Manufacturing process management

Manufacturing process management (MPM) is a collection of technologies and methods used to define how products are to be manufactured. It differs from enterprise resource planning and material requirements planning, which are used to plan the ordering of materials and other resources, set manufacturing schedules and compile cost data. A cornerstone of MPM is a central repository that integrates its tools and activities. This helps explore alternative production line scenarios and make assembly lines more efficient, with the aims of shorter lead time to product launch, shorter product times and less work in progress inventory, and of allowing a quick response to changes in the product. The activities it covers include production process planning, factory layout planning, work flow simulation, line balancing, ergonomic assessment of assembly tasks, resource planning, time and cost estimates, quality work such as failure mode and effects analysis and statistical process control, and communication with other systems such as ERP, product data management and SCADA.