Showing posts with label Electronics manufacturing services. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Electronics manufacturing services. Show all posts

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Outsourcing Process Flow - An overview

    This is a generic flow to help you further understand how to select a contract manufacturer. 
It is a very generic process flow. A very simplified version. 
Hopefully, this flow gives you a very quick understanding on outsourcing, and selecting a contract manufacturing partner.
If you would like to know more, please email me.  
If you need a PDF copy with better resolution, please email me. 


    Hope you enjoy reading this. Appreciate your feedback & comments too!

Thanks.

Best regards,
Ronald Gan


Tuesday, September 8, 2020

New Product Introduction (NPI) 101, Overview

    I would like to provide some simple explanation on what an NPI (New Product Introduction) is. 

    The situation can be best applied for a NPI in an EMS world, focusing in building a new product from their customer. This is only the basic. The overall NPI when executing, will be more than this. It should come with either a checklist, or a gantt chart to ensure everything is well covered. With proper planning, there are less loopholes or risk in the NPI. 

    Why is NPI important? It is important so that all the new product are properly manufactured in a controlled environment, as designed by the designer. Each new product is also properly tested & bought off before leaving the door. When the new product is released, the users or end users can use the product with perfect satisfaction & zero worries. 


    In my previous blog, I have shared the below. It is a very brief 4M + 1E information for an NPI. It could be used to prepare a checklist for an NPI focusing in 4M+1E





    I am adding the items in below text form. If you need a properly formatted copy, please email me so that it is easier for you to build the checklist. 
  

New Product Introduction 4M1E (In an EMS situation):

o What is the new product
Function
Public application / use
Future market
Competitive advantage
o Man
Team available?
Need to establish one?
Direct labor
Indirect labor
Knowledge & experience available
Training requirement
o Cost incurred?
o Long term ROI
Hiring of a team
Setting up a team
Team requirement
o Organization
o Leader
o R&R
o Escalation points
o Team goal
o Machine
What SMT machine is required?
Any unique machines required?
Ask for manufacturing equipments required, if any
Age of quipments
Equipment limitation
Equipment capabilities
Equipment serviceability
What is the cost involved in new machines
Long term ROI
Ammortize in quotation
What is the NRE cost involved?
Long term ROI
Overall equipment cost
Including cost for space & utility utilization
Do not include profit
o Method
Direct transfer from customer?
Additional work needed?
o ECO
o Evaluations
Marketing methodology
When to launch in the market?
Which region?
How?
Why this topic is important?
All documents set up in EMS?
BOM
o Direct materials
o AVL / AML
ECO
IDM
Overall Instructions
Manufacturing Instructions
Packaging Instructions
Shipping & delivery instructions
o Ship to?
o Shipping requirement
o Storage requirement
o Inco terms
Storage requirement
o Finished goods
o Raw materials
Customer forecast
Methodology of manufacturing
o Buy per forecast?
o Build per forecast
o Buy per PO
o Build per PO
o Blanket PO
o All of these has serious & long term impact
Supportability
Materials E&O
Finished Product inspection & buy off
Obtain from customers
o FAI requirement
o Qualification plan
Lead time for the inspections & buy off
Customers approval to build & ship
Qualification Plan
What to do if failed first build?
Weekly conference call
Topics to discuss
Who should attend?
o Material
All documents from customers?
Bill Of Materials
Manufacturing Instructions
All specifications
All approved vendors
When to buy materials
Who to buy from
Cost analysis
Buy standard pack
Buy just enough
To take note
Buy from AVL / AML
Buy legitimate materials
If extra cost needed?
o Due to short lead time
o What to do next?
Do not over buy or over stock
o Quantity
o Cost
o Exception
Cheap parts
Incoming inspections - what to do?
Buy from distributors
Buy from manufacturers
o Environment
EMS industry
EMS situation
Only manufacture the products for the customers
Did not design the product
Contract manufacturing
Business environment
Business quotation
o All documents to quote
o Quotation
Quotes submission
Customer buy off
o Customer award
Manufacturing agreement
Customers requirement buy off
Operational Environment
Humidity
Temperature
Clean room or not?


