The September/October issue of Time Compression Technologies
magazine includes a feature article, "Lean Manufacturing: How
Big is the Market? Lean Enterprise: How Much Bigger is the
Market?" authored by North America's leading manufacturing
journalist, Thomas R. Cutler (www.trcutlerinc.com).
Cutler provided a detailed history of the lean manufacturing
marketing including how e-kanban solutions are central to an
effective lean manufacturing initiative. According to Matthew
Marotta, founder of Datacraft Solutions, "We do not charge for
upgrades to the system as we learn about new best practices that
clients ask us to incorporate. Before Datacraft incorporates the
request, it is reviewed buy a lean advisory board to validate
the value of the best practices and the value added impact upon
our partner community. Once it is passed, they develop, test,
and implement."
The hosted solution provides the customer with their own set of
servers which are maintained offsite by and outsourced set of
administrators. All of the administration fees, equipment,
support teams and software updates are all included in the
monthly service fee which is less then the cost of hiring an
internal system administrator.
The value of an ASP is that manufacturers can buy "by the
drink", low risk, and a see a rapid ROI. Only internet access is
required.
The non-ASP option leaves manufacturers investing a large sum
into the communication network, IT personnel, IT training,
application servers, consulting for system modification, along
with all the hidden costs that come with it. The only
disadvantage of using an ASP is the client never owns the system
(application), only their own data. This concern tends to be the
issue of IT since they want to control all phases of the
e-kanban operation. The cost of the control is wasteful and
completely antithetical to a Lean Initiative.
While some ERP systems QAD, Factory Logic, and Supply Works have
some e-kanban functionality is not their core focus, so
manufacturers are purchasing the ERP system at a significant
price tag including all the prices increases (and upgrade
charges). From the perspective of Lean functionality and
immediate ROI the cost cannot be justified, unless there is a
plan for a manufacturer to replace the ERP system.
Datacraft Solutions www.datacraftsolutions.com Matthew Marotta
800-819-5326
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