Tag Archives: SaaS

Global supply chains are intricate networks that span multiple countries and continents, involving a multitude of processes, from procurement to distribution. The complexity is further compounded by varying local standards and regulations, making standardization a critical need.

The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) provides a universal classification framework that is essential for streamlining these complex processes and facilitating seamless international operations.

Benefits of UNSPSC

UNSPSC serves as a global language for businesses, ensuring that products and services are categorized consistently regardless of where they are produced or consumed. This standardization is vital for global trade, as it simplifies communications between suppliers and buyers, enhances spend analysis and reporting capabilities, and improves procurement efficiency.

By adopting UNSPSC, companies can ensure more accurate demand forecasting and inventory management, which are crucial for maintaining the flow of goods and services across global markets.

AICA’s Automated Approach to UNSPSC

Data management and cleansing specialist AICA offers a SaaS platform that leverages advanced AI and ML technologies to automate the UNSPSC classification process. This automation is driven by AI models trained on extensive datasets, significantly increasing accuracy and reducing errors commonly seen in less sophisticated systems.

The process of manually classifying products into UNSPSC codes is a task that traditionally requires substantial time investment. For instance, cataloguing a single product into the UNSPSC framework manually takes approximately 10 minutes. Classifying 10,000 products would, therefore, require about 69 days. Thus, manually classifying products consumes a significant amount of time, representing a substantial opportunity cost.

However, AICA’s platform automates this process and assigns the classified items with an accuracy score. Items that receive a quality score lower than 93% are flagged for review by our subject matter experts.

Here’s a breakdown of the time savings:

• Total manual classification time for 10,000 products: 69 days.
• Time required using AICA’s platform with automated and expert review: Only the items with a quality score below 93% are manually reviewed. This drastically cuts down the overall manual intervention and time needed compared to the traditional method.

Thus, by using AICA’s system, a task that would normally take over 69 days of continuous work can be reduced significantly to only a few.

This methodology not only speeds up the classification process but also ensures a high level of accuracy and reliability, allowing businesses to deploy resources more effectively and enhance overall productivity in the supply chain.

Universal Relevance

The relevance of UNSPSC and AICA’s technological solutions extends across various critical sectors, including Manufacturing, Mining, and Aerospace and Defense. These industries face unique challenges such as managing complex assemblies, complying with strict regulatory standards, and handling high-value inventories.

UNSPSC codes help standardize component classifications, making it easier to track and manage parts across global supply chains. For these sectors, the ability to accurately classify and analyze product data can lead to more strategic sourcing and better risk management.

Conclusion

For global enterprises aiming to improve their supply chain operations, adopting AICA’s UNSPSC-classifying technologies offers a transformative opportunity. By integrating our solutions, companies can benefit from enhanced data accuracy, improved operational efficiency, and a competitive edge in the global market.

*This article is written by USCCG’s strategic partner, AICA Data. AICA is a data cleansing and management specialist that optimizes your product and services data with AI to provide faster, more accurate, and cost-effective solutions. To find out more about AICA’s services – visit their website here.

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With all the recent media attention about ChatGPT and other AI tools taking over our jobs (and our world), it’s easy to forget that technology — even AI — is a tool we can use to make our lives easier and our businesses more efficient.

At USCCG, we’ve been using software to help our clients harness and wrangle their data and transform it into usable insights in real time, and support their operational goals and aspirations.

The various software modules that make up our proprietary LINCS system, along with Microsoft’s Power BI, were designed to do just that. Here’s a look at the software we use to help you harness your data.

LINCS

A cornerstone of the work we do at USC Consulting Group, the Lean Information Control System (LINCS) gives supervisors, managers and execs the operating information they need, when and where they need it. LINCS offers state-of-the-art tools and software applications that facilitate fact-based decision making in real time from the shop floor to the boardroom.

LINCS includes modules for advanced planning, manufacturing and logistics, value-stream mapping, time-phased production scheduling, inventory analysis and more. These modules can be used in combination or alone, based on the needs of your business. That’s because of another of our cornerstones: no cookie-cutter solutions. You can pick and choose which modules and features are most useful for your particular needs.

LINCS is designed to be a sophisticated decision support tool kit that is adaptable, affordable, easy to use and easy to configure.

We’re fond of saying companies need to “manage by the numbers.” This is the way to do it.

Here’s a closer look at the modules.