    Please email me if you would like to see additional information or further explanation on this topic. This is a massive topic. 

I appreciate your feedback & comments. Hope you enjoy the brief introduction. 


Thank you and best regards,
Ronald Gan




Comprehensive overview of total supply chain management

    Here, I would like to share my view of total supply chain management. It consist of overall supply chain from beginning to the end. 

    This is a very interesting topic to know about.... It could mainly apply to manufacturing as an overall.


Below is a mind map of the total supply chain management. The resolution might not be that good. If you need a pdf copy or a mind map copy (using simple mind apps format), please email me. 




And here are the outline. If you need a well formatted word file or PDF file, please email me. 

Total Supply Chain Management

o What is supply chain management

It is a management knowledge

It is a chain, from beginning to the end

It is a full stretch of knowledge from getting the supply to the buyer

o What are the topics in supply chain management

Sourcing

Supplier & potential supplier

Supplier selection

Terms & conditions

o Pricing

o Invoicing

o Payment terms

Quality requirement

Types of suppliers

o Direct manufacturer

o Distributorship

o Representatives

o Overall

B2B

Design

From R&D

The purpose

Where use application

Logistics

Freight management

o Freight in

o Freight out

o Types of freight

Air

Ocean

Road

Warehousing

o Receiving

o Storage

o Outgoing

o Return of goods

o 3PL

Customs

Trade & Compliance

Procurement

Direct materials & indirect materials

o What is direct materials

o What is indirect materials

PO placement

When to buy

Product quality

How many to buy

Types of procurement

o Buy to forecast

o Buy to PO

Types of materials model

o Consigned

Full or partial

Pros & Cons

o Turnkey

Full or partial

Pros & Cons

o Buy/Sell

o Drop ship

o Customer managed

o High value

o Attrition

Material costing

Standard pack

EAU

Negotiation

Distribution

Consolidation pricing for negotiation

o By material itself

o By supplier

o By mother company

o By total spend

Types of cost optimization

o Annual re-pricing

o Rebate

o Many more creative ways

Materials planning

What type of attrition

What is required

o When to bring in

o When to use

ERP

Will be discussed in another topic

Production Planning

Function

o Build the product in the shortest time possible

o Optimize capacity & ship out once completed building

o When to build

o When to ship

o Minimize waste

o Counter check ineffeciency

Resolve capacity constraints

Types of build

o Build to forecast

o Build to PO

Forecast

Inventory management

Keep the lowest possible inventory

o Pros & cons

Ties up cash

Expiry date

A balanced model?

Inventory tracking & reporting

Reverse Logistics

What is this? 

o Return & Repair

o Upgrades

o Rework

o Refurbishment

o Warehousing & safekeeping

Value added services

Usually, the cost is high

o Why is total supply chain management so important?

It is a chain

All are inter-related

Impact as an overall

To discuss more

o Areas not covered here

Quality

Quality management system

o Quality standards

ISO

Aerospace

FDA

Medical

Military

Telco

Incoming Quality

Engineering

R&D

Process

Manufacturing

Supplier quality

Facility

Test

Industrial engineering

Production

Supplier quality management

Finance

Account Payable

Account Receiveable

Bad debts

Returns

Rebates

Customer management

Customer quotation

Customer contract

IT

HR

Customs

Trade & compliance


    I hope you enjoy reading this article. If you wish to know more on this topic, please email me. 

    Thank you for taking the time in reading this article. Your feedback is highly appreciated. 


