WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Computer Engineering electronics Engineering Civil Engineering

A warehouse management system, or WMS, is a key part of the supply chain and primarily aims to control the movement and storage of materials within a warehouse and process the associated transactions, including shipping, receiving, putaway and picking. The systems also direct and optimize stock putaway based on real-time information about the status of bin utilization.Warehouse management systems often utilize Auto ID Data Capture (AIDC) technology, such as barcode scanners, mobile computers, wireless LANs and potentially Radio-frequency identification (RFID) to efficiently monitor the flow of products. Once data has been collected, there is either a batch synchronization with, or a real-time wireless transmission to a central database. The database can then provide useful reports about the status of goods in the warehouse.The objective of a warehouse management system is to provide a set of computerized procedures to handle the receipt of stock and returns into a warehouse facility, model and manage the logical representation of the physical storage facilities (e.g. racking etc), manage the stock within the facility and enable a seamless link to order processing and logistics management in order to pick, pack and ship product out of the facility.Warehouse management systems can be stand alone systems, or modules of an ERP system or supply chain execution suite.The primary purpose of a WMS is to control the movement and storage of materials within a warehouse

Total Quality Management

Total quality management or TQM is an integrative philosophy of management for continuously improving the quality of products and processes. It is used around the world.TQM functions on the premise that the quality of products and processes is the responsibility of everyone who is involved with the creation or consumption of the products or services offered by an organization. In other words, TQM capitalizes on the involvement of management, workforce, suppliers, and even customers, in order to meet or exceed customer expectations. Considering the practices of TQM as discussed in six empirical studies, Cua, McKone, and Schroeder (2001) identified the nine common TQM practices as cross-functional product design, process management, supplier quality management, customer involvement, information and feedback, committed leadership, strategic planning, cross-functional training, and employee involvement.

Stress management

Stress management is the amelioration of stress and especially chronic stress often for the purpose of improving everyday functioning.Stress produces numerous symptoms which vary according to persons, situations, and severity. These can include physical health decline as well as depression. According to the St. Louis Psychologists and Counseling Information and Referral, the process of stress management is one of the keys to a happy and successful life in modern society. Although life provides numerous demands that can prove difficult to handle, stress management is the best way to manage anxiety and maintain overall well-being. More information is provided below on how to measure stress levels, learn about stress management models and practice techniques that will help to reduce stress and promote a positive lifestyle.

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1986.

Risk management

Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks (defined in ISO 31000 as the effect of uncertainty on objectives, whether positive or negative) followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities. Risks can come from uncertainty in financial markets, project failures (at any phase in development, production, or sustainment life-cycles), legal liabilities, credit risk, accidents, natural causes and disasters as well as deliberate attack from an adversary or events of uncertain root-cause. Several risk management standards have been developed including the Project Management Institute, the National Institute of Science and Technology, actuarial societies, and ISO standards. Methods, definitions and goals vary widely according to whether the risk management method is in the context of project management, security, engineering, industrial processes, financial portfolios, actuarial assessments, or public health and safety.The strategies to manage risk include transferring the risk to another party, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect or probability of the risk, or even accepting some or all of the consequences of a particular risk.Certain aspects of many of the risk management standards have come under criticism for having no measurable improvement on risk, whether the confidence in estimates and decisions seem to increase.

MANUFACTURING RESOURCE PLANNING

Manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) is defined by APICS as a method for the effective planning of all resources of a manufacturing company. Ideally, it addresses operational planning in units, financial planning in dollars, and has a simulation capability to answer "what-if" questions and extension of closed-loop MRP.This is not exclusively a software function, but a marriage of people skills, dedication to data base accuracy, and computer resources. It is a total company management concept for using human resources more productively.

MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Manufacturing operations management (MOM) is a methodology for viewing an end-to-end manufacturing process with a view to optimizing efficiency.There are many types of MOM software, including for production management, performance analysis, quality and compliance, and human machine interface (HMI). Production management software provides real-time information about jobs and orders, labor and materials, machine status, and product shipments. Performance analysis software displays metrics at the machine, line, plant and enterprise level for situational or historical analysis. Quality and compliance software is used to promote compliance with standards and specifications for operational processes and procedures. HMI software is a form of manufacturing operations management (MOM) software that enables operators to manage industrial and process control machinery using a computer-based interface.

LEAN SOFTWARE

Lean software development is a translation of Lean manufacturing and Lean IT principles and practices to the software development domain. Adapted from the Toyota Production System, a pro-lean subculture is emerging from within the Agile community.

