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Last week I saw an example of what not to do when developing manufacturing systems.  The manufacturer hired a programmer to “upgrade” older systems that existed in FileMaker Pro and Excel spreadsheets.  A gov’met agency recommended they move from Excel to a database, so the programmer used Oracle because that is what they knew.

What I would have done:

1. Start with what the business problem is.  What is the real problem and what would be the most efficient way to solve it?  A database might not be the right solution. (Right Kevin?)

2. If because of #1 or because there is a regulatory requirement, a database is required, make it as simple to build and own as possible.  That means starting with software that most people know or that you can get anyone to upgrade in the future.

2a - My opinion is there are way more people that know Microsoft technologies (ASP, .NET, SQL Server, etc.) than do Oracle.  Also, a PHP and MySQL solution would have more worldwide resources available than an Oracle solution.

3.  Get a couple opinions before you start (especially if you do not do this every day.)  Ask some friends, technical advisors, etc. before you start to spend money. 

Unfortunately for this manufacturer they spent about 5x more money than they should have for what they got and now they have something that no one is going to want to touch.  Because they knew the developer and she was only charging them $40/hour, they thought they were getting a deal!

oh, 1a - see if there is a good Commercial-off-the-shelf solution (COTS) that works before you build it.

My passion is to help manufacturing companies make good decisions about manufacturing systems and have those systems provide good value the the company.  I like to refer to it sometimes as “I try to keep people from doing stupid stuff.”  Well today I was too late.

I met with a smaller company today that I have been watching from afar for a while.  They have spent WAY TOO MUCH money on a simple application that they want to help them run manufacturing better.  This application has some functionality that exists in an old FileMaker Pro database application and the task was to bring forward that functionality and add to it.

The developer they hired to write the new application chose Oracle (the free express version) because that is what they knew.  Now the company is between a rock and a hard place because the developer is not done, they are way over budget, the application is not tested yet, and there is more scope they would really like to complete!!!

I was too late!  Tune in next post for what I would have done differently…

Since creating a blog, and managing our primary website, I am learning more than I want to know about webmaster stuff.

I love Microsoft, we are a Gold certified partner!  However, today I ran into a problem where you cannot FTP files to your webserver if you are using FrontPage extensions.  So, we have been using FrontPage for a long time as our primary web development tool, and now we find ourselves corrupting files by using FTP to transfer files back and forth.

Since the rest of the world uses other web development technologies, the primary way to send these files to your server is FTP.  Now that I am using Elance to help me on my websites, I need to be able to use FTP!

I guess I am going to have to move away from FrontPage (well now it is Expression Web).

Ahhh, the learning stages again….

As I was reading and catching up tonight, I just could not help but see the stark contrast in stories between Walgreens and General Motors.

Walgreens - Employees at This Walgreens Distribution Center Are More Able Than Disabled

http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2008/02/need-some-eager.html

General Motors - GM offers buyouts to 74,000

I know GM must do something to stop bleeding money, but it never fails that those companies that take care of their employees are healthier companies.

We have a term for people that try to do something they are not quite equipped to do - “Technically Dangerous” or TDs for short.  As in “they are a little technically dangerous” or “they are TD.”  We often run into these interesting types who are trying to write software, program automation, or otherwise “tinker” with manufacturing systems because, well they can….tinker that is.

So why are there Technically Dangerous people out there putting solutions in place to run our factories?  You want some examples?  I though I would describe these solutions with how they were presented to me.  This is what I hear:

“Don’t minimize that, it will crash, and we will have to restart it.”
“Once a day we have to get everyone out of the system and rebuild the database”
“We have to reboot our MES system twice a week for preventative maintenance, otherwise the memory leaks will crash the system”
“We want to push compressed data from our data historian out to an Oracle database [uncompressed] so our IT guys can get it.”

My passion is to help the “technically dangerous” people of the world do a better job, as well as protect manufacturers from making mistakes that cost a lot of time and money.

I gave myself the title on the ManufIT blog of Chief Translator of Opportunities.  I really hope I can be a benefit to manufacturing leaders that want to really use IT solutions to better their operations and quality.

The next time you suspect that you are inheriting or witnessing the installation of a solution that could be labeled as “technically dangerous” drop me a line and let me review it with you.  It would be my pleasure.  Contact me here.