Thanks & best regards,
Ronald Gan








Sunday, September 6, 2020

Manufacturing Program Managers in an manufacturing industry

What is manufacturing program management

    Manufacturing program management is a functional department in a manufacturing environment. This role act as a leader for a smaller team in an organization. Manufacturing program management team is also the group that acts as the customer interface. In short, we called it "the voice of customers". This team is also the internal customers of the CFT (customer focused team). Internally, the manufacturing program management team also resolve internal conflicts, provide directions and guideline while at a higher level, assist the team in removing roadblocks. 

    For the sake of standardization, I will be using the term program management instead of the full term of manufacturing program management The situation also is more towards a contract manufacturing environment. 

Overview:


If you need a pdf copy of the above, or a list of the items in text form, please email me. 

Why is program management so important in an EMS industry

    It is important as this role leads the smaller group servicing their customers. The program management team is the connector to all team members as well as the customers. Usually, a program management team has a real good relationship with the customers and are considered as one of the best team in management. 

    I am offering 4 paid courses in manufacturing program management that involves basic, intermediate, advanced and professional. Courses will be done online currently due to the global pandemic challenges we faced currently. These courses explains in great depth of the program manufacturing as a whole. 

Please email me if you are interested.....   


What is the main roles and responsibilities of a program management team? To name a few....

  • team leader
  • remove road blocks
  • resolve conflicts
  • customer interface
  • defend team members in front of customers
  • story teller
        A comprehensive list is as stated in the mind mapping above. Please message me if you would like to have a copy....

What are the main characters of program management personnel?

  • multi-tasking
  • optimistic
  • passionate 
  • resourceful
  • strategic thinking
  • business savvy
  • calm
  • firm
  • leader

        A comprehensive list is as stated in the mind mapping above. Please message me if you would like to have a copy....

What are the knowledge & skills needed to be successful in program management?

To name a few....

  • leadership skills
  • problem solving skills
  • strategic planning skills
  • interpersonal skills
  • project management skills
  • customer relationship management
  • computer literate
  • Microsoft office literate (word, excel, powerpoint, outlook)
  • excellent business language (comprehension, listening, written)
  • time management skills
  • experienced in the field involved
  • business presentation skills
  • psychology & body language reading

        A comprehensive list is as stated in the mind mapping above. Please message me if you would like to have a copy....

    Each and every topic will be discussed in greater detail. My courses (depends on which one) will cover almost everything possible in program management in an EMS world. 

    It is a course that will take up a lot of the brain power. But the magnitude for success in the future is unlimited. You can apply to work, to businesses, to personal matters, etc.

    The ultimate goal is not for you to become an outstanding program manager. Becoming an outstanding program manager is just the beginning. When you have your base established as a program manager, you can advance to be a director of program management. After becoming a successful program management director, you opened the door to a whole new world. You can choose to become a operations director, you can also choose to become a general manager, and so on. 

    In short, the potential of an outstanding program manager is unlimited. The future is bright & the sky is the limit.   

    A program manager is a jack of all trades, and that is his/her value to the company. Not many people will take this as a  core value. But when there is a situation, program managers are usually the ones that step up, leading the team of experts to manage the situation. In the real world, we need program managers to manage. 



Quotation Process for Contract Manufacturing.... an example

     This is an example of how a quotation process is for contract manufacturing environment. 

    There are multiple systems used in the market for contract manufacturers. Some of them are using off the shelf product to carry out a quote. While others may have developed internal system to manage this process. Of course there are pros & cons for these 2 options. Can you list a few?  


    The below picture suggest the first part of the quotation process flow. The second part of the quotation process is actually listed in my earlier blog, named "new business buy off".

   

    There might be technical terms used. Please email me if you have any questions. This could be a basic start for you to learn how to know the whole quotation process works in an EMS industry. 

    Just one additional note, this process can also be used for any major ECO (engineering change order) re-quote. 

    Hope this helps you understand a little bit more on the quotation process in an EMS industry. As usual, I appreciate your feedback & comments. If you need a PDF copy, please email me. 

Thanks. 