KANBAN

Kanban also spelled kamban, meaning "signboard" or "billboard", is a concept related to lean and just-in-time (JIT) production. According to Taiichi Ohno, the man credited with developing Just-in-time, kanban is one means through which JIT is achieved.Kanban is not an inventory control system. Rather, it is a scheduling system that tells you what to produce, when to produce it, and how much to produce.The need to maintain a high rate of improvements led Toyota to devise the kanban system. Kanban became an effective tool to support the running of the production system as a whole. In addition, it proved to be an excellent way for promoting improvements because reducing the number of kanban in circulation highlighted problem areas.

JUST IN TIME MANUFACTURING

JIT is a management philosophy that strives to eliminate sources of manufacturing waste by producing the right part in the right place at the right time. The Waste results from any activity that adds cost without adding value, such as moving and storing. The idea of producing the necessary units in the necessary quantities at the necessary time is described by the short term Just-in-time. The implementation of this management philosophy in industries like the automobile industry can bring about a see saw change in both quality & quantity since in a JIT system, underutilized (excess) capacity is used instead of buffer inventories to hedge against problems that may arise.

FINANCIAL MODELING

Financial modeling is the task of building an abstract representation (a model) of a financial decision making situation.This is a mathematical model designed to represent (a simplified version of) the performance of a financial asset or a portfolio, of a business, a project, or any other investment. Financial modeling is a general term that means different things to different users; the reference usually relates either to accounting and corporate finance applications, or to quantitative finance applications. While there has been some debate in the industry as to the nature of financial modeling - whether it is a tradecraft, such as welding, or a science - the task of financial modeling has been gaining acceptance and rigor over the years.

FINANCIAL ENGINEERING

Financial engineering is a multidisciplinary field relating to the creation of new financial instruments and strategies, typically exotic options and specialized interest rate derivatives. The field applies engineering methodologies to problems in finance, and employs financial theory and applied mathematics, as well as computation and the practice of programming; see computational finance.Despite its name, financial engineering does not belong to any of the fields in traditional engineering. In the United States, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) does not accredit financial engineering degrees.Financial engineering is also the process of creating new securities or processes, and designing new financial instruments, especially derivative securities. More importantly financial engineering is the process of employing mathematical, finance and computer modeling skills to make pricing, hedging, trading and portfolio management decisions. Utilizing various derivative securities and othethods, financial engineering aims to precisely control the financial risk that an entity takes on. Methods can be employed to take on unlimited risks under certain events,or completely eliminate other risks by utilizing combinations of derivative and other securities. Financial engineering can be applied to many different types of currencies and pricing options. These include equity, fixed income such as bonds, commodities such as oil or gold, as well as derivatives, swaps, futures, forwards, options, and embedded options. With financial engineering comes many risks. Risks are divided into market risk and credit risk. Market risks can be managed using risk identification, risk measurements, and risk management. Credit risks can be managed using credit modeling and credit pricing. To become a financial engineer, one must have a strong understanding of financial economics, mathematical tools such as probability and statistics and differential equations, as well as

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) integrates internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application. Its purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders.ERP systems can run on a variety of hardware and network configurations, typically employing a database as a repository for information.ERP systems typically include the following characteristics-1.An integrated system that operates in real time (or next to real time), without relying on periodic updates.2.A common database, which supports all applications.3.A consistent look and feel throughout each module.4.Installation of the system without elaborate application/data integration by the Information Technology (IT) department

DISTRIBUTION RESOURCE PLANNING

Distribution resource planning (DRP) is a method used in business administration for planning orders within a supply chain. DRP enables the user to set certain inventory control parameters (like a safety stock) and calculate the time-phased inventory requirements. This process is also commonly referred to as distribution requirements planning.

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

Advanced planning and scheduling (also referred to as APS and advanced manufacturing) refers to a manufacturing management process by which raw materials and production capacity are optimally allocated to meet demand. APS is especially well-suited to environments where simpler planning methods cannot adequately address complex trade-offs between competing priorities.Traditional planning and scheduling systems (such as Manufacturing resource planning) utilize a stepwise procedure to allocate material and production capacity. This approach is simple but cumbersome, and does not readily adapt to changes in demand, resource capacity or material availability. Materials and capacity are planned separately, and many systems do not consider limited material availability or capacity constraints. Thus, this approach often results in plans that cannot be executed. However, despite attempts to shift to the new system, attempts have not always been successful, which has called for the combination of management philosophy with manufacturing.Unlike previous systems, APS simultaneously plans and schedules production based on available materials, labor and plant capacity.