Robert Pellerin

ERP implementation through critical success factors' management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify practical activities that are essential for managing enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation projects and that answer to the expectations of the widely recognized critical success factors (CSFs).Design/methodology/approach – This work is based on an extensive literature review on CSF, which has been followed by a Delphi survey with a panel of ERP experts. For each CSF, it obtained a range, validated by experts, of practical actions to perform, supported by the resolution of the problems usually encountered in these areas.Findings – The work carried out has a practical scope: the principles of the proposed method directly affect all actors in ERP projects and gives them practical results that they can apply immediately. When applied in the framework of the methodology the paper suggests, these actions will result in better oversight over the requirements of each area of expertise. In this way, overall grasp of the project is facilitated, reducing...

Will Model-based Definition replace engineering drawings throughout the product lifecycle? A global perspective from aerospace industry

The Model-based Definition (MBD) approach is gaining popularity in various industries. MBD represents a trend in Computer-aided Design (CAD) that promises reduced time-to-market and improved product quality. Its main goal is to improve and accelerate the design, manufacturing and inspection processes by integrating drawing annotations directly onto a 3D model, therefore obviating the need to generate engineering drawings. However, its implementation throughout the whole product lifecycle has not yet been fully adopted. Traditional engineering drawings still play an essential part in the capture and distribution of non-geometric information. Based on thirty-four interviews conducted within the Engineering, Drafting, Configuration Management, Airworthiness and Certification, Manufacturing, Inspection and Knowledge Management departments from two Canadian Aerospace companies, the objective of this paper is to report on the main barriers that need to be overcome in order to fully implement the MBD initiative. In addition, the necessary elements and specific requirements needed to evaluate the capacities of emergent tools are proposed.

Manufacturing execution system – a literature review

Since their beginning in the mid 1990s, Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) have significantly evolved into more powerful and more integrated software applications as computing technologies have advanced. Their functionality coverage has changed significantly and can now provide a common and single system to support most of the manufacturing execution processes from the production order release to the delivery of finished goods. However, MES applications still fall short of adding capabilities for decision-making tools in very dynamic organisations where adaptive execution strategies are required to replenish the supply chain while dynamically responding to unpredicted change. This article intends to describe what MES have become, present their relationships with other enterprise information systems, and to identify major issues related to MES. We also discuss research areas that need to be explored in order to resolve the increased complexity of execution systems and to fulfil the continuing customer needs for faster real-time response and expanded functionality coverage.

Risk management applied to projects, programs, and portfolios

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a review of recent risk management literature applied to projects, programs and project portfolios performed inside an organization with the aim of finding areas of opportunity to continue research and the development of current guides and methodologies.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a review of recent literature published by international organizations and journals specializing in the field of project, programs, and portfolios.Findings – The review shows that project risk management is a well developed domain in comparison to the program risk management and portfolio risk management fields, for which specifically written methodologies are difficult to find. The review also demonstrates the need to include better tools to perform a continuous control and monitoring process. Integrating a vulnerability approach is also necessary in order to consider the project, program or portfolio characteristics which mediate between consequences and the ex...

A Project Portfolio Risk-Opportunity Identification Framework

This article introduces a framework to identify risks and opportunities during portfolio risk management that helps to decrease the uncertainty of achieving the strategic goals of the organization. The final output of the framework is a portfolio risk-opportunity register, which highlights the potential events that could impact the achievement of the goals. An illustrative example of how risk-opportunity identification can be conducted within this framework is also exposed. In spite of being theoretical in nature, the model contributes to the risk management domain applied specifically to project portfolio management, opening the possibility of further research for its verification.

Production control and replenishment strategy with multiple suppliers

This paper considers the joint supplier selection, replenishment and manufacturing control problem in a dynamic stochastic context. This problem is characterized by conflicting interests between suppliers, the manufacturer, and clients, which raise the need for coordination and information sharing. This paper contributes to the discourse mainly by developing and resolving an integrated mathematical model leading to information sharing strategies for supplier selection, replenishments and production activities. This is an optimal control problem with state constraints and hybrid dynamics. A dynamic stochastic model is thus proposed, and the optimality conditions obtained are then solved numerically. It is shown that the problem considered leads to a modified state-dependent multi-level (s, S) policy for the supplier selection and replenishment strategy and a base-stock policy for the production activities. The fact that these control policies are coupled confirms the necessity of considering the interactions present in the system in an integrated model. The obtained results show clearly that it is always profitable to consider multiple suppliers to make replenishment and production decisions. Moreover, it is shown that the availability rates of the supply chain actors and the replenishment lead time are important parameters to consider when choosing the best supplier.

Review: A survey of models and algorithms for emergency response logistics in electric distribution systems. Part II: Contingency planning level

This is the second part of a two-part survey of optimization models and solution algorithms for emergency response planning in electric distribution systems. The first part of the survey addresses reliability planning problems with fault considerations related to electric distribution operations. The aim of this second part is to provide a comprehensive survey of optimization models and solution methodologies for contingency planning problems related to electric distribution operations. These problems include the restoration of service, the sequencing of switching operations, the routing of repair vehicles, the scheduling of repair crews, and the assignment of crews to repair sites.

Review: A survey of models and algorithms for emergency response logistics in electric distribution systems. Part I: Reliability planning with fault considerations

Emergency response operations in electric distribution systems involve a host of decision-making problems at the reliability and contingency planning levels. Those operations include fault diagnosis, fault location, fault isolation, restoration, and repair. As the first of a two-part survey, this paper reviews optimization models and solution methodologies for reliability planning problems with fault considerations related to electric distribution operations. Contingency planning problems of emergency distribution response are discussed in the second part. The present paper surveys research on determining a distribution substation single-fault capacity, reallocating excess load, configuring distribution systems, partitioning a geographical area into service territories, and locating material stores and depots.

The industrial management of SMEs in the era of Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 provides new paradigms for the industrial management of SMEs. Supported by a growing number of new technologies, this concept appears more flexible and less expensive than traditional enterprise information systems such as ERP and MES. However, SMEs find themselves ill-equipped to face these new possibilities regarding their production planning and control functions. This paper presents a literature review of existing applied research covering different Industry 4.0 issues with regard to SMEs. Papers are classified according to a new framework which allows identification of the targeted performance objectives, the required managerial capacities and the selected group of technologies for each selected case. Our results show that SMEs do not exploit all the resources for implementing Industry 4.0 and often limit themselves to the adoption of Cloud Computing and the Internet of Things. Likewise, SMEs seem to have adopted Industry 4.0 concepts only for monitoring industrial processes and there is still absence of real applications in the field of production planning. Finally, our literature review shows that reported Industry 4.0 projects in SMEs remained cost-driven initiatives and there in still no evidence of real business model transformation at this time.

Simultaneous control of maintenance and production rates of a manufacturing system with defective products

In the past three decades, studies of simultaneous maintenance and production planning have been focusing on age-dependent machine failure and inventory. This paper presents the interaction between defective products and optimal control of production rate, lead time and inventory. Our aim is to minimize the expected discounted overall cost due to maintenance activities, inventory holding and backlogs. Through Condition-Based Maintenance, we monitor in a real time the manufacturing system’s health by describing N operational states. We consider two maintenance states of a machine controlled by two decision variables: production and maintenance rates. The optimal policy is characterized by the dynamic programming solution to a piecewise deterministic optimal control problem. A numerical illustration and a sensitive analysis are developed with a set of parameters calibrated on an existing manufacturing system.