Practical Uses

E1 as discussed holds a wealth of data which is related to the fundamental processes, work orders sales orders purchase orders locations and lots etc. This information can be collated and displayed in Graphical screens in real-time using a combination of UDOs.

Unlocking this data is the “Holy Grail” for the E1 system, as it would allow it to be readily evaluated and informed business decisions taken. This is in effect the practical use of the new UDOs that ship with E1. To utilize them you need to have a good understanding of the business requirements as well as a detailed knowledge of the UDOs and how they can be incorporated to help deliver the “big picture” for the business.

I will explain the possibilities by Module as it helps to understand the practical use of the UDOs. This is by no means a comprehensive listing but just examples of areas where I believe the practical use of UDOs could impact the E1 community of users.

Manufacturing

The manufacturing module sets E1 aside for both flexibility and its ability to handle multi-mode manufacturing. It has long been one of the Mainstays of the JDE ERP solution.

It utilizes the MRP algorithms to present the planners/Buyers with messages based off the real-time demand.

It is bases around Work Orders that combine the Bill of Materials (BOMs) with the Routing, (The route the manufacturing process will take through the shop floor using machines etc. at work centers)

The BOM contains all the components and raw materials that are consumed to make the parent item.  It also holds the costs or the components which are utilised when the work order is completed (partial or Full) and this detailed costing information is utilised in the manufacturing accounting aspect of the manufacturing module.

The routing contains the different work centers and their rates, it also capacities at each work centre and the Cumulative lead times. Again, the rates are used by the manufacturing accounting and the lead times are used by the MRP to determine the finish dates of the parent item in relation to the demand. This produces messages that the planners use to plan the production schedule.

Configuring the manufacturing module to the individual business requirements is a complex task and is not part of this article. For further information and insights, I refer readers to the JDE documentation and experienced manufacturing consultants.

What is clear is that there is a lot of detailed information and complex algorithms that are running within E1 to consistently produce the messages requesting the user to make commercial decisions regarding the manufacturing schedule and the timely management of the Purchase orders and stock levels.

Working with these messages is difficult and often requires users to be able to drill down into the E1 system to understand the message and the potential impacts to the overall plan and the business objectives. This is fundamental because they are at a very detailed level (individual work orders and purchase orders); additionally, planners can change the associated routing to alter the impact as well as using substitute items within the BOM. These actions do not get messaged by the E1 system to the users but are often used by experienced planners to ensure the efficiency of the overall manufacturing process.

In addition to the general manufacturing, you can also utilize elements of the process to handle the Maintenance of the Plant and equipment, and this utilizes special work orders with BOMs and routings. This will have a direct impact on the manufacturing schedule and the capacity of the plant.

With the advent of the UDO’s great improvements in the clarity and the ability to do “what if” scenarios exist within the manufacturing sphere. I will highlight some areas that I have identified of potentially benefitting from UDOs. Again, this is not a comprehensive list and the reader will have their own ideas as to where the UDOs could improve the business and manufacturing process.

Production Scheduling

This is one of the vital tasks to start the manufacturing process. The Planner is attempting to meet the Demand (Sales orders and Forecast) to the production schedule. He must take into account the Cumulative lead times the availability of routings (machinery and labor) and the Overall stock situation. To help with this detailed process the JDE MRP creates messages (Start, Expedite, reduce, increase cancel etc.) But these messages relate to individual parent Work orders.

UDOs can have a major impact in this complex process. Using Calendar Graphics the Planner can see all the planned work orders spread out over a timeframe.  You can also prioritize the messages and use watch lists to ensure that the Planner tackles the major planning aspects first. A further adaption of this calendar approach is that when the Planner has done the first stage of planning by using an orchestration (a button on the calendar) the planner can “commit” the Plan by updating all the work orders as per the calendar representation. (This is normally a time-consuming and repetitive task that is prone to errors)

The whole area of production planning is an issue for all ERP solutions as the amount of detail can be overwhelming and it is difficult to see the overall picture. With the advent of the UDOs and the ability to combine graphics with Business automation, it is now possible to present this information in a clearer way. The Planner can quickly plan out the production schedule and make changes as things change. The benefits for manufacturing companies are great as not only will the production planning be easier to do but the ability to make changes as actual events unfold will make the whole production system more agile and better placed to take on the future.

Example graphical calendar

Shop Floor Planning

Once the production plan is in place then the next stage of the process is to Plan the shop floor to meet the production schedule. The shop floor planner has to take into account the availability of the components, the release of the components from the warehouse to the shop floor consumption areas, the availability of the Machines (Breakdowns and unscheduled maintenance) and the effect of overtime (labor) on the overall costs for the production.

The situation is dynamic and again working with individual work orders with no graphical representation is challenging. The biggest issue I have seen is the component availability which can be complicated with the use of Lots, and potency as well as defreezing some special components.

Again, the practical use of UDOs can make a lot of difference, I suggest a calendar Graphic showing all the scheduled Jobs and the Routing they are going to use. E1 can explode the BOM for the components “on the fly” but this needs to be done at an individual work order. By using an Orchestration we can explode each WO and display shortages for the work order using colour coding. This would alert the shop floor planner to potential issues with the proposed schedule. These issues often require the cooperation of Quality control (expediting the testing of component batches and releasing them for use) and or the Buyer who may be able to get the supplier to expedite the component situation etc.

As the graphic would also be based on the routes that are proposed then the Shop floor planner can easily see what the impact of Breakdowns is on the associated planning. This allows the shop floor planner to utilize different routes and or propose an overtime shift to enable him to meet the Plan. 