Best regards,

Ronald Gan





Sunday, August 30, 2020

Training provided on account management - an overview

    This is the training that I have provided previously on account management in an EMS industry. 

Just to share what are the topics involved in account management.





Below is the list of items as above, in text form:

Account Management Overview & Training

o Company internal Definition

Find from Intranet

o Roles & Responsibilities

o Organization

Customer

Hierarchy 

o Trainings proposed

Usual HR Training

Mandatory Training Required by COO

Cornerstone

o Search "Training Market Sector"

RFQ Explanation

How to use the system?

How to smartly quote

What is this for?

Items to take note

Software & Tools

IBM

o Planning Analytics

o TM1

Power BI

Microsoft Dynamics 365

o Use of CRM

Customer Contacts

Customer Organization

Set opportunities for RFQ

Trigger NPS

VPN

Web based

Citrix

Microsoft Office Tools

Company Intranet navigation

NPS

o Topics to discuss

Miller Heimann

Green sheet

Blue Sheet

CRM

CVN

Customer Review

What is this? 

Format

o In Share point 

Purpose

Attendees

o Who needs to attend?

o Who may attend?

What do you need to do?

o Prepare

o Peer review

o Review with Senior Director

o Review with VP & MSVP

o Anticipate questions

o Access to Power BI

o Access to IBM Planning Analytics (Web1)

o Know how to navigate

P&L

Details

How to obtain the file

Quotation

Process Flow

Ownership

o New

o Existing

OIL

Format

o Customer

o Internal

Finance

TM1

o What is this for?

Planning Analytics

o What is this for?

Pricing File

Contract

Financial Forecast

Site level

Market sector level

Inventory E&O

Branding & Marketing

Self read

Company presentations

o Self learnt

o Expectations

Make mistakes & learn from that

Avoid repeating the mistakes

Pay attention to details

Stand back & think

Methodology

Self learning

o Self explore

Purpose

Multiple ways

Think out of the box

Challenge the status quo

Questions & Answers after reading the materials

Daily 1 hours of calibration session

o 10 am

o 3.30 pm

Practie yourself

o Be hands on

o Don't worry to make mistakes

o Purpose

Learning curve

Overview

Share what is the R&R

Knows what is CM

And know when to push back

Ownership

Responsibility 

Gather previous CMs' experience

Know what is important to CM team

o Characteristics

Open

Resourceful

Always ready

Independent

Leader

Make hard decisions

Strategic

People manager

When in trouble

Always come with proposals/solutions

Salesman

Buyoff & agreement

Pay attention to details

Think & strategize

7 habits

Story teller


If you would like more information, please leave me a message. 

As usual, I appreciate your feedback & comments. 

Thank you very much.


Best regards,
Ronald Gan




Monday, August 17, 2020

4M + 1E, reloaded

     It has been a long time since I have written about this topic. I would like to share more on this topic with more details. I noticed that my previous article does not have lots of details. 


    As mentioned previously, 4M is:

  • Man
  • Machine
  • Method
  • Materials     
    And the 1E is related to "Environment".

    I typically used mind mapping method to go through and prepare the details of 4M & 1E. I will be sharing a few examples that I have prepared. 
    By using mind mapping method, I realized that I will unlock all the limitations and all the barriers. I can input anything that I have immediately into the work. 



MAN
  • This is any topic that is related to human,  resources needed, training, organization,  roles & responsibilities, job descriptions,  hiring, firing, employee benefits, employee compensation,  knowledge needed, experience needed, etc. 
  • Organization chart is also in here. 
  • Employee relationship internally as well as relationship with customers are also topics worth discussing here. 
  • If you want to, office politics can also be taken into 

MACHINE
  • This is an area that you input the needs of equiment, machines, facilities etc.
  • You will also need to consider the specifications & capabilities of the equipment, machines and facilities. 
  • The physical office area & manufacturing facilities are also taken into consideration here. 
  • Also, anything related to networking, IT facilities, ISP (Internet Service Provider), Software licensing, programming in house & externally can be considered here.
  • Total cost of equipment, facilities, machines, etc.
  • ROI calculation can be looked at.

