary
Mill products companies are going through a period of in-tense economic change triggered by a variety of factors, Find answers to the ­
such as globalization, industry consolidation, volatility in following questions:
raw material and energy prices, fierce competition, and . W hat makes mill ­products
increasingly demanding customers. These trends have re- companies unique?
sulted in constrained revenue growth and immense down- . W hat are the key IT
ward margin pressure, which highlight the importance of ­enablers for seamless
operational efficiency for survival. Companies that are supply chain inte­gra­tion?
classified by SAP as mill products companies are those . What best practices
that manufacture or convert metal, paper, wood, or textiles can improve operat­ional
into industrial and consumer products. excellence?
To succeed, mill products companies and not simply on part numbers. This must adapt their existing business prac- adds a layer of complexity to the manu-tices to meet the demands of a new facturing and supply chain process.marketplace. Typical mill products com-panies are characterized by a diverse The best-run mill products companies set of information systems that cover a have been able to leverage next-­wide variety of functionality to support generation enterprise applications to make-to-order, make-to-stock, and achieve significant gains in business ­configure-to-order processes. These process efficiency and have been companies need to implement innova- s­ uccessful at turning this complexity tive and flexible manufacturing and into a strategic advantage.­supply chain processes that allow rapid response to changing order, This SAP white paper discusses the ­market, and production environments. key issues inherent in mill operations. These processes need to be vertically It lays out the blueprint for successfully integrated from the "top floor to the enhancing the effectiveness of a mill shop floor" as well as horizontally to products value chain through the use of business partners in the ecosystem. advanced product configuration tools.
The complexity of the supply chain is increased for mill products companies by the way that finished goods are A streamlined order-to-cash solution that offers product defined, ordered, produced, and configuration tools at a very detailed characteristic level tracked in their plants. Manufacturers typically rely on product definitions ­enables mill products companies to turn yesterday's ­liability based on attributes and characteristics into today's advant­age.
4 White Paper - Achieving Operational Excellence in an Attribute-Based Product EnvironmentWhat Makes Mill Products Companies Unique?
Mill products companies are typically p­ roducts companies so distinctly . Furniture cabinet: wood type, hard-classified as a subset of process in­­ ­different than for ­tra­ditional process ware, total dimensions, and styledus­t­ries, yet most mill products com- industries or discrete manuf­acturers? . Oriented strand board: thickness, panies have a combination of process strength characteristics, length, and and ­discrete operations. While each Mill Products Supply Chain widthtype of m... [download for more]