Day 1

• Successful IT implementation for manufacturing case studies
  • Mass customization for the individual consumer at Timbuk2 Designs
  • The Omron digital Yatai
  • Recent IT applications at Toyota
    • The Global Body Line (GBL)
    • Worldwide operator instructions
    • The Gazoo web portal
• Information systems requirements for lean manufacturing
  • Information flows on value stream maps
  • Categories of manufacturing data
    • Data about the future: forecasts, plans, schedules
    • Data about the present: WIP status, Available-to-promise, Machine condition
    • Data about the past: production and engineering history
    • Timeless data: specs, product definitions, bills or materials, etc.
  • Data, information, and knowledge
  • Computer systems / lean manufacturing: perspectives
  • Case studies
    • Successful applications of IT to lean
    • Failed applications of IT to lean
• Most-required software applications for manufacturing
  • Machine controls; human-machine interfaces; mistake-proofing
  • Production control; warehouse management
  • Process engineering; quality assurance support
  • Production planning and scheduling
  • Electronic commerce
• Analyzing your requirements
  • Using software already on your desktop
  • Information flow mapping and analysis
  • Analysis: legacy system retention vs. retirement
• ERP – Why most projects fail
  • Initial status of lean and ERP in your company
  • Pull systems and leveled sequencing
  • Production planning and forecasting
  • Applying ERP in a lean environment
• Nomenclature, tracking and traceability issues
  • Obsolete item numbering systems
  • Tracking requirements in a lean environment
  • Traceability in a lean environment

Day 2

• The next big wave: RFID
  • Overview of RFID technology
  • Application to warehouse management
  • Application to prevention of picking errors
  • Other business applications
• IT system architectures – What is best for your factory?
  • What does it mean for the factory?
    • Terminal/host
    • Client/server
    • Peer-to-peer:
  • Legacy systems, data warehouses, and middleware
  • Point solutions vs. integrated systems
  • Locally hosted systems vs. ASPs
• Technology readiness
  • Are you an early adopter or a technology laggard?
  • Assessing the success of a technology
  • Vendor relations and the technology life cycle
• Software asset management
  • What is your software worth?
  • Proprietary vs. off-the-shelf software
  • Owning vs. licensing
  • Application vs. content
• Software procurement
  • Software vs. consulting costs
  • IT: what it can and cannot do
  • Alternatives to the traditional RFP process
  • Getting everything you need, and nothing you don’t