METHOD
  • There are just too many things that you can discuss here.
  • You can discuss on the process flow here.
  • SOP (Standard operating procedures) can also be taken into consideration here. 
  • What types of ERP used here can also be considered. 
  • The methodology of ERP loading is critical to be discussed.
  • How you do things, the company guidelines are also a good starting point here.
  • Anything you need as guideline can be registered here such as the Dos & Don'ts, policies, restrictions, organization beliefs, policies, goals, etc. 

MATERIALS
  • This is anything related to materials that includes direct & indirect materials.
  • Example is everything related to BOM (bill of materials). What is a BOM? I will have another topic of discussion subsequently. 
  • What is a direct material and what is an indirect material? It will also be discussed in the BOM topic.
  • This topic also will take into consideration of the material purchased price, selling price.
  • Suppliers & vendors are also included here.
  • The specifications, engineering details, mechanical references etc are also included here.
  • How to purchase and when to purchase also could be set here.
  • Logistics methodology is also needed here.
  • Inco terms (buying & selling) & trade compliance is very important here too.
  • One important topic is also ERP used.

ENVIRONMENT 
  • What does this topic cover?
  • The manufacturing required environment such as temperature,  humidity, cleanliness, etc.
  • The storage requirement is also needed here.
  • Certain products required very clean environment for manufacturing.  This is called cleanroom requirement. It could be Class 10k, class 1k or class 100 cleanroom.
  • It is also ignored many times that the efficiency of the manufacturing environment needs to be considered in the beginning, before the manufacturing line is set up. Why is this important? Send me a note if you would like to discuss more on this. 
  • The effectiveness of the overall supply chain environment in the factory is critical here. You need to know where is your storage place, supply depot, finished goods storage, loading bay, receiving bay, JIT (just in time) methodology to supply materials to the manufacturing line. 


I have prepared an example of 4M & 1E using mind mapping tool. It is a very good one for you to use and understand the overall of 4M & 1E. 
The image is not defined well as you can see per below. 
If you want, drop me a note & I will send you a soft copy in PDF form. 
I can also output them into text form so that you can copy them into excel format or word format, or HTML format too. 


 
 


As usual, I value your feedback & comments. 
Please drop me a note if you care. 

For further enquiries, please email me. 

Thanks. 

Best regards,
Ronald Gan
 



Sunday, August 9, 2020

Example of Information gathering before a SWOT analysis




    I have the opportunity to make a good info gathering of an EMS company, before getting into the SWOT analysis. The above graphic is how I draft my work using a mind mapping tool called Simple Mind.

    Generally, information gathering is more difficult to do, when compare to SWOT analysis. You will need to have full information before a proper SWOT analysis could be done, as well as preparing for a way to counter the SWOT. 

Hopefully you will enjoy.  


