Day after day, textile companies are having easier access to the technologies available in the market, these are tools that are making it possible to equalize production conditions, creating an increasingly competitive scenario.
In this aspect, the details make all the difference in how the company can stand out from the others. And the management of production engineering data is a tool that has demonstrated the capacity to create an enormous competitive differential.
The complexity of the textile industry generates thousands of engineering data, which must be collected precisely so that they can correctly mirror the production chain. The quality and availability of these data are decisive for successful production planning, cost analysis, product viability study and, above all, are determinants in the company's strategic decision-making. The higher the quality and availability of that data, the greater the competitive advantage.
Safety, Quality, and Availability
In most companies, this data is spread across different levels of security, quality, and availability. They may be:
- In the knowledge of the collaborator: it is he who often has differentiated expertise on how the item can be produced. His experience makes him discover optimized modes of production that are not registered anywhere within the company. Equipment regulations, process definitions, quantities of raw materials, in short, a universe of possibilities. These data based on people's knowledge are extremely volatile, since they are conditioned on the availability of that person to the company and its lack can cause setbacks in the production process and considerable financial losses.
- In ordinary notes: in notebooks, markings on control plates, quotes written by hand inside manuals. This data may contain important information about the actual adjustment of the machines, additional controls, solutions to problems, checklist of actions, and other data. But they are also difficult to access and research, and are generally restricted to a group of people who may be aware of their existence.
- In static information technology: these are the technical data sheets inserted in spreadsheets, in computerized documents, in departmental systems. Commonly, this way of managing engineering data brings false security to companies, since they can understand that with the data written down on their computers, their information is saved, but this is not what reality reflects, since spreadsheets and documents accept everything written, which implies that the data can be changed without being validated, are constantly out of date because they are difficult to maintain and are easily lost inside computers, since they are not interconnected with each other.
- In ERP/MRP systems: these are the data registered in complex industrial systems that control all or a large part of the company's production system, but even so, the majority find many deficiencies in the availability to accurately serve the entire production system, especially in diverse sectors such as the controlling, cost analysis, commercial and marketing departments. ERP/MRP systems that serve dozens of niche markets are generally restricted to keeping basic information about the composition of the product, the required quantity of each item, and the production time, without taking into account the details stored in people's expertise, in handwritten quotes or in spreadsheets, and these are precisely the data that contain the relevant and specific details of the production process of each company.
ERP/MRP systems and integrated business mapping
Specialist productive and business resource planning (ERP/MRP) systems have proven to be a solution for the more efficient management of production engineering data in the textile industry. They allow customized control and integration of all stages of the production process, from planning to delivery of the final product. With the use of these tools, companies can optimize their production, reduce costs and increase their competitiveness in the market.
Recognizing, classifying, collecting, making available, and keeping engineering data up to date, integrated, and accessible are the challenges that companies must overcome. Efficient production data management is a crucial aspect for the success of the industry, with all its peculiarities. Through process engineering, it is possible to optimize the collection, storage, and maintenance of this data, ensuring a more efficient and profitable operation.
Thank you, and even more.