Performance Analysis and Reporting

This module collects and analyzes operating and production information in real time. Seeing how the work is stacking up as it takes place gives operators and executives powerful information by which to make decisions, prioritize activities and pivot when things aren’t going according to plan. It allows management to view operations at a glance or drill down to examine specific areas of opportunity via an executive dashboard. And it’s easy to configure and use.

Key Features:

• Acts as middleware, interfacing with enterprise-level and SCADA-level systems, as well as human input
• Identifies and quantifies improvement opportunities in your operation
• Provides accurate tracking and analysis of important key performance indicators
• Includes analytical and statistical tools to highlight performance problems
• Produces easy-to-read graphics and reports that allow you to understand operational performance at any level in your organization
• Provides actionable information from which to launch improvement initiatives
• Prioritizes needed action, then tracks and quantifies improvement effort
• Runs on Microsoft Windows^® technology for ease of use and compatibility with existing systems
• Produces reports online and in hard copy at each level of the organization
• Interfaces easily with existing systems; does not require expensive software or hardware upgrades
• Does not require extensive in-house IT maintenance
• Is highly scalable; can grow with your business

Flexsim

No modesty here — this is a really cool software program. It’s a 3D simulation of new processes or practices before you roll them out onto the shop floor. It’s an object-oriented simulation software for processes like manufacturing, material handling and workflow. It helps engineers, managers and decision makers visualize and test proposed operations, processes or systems in “cyberspace” before trying it out in real life. The goal, like everything we do here at USCCG, is to boost productivity, eliminate bottlenecks and ultimately enhance your profits.

Key Features:

• Windows-based
• Fully object-oriented with C++ integration
• Models created graphically using drag-and-drop
• Amazing 3D virtual reality using drag-and-drop
• Unsurpassed flexibility and power
• Cool factor: High!

Resource Capacity Planning

This invaluable tool gives you a realistic, real-time view of available versus required resources, including people, materials, tools and equipment. It helps you make sure you’re on track to achieve your production plan, each and every day and shift. It’s user friendly and can be customized for each client’s needs.

Key Features:

• Identifies equipment capacities required to meet projected demand
• Considers process maturity and operational learning curves when calculating resource requirements
• Performs long-range material requirements planning
• Adjusts for expected yield and scrap rates
• Provides rough cut (family-level) and detailed (product/line item-level) planning
• Summarizes labor hour requirements by skill set and work area

Microsoft Power BI

What good is the amount of data we have at our fingertips today if we can’t analyze it, interpret it and put it to use, right? That’s where Microsoft Power BI comes in. It creates news you can use. The program is designed to collect the various types of data generated within your business and coalesce it into useful, timely information by which you create actionable insights. It consists of a Power BI Desktop, an online software-as-a-service (SaaS), and mobile apps for Windows, Android and iOS devices. Together, those three components work to wrangle your data into insights you can share with your team.

Key Features:

• AI helps you create machine learning modules, accesses image recognition and more
• AI’s lightning-fast speed gives you actionable insights quickly
• Able to interface with the multiple data sources you may be using, like Salesforce
• Customizable, allowing users to create unique sets of information based on their needs
• Connects data on a dashboard that’s easily viewed and understood
• Includes Report Builder and Report Server features

By using the latest-and-greatest software out there, we help our clients enhance their operations, streamline their day-to-day, stay on top of inventory and create actionable decisions. It’s about managing by the numbers.

For more information about how this software technology can help streamline your operations, call us at 800-888-8872 or email us at info@usccg.com.

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Thanks to cloud and edge computing, SaaS — software as a service — has become a highly transformative technology in both manufacturing and the supply chain. It makes software systems and various technologies accessible to a wide range of operations, big or small. That’s because the system itself is hosted remotely, so the central technologies don’t have to be on the premises or within a facility. SaaS tools are fully built cloud applications.

Picture the type of software that governs a sophisticated manufacturing system. The servers that host that software, and where most of the data is contained, are located off-property away from the manufacturer’s facility. At any time, it can communicate with the connected equipment, and users can access the entire system remotely as well.

However, it’s maintained, serviced, and even secured by a remote provider. The only thing the manufacturer has to worry about is whether or not the connected equipment is running optimally. They don’t have to manage an on-site data center, update servers and software configurations, or even troubleshoot major problems — that’s all done by the SaaS provider.