Company XXX SWOT - Info gathering

Topics

BD

Program management

     Extremely weak

     No proper training

        o Hit the ground running

     Very junior

     Does not really serve the full purpose of this team

Strategy

     Nvr change

     Arrogant 

     Want to grow to usd X B

        o Did not know what to give & take

Quotation 

     Know how

        o Not many really understand the details

        o Not many encouraged to explore variations

        o Not many knows really how the format works

     Succession plan

        o Slow

        o Not ready

     Highly secretive

        o Too many fat hidden in the costing file

     Only good for PCBA

        o HLA, system build & System integration is not well costed

        o Distribution & Direct Fulfillment is not well costed

        o Reverse Logistics is over priced

     Excel file

        o Macro written by one person

        o No back up plan

     CBOM weaknesses

     Overall process weaknesses

Finance

Senior management

     Poor succession plan

     Very biase

     Perception

     All of them have their own agenda

Engineering in manufacturing

     90% of them are weak in these areas

        o Experience 

        o Exposure

        o Skills

        o Knowledge 

        o Language

             Spoken

             Written

        o Problem solving skills

        o Integrity

Problem solving

     Weak like hell

        o At working level

        o At senior level

        o Just want to get over it

     No standard way

Quality

     Very poor

        o Don't know how to manage the situation

             Fail to solve a complex problem systematically

     Bad mentality

     Significant escapees

        o R&D

        o Manufacturing

     Majority of the team is weak

     There is no proper & systematic problem solving tools being used

     Most of the times, failed to even identify the "Problem Statement"

        o Jump directly to root cause

Overall Integrity

     Very lack of integrity

     No professionalisme

     All based on personal perception

     Top management can do what they like

        o Will get their "watch dogs" to run the dirty work for them

             Spread news

             Influence

             De-fame

             Gather information

             Benefits 

     Only good for senior management - Director & above level

        o Always there will be food & drinking sessions at top level

             Using company's money for "personal agenda"?

     Lousy medical coverage

Customers visits

     Very good

     Systematic

     Senior management's involvement

     Flexible

     Utilize MH Green Sheet

     Excellent salesmanship

CRM tools

     Ms Dynamics 365

     IBM cognos

     IBM TM1

     Miller Heiman

        o Blue sheet

        o Green sheet

        o Used at all level

                 Standard language

     Power BI

     Annual customer survey

        o Customer is getting annoyed by this survey

        o No proper actions taken

             No change

     Customer review

     Great tools, BUT

        o Not many people knows how to really use it

             For the real purpose of self improvement

Engineering R&D - focus in APAC

     Poor succession plan

     Not qualified as senior management

        o Poor in managing customers

        o Unable to manage situation

     Charges are extremely high

     Lack of business people that is able to quote based on what the customer wants

     Very inexperience

        o Too young 

     Always over charge

     Don't know how to be flexible

     Refuse to accept the fact that they are weak

        o Still thinks they are the best

     Arrogant 

Succession plan - weak

     Functional / Department head

     GM

     Senior level

        o Questionable

     Operations Directors that are capable

     Not based on how good a person is

        o Based on how much top management likes the person

Secret projects

     Way too many

     Too secretive

Internal politics

     Among regions

        o Massive

     Personal gains & agenda

     At top level

     Very unhealthy

     Worst I have ever seen

     Always in a blame game

Supply Chain

     It is a big political mess in this group

     Very weak

        o The team thinks they are very good

             That is because they were never exposed to real good SCM team

     Leadership sucks in APAC

     There is no proper plan & long term goals

        o Don't have the know how

     Sub teams

        o Costing

        o Sourcing

        o Procurement

        o MRO

        o Logistics

        o Warehousing

        o Materials system

     ERP system used is really outdated

Travels

     Senior level travel in business class

     Hit the ground & start to work

        o No time for rest

Pay & package

     Lower than industrial standards

     Lower than competitor

     Extremely lousy package in APAC region

     Package is very good only for Director & above level

Work hours

     No flexibility in APAC region

     Very calculative


Note: 

The information gathered is based on my personal view. If further information is desired, please email me. 
Last but not least, would appreciate your feedback and sharing. 

Monday, August 3, 2020

New business engagement - analysis, review and buy off (Electronics manufacturing services environment)

    Many times, when there are new business opportunity, companies will rush into the business without proper review, analysis & approval. 

    If lucky, the business will make a good investment. However, if the investment is not a good one, best case the company will breakeven in that investment. Worst case, company could run their P&L (profit & loss) into a red zone. 

    I have previously prepared & established one proposed process flow to provide guidance for this purpose for one of my projects. 

    Please have a look at the below JPEG file.
     As usual, I have the original PDF & source file with me. Drop me an email if you desire the PDF file. 

    As usual, I appreciate your feedback. Hope this guideline helps.