Production Software for the Mailing Industry?

While it is obvious that for a business to remain competitive they must be adept at efficiently managing their resources (people, materials, machines, etc.), most of the focus on designing resource management\production software has been to meet the direct needs of traditional manufacturing concerns.  Thus, many of these system build upon the concept of a standard Bill-Of-Material (BOM) that is planned, scheduled, and resulting lower level components purchased and received and tracked according to master schedule.

However, for the Mailing Industry there really is no BOM nor much in the way of inventory.  Each Job is a little different and the fundamental unit for scheduling and tracking is the routing - that is, which areas or workcenters the job needs to go through, in what order, and how much time (machines and labor) is required at each step?

For example, in the simplest case, if an operation had one workcenter to schedule, you wouldn't need any system at all.  You simply add in time for each job until it you spilled over to next day.  A scheduling rule states, know as Johnson's Rule, states by scheduling the Jobs with the smallest processing time first, you will have the best throughput rate and average cycle time.  For example, in the above example, we have two jobs finished in one day and one job finished in 4 days.  An average of 1+1+4/3=2 days per job.  If we had scheduled Job 3 first, our average would be 3+4+4/3 = almost 4 days per job.

The reality of most mailing center operations prohibit such a simple scheduling model to apply.  With several workcenters (inserting operations, address file preparation, addressing

operations, folding, parcel shipping, metering, incoming mail sort, internal mail distribution) and a mix of labor and machines working in parallel, combined with many Jobs being estimated, and many jobs being scheduled, each with different routing and process times, it becomes nearly impossible to plan and schedule efficiently without some computer assistance.

Furthermore,  There is a phenomenon called COVARIANCE that explains why, most times, things just can't get done in the time you originally estimated.  This theorem states that in a sequence of events, any deviations that may occur will and will add up to maximum possible delay.  Workers are late, material can't be found, machine not calibrated, etc.  Without explanation - things seem to come to a halt at times.

The question is, what options does the Mailing Industry have to work towards some of the promised benefits production type of software?  The rest of this article summarizes the potential benefits, risks, and requirements of implementing a production software type system.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF PRODUCTION SYSTEM

Just some of the benefits of a successful system include:

Improved customer service through ability to estimate, track, and deliver Jobs on-time.

Direct revenue increase through ability to run more jobs through, in less time, by having a formal scheduling system to identify exactly what resources are needed (labor, machines) where, and when to achieve maximum throughput.  The more jobs that can be run, in the same time, with the same resources, obviously yields a direct increase in revenue.

Improved operational efficiency and direct cost savings by planning and scheduling labor to minimize overtime fluctuations, combining material purchases for volume discounts, minimize inventory carrying costs, etc.

GETTING STARTED

For operations that are interested in pursuing these benefits, it is crucial that they understand the level of commitment that will be necessary to achieve reasonable success.  All too often, the pursuit of these benefits is undertaken when there is crisis.  Too many late jobs, losing customers, un competitive bids, soaring overhead costs, etc. 

There will be a series of reality checks on where the operation is now, where you want to go, and do you have what it takes to get there. For example, if you implement a system that gives you a realistic schedule, and the boss can continually interrupt the process to rush a special order through for a close, key, customer, then you better plan for that and make sure your system can handle a mix of firm, standard jobs plus a percentage of RUSH jobs. 

As another example, you will need some method of gathering, estimating, and verifying standard process times.  If you time the fastest worker, at their high of efficiency, don't expect an accurate schedule.

A practical, working, realistic understanding of how Jobs are processed and general flow of activity is the first step in improving where you are.

This information usually exists in some form, if only in the manager's head, to start with.  It is a good idea to establish agreement and document with flow charts, procedures, time standards, etc.  If you haven't done this - you will find immediate opportunities for improving your efficiencies during this phase. 

IMPLEMENTATION OPTIONS MATRIX

Now, you are ready to investigate various system approaches.  You have basically three options with various costs and risks as explained below. 

SUMMARY

Be sure to choose a system that offers a no-obligation trial period, where you can enter in your own data and see how it works for you.  Choose a vendor that is willing to work with you, helping you set it up, enter your data, model your facility.  Don't make a decision based on a glossy brochure and fancy dog-and-pony show.  Make a decision on the actual performance of software, with a sample of your actual operational data, before you cut the check.