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Actual conditions of local DX promotion in Thailand: Overlooking the manufacturing site operations and solving problems

Chapter 2 : Actual conditions of local DX promotion in Thailand: Overlooking the manufacturing site operations and solving problems

MTO system solution in the factory

Thai NS Solutions is highly regarded for “its ability to design and develop tailor-made (Make to Order) systems based on each customer's specific requirements to solve business issues” at each manufacturing fields.

Taking a typical manufacturing fields as an example, there are various ways to systemize and/or utilize data in each process.

Materials Management
  • Receiving of parts and materials
    Collate purchase information and delivered items, and issue product tags. OCR is used for slips that do not have barcodes.
  • Product tag
    Barcode, QR code, RFID, and OCR reading are used appropriately depending on the item.
  • Inspection
    Record inspection data of delivered items in conjunction with purchase history, and rejects non-conforming items.
  • Parts and materials inventory management
    Location management using product tags and shelf IDs, and tracking of receiving history through the system.
  • Parts and materials picking
    Collate product tags and picking instructions with a handy terminal.
  • Input material collation
    Record traceability information by collating work instructions / actual product tags
Process Control
  • Process master
    Systematize the process master of products and control them not to proceed to the wrong process.
  • Material requirements planning
    Calculate the amount of required materials based on the production plan and determine the amount to be procured (MRP)
  • Standard production plan
    Plan the production schedule by calculating the manufacturing capacity of facilities and lines (MPS)
  • Operation progress management
    Issue work instructions from the system and manage the progress of the operation.
  • Work document management
    Create a workflow for drafting, approving, and issuing work documents, and quickly retrieve conforming documents.
  • Inventory
    Take inventory at a handy terminal using barcode / QR code / RFID
Manufacturing Records
  • Worker management
    Scan worker name tag to collect skill verification and work records
  • Daily report recording
    Make daily work reports paperless with a handy terminal, etc. for easy tabulation.
  • Manufacturing results
    Collects manufacturing progress and results by collating work instructions, product tags, and machine tags.
  • Jig and tool management
    Attach tags to jigs and tools to manage renting out, returning, and the history.
  • Collect operation information
    Automatic collection of facility operation information by work instruction using IoT such as I/F and RPA.
  • Work-in-process / semi-finished product management
    Location management using product tags and shelf IDs, and manufacturing history can be tracked through the system.
Inspection / QA
  • Pass/fail judgment
    Record pass/fail for each product tag and accurately sort passed items.
  • Inspection record collection
    Automatically collect data from inspection equipment by units of work instructions using IoT such as I/F, RPA, etc.
  • Issuance of report
    Issue inspection report and record the product tag and serial number.
  • Non-conforming product management
    Non-conformities are recorded on the product tags to prevent outflow to subsequent processes and to trace the status of correction.
  • Non-conforming product reporting
    Automatically notify relevant departments of non-conforming products by e-mail to prevent the spread.
  • Handling of non-conforming product
    Rework/re-rating/disposal instructions for non-conforming products are approved by the relevant departments in a workflow.
Delivery Management
  • Finished goods inventory management
    Location management with product tags and shelf IDs, and tracking of manufacturing/inspection history through the system
  • Delivery allocation
    Assign finished goods in inventory to orders and create delivery slips
  • Packing and load assortment
    Check the delivery slip against the product tag and match it with the specified packing and load assortment.
  • Returnable box management
    Attach tags to returnable boxes/containers to be used with customers, and manage renting out, returning, and the history.
  • Delivery arrangement
    Issue shipping slips, contact carriers, and adjust the number of trucks according to the volume of shipments.
Purchasing/Procurement
  • Purchase requests
    Manage purchase procurement requests from manufacturing departments, etc., and create a workflow for price/delivery coordination.
  • Vendor quotation
    Manage prices and expiration dates of quotations obtained from vendors in response to purchase requests
  • Materials procurement
    Order materials based on vendor quotation results, and processes payment after receiving them.
  • Procurement Purchase forecasting
    Forecast the quantity of materials to be purchased based on sales forecasts and past performance
  • General purchasing
    Create workflows for approval / arrangement from purchase requests for general items that are not direct materials
Sales
  • Inquiry Management
    Calculate quotations for customer inquiries and manage their history.
  • Purchase order processing
    Process POs from customers, match them to quotations, and process invoices after delivery.
  • Sales from inventory
    Instruct to allocate from finished goods inventory. Also issues production orders according to the inventory level.
  • Sales on order
    Issues production orders for products that do not have inventory.
  • Sales forecasting
    Forecast the sales volume of products based on customer information and past performance.
  • Claims handling
    Notifies relevant departments of customer complaints through workflow and takes appropriate measures
Accounting Options
  • Cost calculation
    Calculate manufacturing cost by product/category for cost improvement
  • Asset Management
    Attach product tags to fixed assets and equipment and take inventory with a smartphone or other device.
  • Fixed asset tax calculation
    Calculate depreciation of fixed assets, calculate book value, and link to ERP.
  • E-Tax
    Assign digital certificates to electronic tax documents and send them to the authorities.

▲Outline of MTO solution for manufacturing fields

Each of these initiatives is a part of DX, but it is really difficult to grasp all the issues and the current state of the company by anyone. Even if each department is already working on its own systemization efforts, there are many cases where they are not fit well together, or there is some weakness that prevent from achieving high profitability as a whole.

From identifying work site issues to reconsidering the entire operation

To realize DX, it is important to clarify the vision and purpose of your company, "What is the final target you want?" at the first.

On the other hand, at local subsidiaries in Thailand, the scope of task for IT staff is too wide, and most customers get stuck about the DX innovation due to manpower.

Thai NS Solutions not only develops and implements systems, but also help to identifies issues that are hidden in the customer's work field and to create a path to a solution. In particular, we have accumulated many achievements in implementing systems for Japanese companies, and have built up know-how that transcends the communication barriers between Japanese and Thai people.

Aiming to be a "customer's first DX partner", we are providing support rooted in the local community in Thailand.

We sometimes receive rough consultations such as, "We want to move forward with DX, but don't know where to start.” We are warm welcome to make a discussion together as the first step. By having a time together to survey the business operation or by looking at the whole operation from a bird's eye view, we can help customers find the solution that is difficult to aware by themselves.

Our strength is that we are able to work with our customers to determine the necessary requirements based on the knowledge we have accumulated over the years in Thailand, and then systemize them appropriately based on those requirements through the Make-To-Order process. There are still very few consulting firms vendors in Thailand that can assist customers in formulating an optimal operation business image, so we are highly evaluated by our customers.

In the next chapter, we will introduce some more specific examples that are in line with our customers' issues.

28-01-2022