With the rapid development of the carton manufacturing industry, information technology is not only an indispensable and important tool in the carton manufacturing industry, but also a competitive magic weapon for the enterprise to win.
Global Manufacturing is the establishment of a factory in any place in the world or a consignment (SuB-ConTracTing ManuFacTurEr) to produce products in accordance with the standards of merchants in order to make the best use of cheap resources, free trade environment, skilled labor and proximity to customers. . Since the 1980s, because of the rapid development of electronic technology and communication means, multinational corporations have been seeking new markets and manufacturing bases. Global manufacturing has become the basic business environment for survival of the fittest, and China’s accession to the WTO has added to this trend. A better footnote. In such a business environment, products and their manufacturing technologies, especially for the carton manufacturing industry, are no longer the secret weapon of competition. To increase the efficiency of manufacturing and provide comprehensive services is the key to today's competition.
Global manufacturing can easily result in excessive investment and excess production capacity. For example, Malaysia had 18 carton manufacturing factories in the 1980s, and now it has increased to more than 60. In Singapore, although the number of carton plants has changed little, with the evacuation of textiles, toy manufacturing and even the recent electrical assembly industry, Carton shrinks in the market.
Because of the global manufacturing, the customer's requirements are getting higher and higher. On the products, the packaging of electrical and electronic products will require more complicated carton structure, including die-cutting molding, a variety of partitions inside the box, etc.; food packaging also needs more Complex printing. In service, electronic components or auto parts makers require timely delivery (JusT In TimE DEliVErY). For example, a Singaporean e-commerce company requires cartons to deliver goods every two hours from 6am to 12pm.
The role of carton suppliers is obviously no longer just the production of carton boxes. The carton factory must provide customers with complete services, including:
According to the customer's packaging requirements, provide specifications for the carton (including supporting partitions, foam cushions, etc.) specifications, and even design; provide customers with timely and accurate order completion or processing, such as delivery, inventory, work in progress, operations Plan; to become an organic link in the customer's supply chain, to produce and supply cartons to help customers achieve their business goals.
Manufacturing efficiency is a sign of distinction between pros and cons. Traditionally, many companies will price according to the expected profit from product cost processing. In a global manufacturing environment, the price of a product is determined by the market, and the company needs to be profitable, only if it is satisfied. At the same time as the customer requests, reduce costs and improve efficiency as much as possible. Figure 1 shows the main ways to reduce costs to make profits in the carton production process.
Very short delivery cycle - The delivery cycle refers to the time from the customer placing the order to delivery, including preparation before production, such as designing the product process, input orders, job planning, printing work orders, etc.; production cycle, such as Waiting for, setting up machine tools, operating machine tools, handling materials, etc.; post-production processing such as warehouse receipt, shipment, loading, printing delivery orders, transportation, delivery, etc. Realizing timely delivery can bring unlimited business opportunities to the company.
Very little loss of base paper - the base paper accounts for 50% to 70% of the total cost. Every 1% savings in base paper means an increase of 0.5% to 0.7% profit, effectively managing and controlling the stock loss of the base paper, corrugated cardboard The loss of production and the loss of carton molding can bring huge profits to the company.
Extremely high machine performance - Downtime caused by paper change, cleaning, calibration, etc., and production quality are the key factors affecting machine performance. We found in the survey that in many factories, the main machines for carton processing, such as die cutting machines, Printing presses, because of long downtime and high frequency, effective job schedules can increase production capacity significantly without additional investment.
Extremely low inventory/depletion - In order to meet the customer's requirements for timely delivery, inventory is indispensable. However, inventory is occupied, occupied, occupied, may be wasted, and may be scrapped (customers no longer order this product), accurately Monitoring the quantity of inventory, location, and clearing out-of-date inventory are also elements of cost reduction.
The role of information technology Information technology is a powerful weapon for carton manufacturing to achieve low cost and high efficiency. Figure 2 (abridged) is a schematic diagram of the CIM-ComPuTEr InTEgraTEd ManuFacTuring system. The early computer system was mainly used for data processing, such as accounting, bill processing, and print delivery notes. Computer integrated manufacturing The system focuses on assisting users to provide value-added services to their customers.
Computer-aided design (CAD-ComPuTEr AidEd DEsign) - Some software systems such as ArTios, IPDS, LasEr ComB, etc., provide and allow the user to create a graphic library of carton designs and dies, as well as sample data for famous brand machine tools.
BOM-Bill OF MaTerials and ProcEss RouTing Design - CIM PACK, a special software system for the carton manufacturing industry, helps users to categorize their products, allowing users to create a typical product structure and typical process flow for each product. . When a customer orders a new product, the user can devise a typical design to modify it, greatly reducing the pre-production preparation cycle.
Orders and delivery management - computer systems can be evaluated based on the new product's materials, specifications, dimensions, process complexity, etc., and the application of computer integrated manufacturing systems to orders, especially timely delivery orders, can be effectively arranged and Record production, inventory and delivery. This allows the sales department to see the progress of each order from the computer at any time in order to take early action on events that may deviate from the plan.
Computer-Assisted Work Schedule - Based on the order's delivery date, required materials, and the machine's production capacity, the computer scheduling system will automatically generate job schedules for the production dispatcher on the Electronic Planning Board (ElEcTronic Planning Board), based on the The actual situation and urgent orders are modified.
To improve competitiveness, no matter what management methods or computer systems are introduced, each employee must clearly define its purpose and improve the company's competitiveness. Only in this way can the system be successfully implemented and the user can maximize the role of the system. After two years of operation in the computer integrated manufacturing system, MasTErPack Sdn Bhd was awarded the Quality Management Merit Award by the Prime Minister for its outstanding performance.