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