It is important to recognize that today the shop floor planner takes all these actions, but the UDOs would bring a much better understanding of the Impact and allow for more informed decision-making at this critical phase of the manufacturing process. 

Example graphical calendar highlighting missing items

Capacity Planning

One of the interesting modules within E1 is the Maintenance Module, it is designed to handle both regular maintenance and unscheduled maintenance of plant and machinery. This is a Vital part of any manufacturing plant. However, it has not been taken up by many manufacturing companies using E1.

It basically uses the Work Order process to handle the Maintenance “jobs” and for this reason, I believe it has not been widely adopted. When using it you create an additional detail that can easily overload the Planning functions which are already dealing with Lots of messages and as mentioned above the UDOs can help clarify this. If the Planning was easier, then I believe that the Maintenance module then becomes an advantage to the overall manufacturing process.

Using the maintenance module allows the Maintenance manager to plan the Scheduled Maintenance and pre-order parts (These are the Maintenance BOM) he can also input Scheduled Maintenance into the overall production plan so the production planner can schedule around the planned maintenance. He can also access the maintenance history and improve the estimated machine downtime.

Using UDO the maintenance manager can ensure that the parts are available and that the Labor is tasked appropriately. (See example below) The Maintenance Plans are now included in the overall production plan thus giving the Maintenance team and production planners a much better insight into the Manufacturing plant. (These Work Orders would be visible on the calendar and help the planners decide the most appropriate routing through the manufacturing plant.)

In addition, if the shop floor is automated, see below, then the Maintenance manager can see in real-time the actual run times for machines and be alerted to potential issues allowing him to plan in preventative maintenance and thus reduce the impact on the manufacturing throughput.

Maintenance Manager Page from UX One

Automating the Shop Floor

This has long been a desire in many of the manufacturing sites I have worked with, Shift managers do not want to spend time entering Completions and partial completions into E1 at the end of the shift. The actual material and labor are to be entered along with the scrap and the number of units completed. This is tedious and often prone to errors. This ultimately leads to inaccuracies in the manufacturing Accounting which take time and effort to rectify.

With the advent of Orchestrations that are Low code and utilize the latest programming tools, it is now possible to link the actual machine directly into JDE. The trend to use Robots and AI in manufacturing is increasing the potential interfaces to the ERP system. Historically this has required complex interfaces to be written increasing the customisation of the E1 system and all the inherent costs associated with this approach.

Orchestrations can provide a quick and cheap method of addressing this and thus the Machine itself will update E1 with the completion information in real time. Also, the actual run time (And with some robots) potential maintenance issues, running hot etc., can also be trapped and reported back to the Maintenance Manager and Costs Accountants. Enabling a better understanding of the actual manufacturing process.

For this article, it is not possible to go into the details as individual machines have their own requirements, but from an E1 perspective, the Fields where the information is recorded are all within the Standard E1 tables.  

Demand Forecast Review

The Production plan is based on Demand and the MRP algorithm will try to make finished goods just in time to meet the demand. It will minimize the stock required and provide messages both for the Buyer and the Planner.

Demand is based on forecast and actual sales orders and the cutover point between these two elements is controlled by the MRP processing options. As raw materials often have longer lead-times then the buyers tend to receive messages based of a forecast demand. Ideally, the Planners will be basing their plan on the actual sales orders.

Clearly to minimize the potential overstocking, (Both labor and material) it is important that the Demand is a close representation of reality. The issue is the Forecast is often at a “higher level” than the actual sales orders, (It is difficult to forecast what actual finished goods will be required and thus sales teams often forecast in Groups.) This can lead to a doubling of the demand if the sales do not match the forecast.  This can be adjusted manually but the issue, as always, is the fact that the detail is large and difficult to understand; (Sales orders are for packed Parent Items so you can accurately forecast 100 units but the actual sales will be for 10 (German Pack) 90 ( UK pack))

UDOs can help enormously in visualizing the two elements as well as using a watch list to identify potential doubling. This aspect has a tremendous possibility in ensuring that the production closely matches the actual sales and that it is manufactured as efficiently as possible.       

As the requirements are different for each business there are no “Generic” mock-up screens to show for the above. However, we would be happy to discuss your individual requirements and produce a bespoke mock-up for the reader.

Agile Planning

I am often asked how we can determine the impact on the production plan if we get an Urgent Confirmed sale. The ability to react to unexpected opportunities can make a huge difference to a Company. This is a part of the Agility many companies need to be able to prosper in these fast-moving and challenging times.

For the Planners to be able to answer the question and still meet the existing orders requires the ability to do simulated ‘What if’ scenarios using the existing data in the Plan. The issue is that there is such a level of detail already built into the plan that it means that any potential changes can affect many areas from materials to delaying existing sales. The final decision will of course be a commercial one, but the planner needs to be able to provide the business with all the information and a potential new plan so an informed decision can be made.

UDOs as we have discussed can extract complex data from the E1 system and present it in a meaningful way. For this practical UDO I would start with the Planning calendar, The Planner inserts the new work order and then Runs MRP (restricted to a range of data). His screen will then provide him with the Messages (as a Watch List) which allows him to immediately see the impact of the new work order. In addition, he would want to see the impact on the Materials by checking using the orchestration we have already discussed.

The Planner is then in a position to give the impact assessment of accepting the order for the business to make the relevant decisions.

This is a simple scenario, and the planner may want to dig deeper and see if it is possible to move raw materials from another Plant and or transfer some work orders to another plant. The UDOs could assist with this analysis especially if you use the E1 Search and allow the planner to look at other Branch plants etc.

The detailed requirement and challenges will be dependent on the individual business and again we would be happy to assist in building up a complete mock-up to meet the individual requirements.

Production Scheduler Page with Watchlist