SaaS is innovative, but how does that system affect the manufacturing industry as a whole? What are the benefits of SaaS when deployed within a smart factory or Industry 4.0 environment?

1. Reduced Costs

Manufacturing software comes in many forms. There are tools to aid in engineering and design, sales or marketing, measure production quality, organize finances, and much more. Each one of those applications requires a steady stream of data and a team to manage both the software and its backend.

Just imagine how much processing power is necessary to handle all of those systems, let alone the physical storage needed to contain the resulting data to keep it all running. The best solution even today is to build a data center, whether on-site or remote. They are very costly to manage and maintain.

SaaS solutions eliminate those costs and requirements because the bulk of the system is hosted elsewhere, on the provider’s servers. There’s no equipment to install and no software to update or manage. It’s all done off-site. That also reduces the need for a large IT or software development team on the manufacturing side.

The kickback is much lower operating costs for manufacturers, despite all the benefits realized from the applications.

2. Better Security

When you need a process completed, but you don’t have the proper knowledge, the common practice is to call in a specialist. That is precisely what SaaS providers are, and it means they have access to highly specific resources and tools that no manufacturer realistically does. That translates to a better solution overall, especially when it comes to digital and data security.

Because their entire business is securing and maintaining their data centers, to provide software to clients, they have much more sophisticated and capable solutions in place. That filters down to the manufacturers subscribing to SaaS services, who realize better data security and smarter digital protections.

3. Unparalleled Flexibility

Manufacturers maintaining software and technology solutions in-house have to scale up when the operation grows, which can be devastating depending on how the market shifts and demand fluctuates. Spending hundreds of thousands to upgrade equipment only to experience a downturn in the market can ruin any business.

SaaS providers handle scaling and delivery. They can add new terminals and new users, and install or activate servers to accommodate their clients. This is not only done seamlessly, but it will also happen near-instantly. Customers can even try before they buy, trialing the services and solutions before deploying them within their facilities. If the software doesn’t work out or add value, it can be canceled at any time with a minimal impact on the greater operation.

SaaS solutions can be accessed anywhere at any time allowing for more flexible operations.

4. Enhanced Interoperability

Typically, two pieces of distinct software cannot communicate with each other and the data they utilize isn’t guaranteed to be interchangeable. In manufacturing, this happens a lot with ERP and CMMS solutions. It complicates manufacturer-vendor relationships, especially when the default systems offer no interoperability.

Because SaaS solutions are hosted in the cloud, the systems accommodate interconnection between many different tools and platforms. CMMS, ERP, CRM, and project management tools can all communicate and share data, and the SaaS platform ensures it’s compatible and readable between those solutions.

5. Truly Agile Operations

If you look at what SaaS solutions provide manufacturers from a top-down perspective, it affords many operational efficiencies and creates new opportunities, without increasing the responsibilities the manufacturer is forced to take on. They have everything to gain and almost nothing to lose. Faster and more agile operations are implemented as a result, thanks to a system that’s always on, always ready to scale, and constantly being adapted to the needs of the manufacturer.

6. A Mobile Workforce

Because of the way SaaS solutions are maintained and delivered, they open up a whole new level of accessibility and mobility for manufacturing teams. Everyone from the decision-makers and supervisors to equipment operators gain access to on-demand and mobile-friendly solutions that can be accessed anywhere, at any time.

Additional features include mobile and real-time notifications, instant communication even between departments, remote access to mission-critical applications, and much more. Besides, security is managed on the backend, server-side, so users can move from terminal to terminal, or device to device, without compromising the system.

The caveat is that they need to follow proper security protocols, which means no password sharing or reuse, and precise authentication or verification systems.

An Ever-Evolving Industry Requires Adaptable Solutions

SaaS solutions are changing the manufacturing and production industries, but it’s not the only technology making a dent in normal operations. The entire field is undergoing a revolution, moving ever closer to Industry 4.0. The concept will see a marriage of advanced manufacturing techniques and smart, contextually-driven platforms to achieve seamless intercommunication, efficiency, and operability.

Software as a service plays a role in that movement, as manufacturers look to offset some of the requirements of the digital transformation. SaaS allows manufacturers to keep up with ever-evolving industries and markets. It reduces operational costs, speeds up output and processes, enhances security, improves software compatibility, and helps facilitate truly agile operations. What more could you ask for?

This article is written by Devin Partida. Devin is a tech writer with an interest in the IIoT and manufacturing. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of ReHack.com.

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