One of the best sources to learn about the different manufacturing environments is APICS.  With more than 50 years of development and a community of professionals all over the world Apics offers fantastic educational courses in production, inventory and supply chain.  The Apics learn it app offers the following definition for the term engineer to order; Products whose customer specifications require unique engineering design, significant customization, or new purchased materials.  Each customer order results in a unique set of part numbers, bills of material, routings.

Synonym:  Design-to-order

Discussion - What types of work environments can you think of that are engineer-to-order or design-to-order environments?

  Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a paperless method of communication used between businesses to transfer or exchange documents such as invoices, shipping notices and purchase orders.

Benefits:
  Imagine for a second if everything you sent was hand delivered or mailed.  The cost of these activities alone might be enough to send a company into early retirement.  Among the costs of postage and rather wasteful transportation, EDI reduces costs that are associated with paper, ink, storage and document retrieval.  While these costs seem rather trivial think of it this way, the average piece of paper costs $0.08 per sheet.  That adds up if you were to calculate all the paper used within a year.    Then add in the cost of labor (about $39.00 manualy transmitted) compared to EDI (about $1.32) and you have quite a savings.  Other benefits associated with electronic data interchange are improvment of information flow.  The most obvious benefit is that EDI can speed up the flow of information in a value stream by more than 60% while also reducing the amount of defects or transactional errors by more than 30%.

  External setup time is the amount of time associated with the elements or activities of a setup procedure that are performed while the machine is running.  The terminology comes from the fact that these activities are done outside of or away from the machine, or external to the process.

  Engineering change orders (ECO) are used for changes in components, assemblies, or documents such as processes and work instructions. They may also be used for changes in specifications.


Also Called:

• Engineering Change Note (ECN)
• Engineering Change Notice (ECN)
  
• Engineering Change (EC)
  

  Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a software that gives organizations to define, standardize and manage business processes.  ERP is used to support planning and control of information throughout an organization so that they can use internal knowledge to achieve external advantage.  ERP systems track resources such as: Cash, materials, capacity, orders, purchase orders and payroll.

Examples of ERP Systems:

1. SAP
2. Oracle
3. Epicor
4. Sage

  For more information on ERP systems check out the book ERP, by: MHE.  Apics is another organization that provides extensive knowledge in materials management and supply chain management.  You can visit their website here:  Apics

​  **For more information on streamlining and optimizing your erp system message us below.**

  An estimate is defined as an approximate judgement, calculation or opinion regarding time, size, weight, worth etc.  A good source to read about project estimating is the book titled project estimating and cost management.

  External Failure Costs are one of four types of failures measured within COPQ. They are any costs that are incurred to fix, remedy or mitigate defects that pass through the organization and are discovered by those external of the organization such as a customer.  To learn more about External Failure Costs enroll in our Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Course by clicking on the link below.

  An effect is the result or output of an action being taken.  The effect is as it pertains to cause and effect is what happens, while the cause is why it happens.