Enterprise systems-where to start
Here are tips to help users accept the changes these systems require.
By Rick Bushnell -- Modern Materials Handling, 11/1/1999
Information and materials handling systems are at the heart of any enterprise-wide or supply chain system. Designing, purchasing, and installing these vital systems present two challenges. One challenge is finding the funding; the other is accepting the changes that such systems bring with them. This column will provide some tips that might help with both funding and acceptance.People will accept changes and fund their cost if they see something in it for them. Remember how great the fax was when it started to gain acceptance? "Oops, I forgot to send the shipping documents," one might say. "But I can recover by faxing them." As telephone rates came down, you didn't have to be a bean counter to see that using a fax was cheaper than sending out a stamped envelope or giving shipping documents to an overnight service to deliver. Anyone in the company could benefit from faxing; shipping, sales, legal, accounting--everyone.
Faxing became accepted because the desirability of using it was intuitive, it offered broad appeal, had some cost benefits, solved human shortcomings, and was a "bite size" shift in technology.
Now consider enterprise-wide and supply chain systems. They draw the organization together and drive down costs by increasing flows of materials and information, but there are problems with system acceptance. To begin, the benefits of enterprise-wide computing are not intuitive. Also, it's not clear just what human shortcomings an enterprise system addresses. Secondly, there is no universal appeal throughout the company. And cost justification--well that's something else again. Finally, these systems aren't "bite size" in their funding, design, or implementation.
So in order to be successful in implementing these systems, we need a starting point that offers the same kinds of appeal that faxing did when it was new.
My suggestion is to start with a bar code-based program to provide 100% inventory accuracy. You should define, design, and install the hardware and software in a bite size to make the system happen.
Bar code systems are a good starting point because they are part of a strategy that moves your company closer to enterprise-wide computing. Reason: everyone has a need to know "real" inventory numbers. Missed ship dates and back orders that result from inaccuracies will kill the trust that enterprise-wide computing requires. Turn to the sidebar to see why this approach should succeed.
Starting at the ground level with bar codes for more effective enterprise systems
To move closer to enterprise-wide computing, start small: Try implementing a bar-code-based, inventory system that will achieve 100% accuracy. Here's what you'll get, and how it can help with the changeover to a more complex system:
(1) System benefits are intuitive; they have broad appeal throughout the company. Lacking such a system, the departments for sales, order processing, receiving, and accounting all complain about problems caused by inventory inaccuracies.
(2) The system overcomes human shortcomings. Without bar coding, employees will misidentify things when they receive, pick, count, and ship them. It's a simple fact, but true.
(3) Doing a quick calculation on the cost of errors and excess inventory can show the financial benefits from the system.
(4) Installing this inventory system can be in "bite size" pieces because existing systems may already use bar codes to verify all warehouse activities. All that's needed is to add the hardware and modify the system.
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