Page 45 - MetalForming March 2014

Ask the Expert
Punching Dampers
Jill Sutherland, Director of Business Development Sutherland Presses
Q:We have some major reverse ton- nage in our heavy blanking appli- cation. How can I prevent damage to the
press?
A:We recommend the use of punching dampers for customers that are blanking or punching and experiencing
excessive reverse shock. Punching dampers offer a resisting counter-pressure force upward, at the moment of part break- through. They absorb and eliminate the resulting shock and vibration.
www.sutherlandpresses.com
ERP Software
Christine Hansen, Product Marketing Manager Epicor
Q:What are the signs it’s time to replace our manufacturing ERP
software?
A:Are your users spending too much time looking for things? Is access to your information a struggle? Does your
software support latest operating system versions or are you at risk of failure? Are you meeting the compliance requirements of your customers? Does your system still meet your capability needs or have you simply outgrown your current ERP system? Are you able to follow an order through the business and find that your employees
have implemented offline “systems” in spreadsheets to help them do their jobs? Answering yes more often than not is a sign you should start looking into new manufac- turing ERP software. www.epicor.com
One of the Most Important KPIs
In a perfect world, a lean system would have zero inventory and prod- ucts manufactured to order. In a truly lean enterprise, the inventory turnover rate can therefore be defined as infinite.
This brings us to one of the most important key performance indicators (KPIs) of all: inventory turnover rate. According to a variety of sources, the top 25 percent of U.S. manufacturers achieve only 29 or 30 finished-goods inventory turns per year—not an encouraging statistic, but one that pro- vides plenty of room for improvement.
Calculate inventory turnover by dividing the cost of goods sold (COGS) for the reporting period by the average value of inventory on hand during the period. Because this ratio measures annual inventory turns, it usually is calculated once per year.
Inventory = COGS/Average dollar value turnover of inventory on hand
Inventory consists of raw material, work-in-progress and finished goods, and I recommend the same approach for calculating the turnover rate for each of these. Always calculate the average dollar value of the type of inventory you want to measure and divide that into COGS.
For example, if your product con- sists of 45-percent sheetmetal, calculate the value of your sheetmetal parts in your COGS and divide it by the average dollar value of sheetmetal inventory over the measurement period. Inven- tory turnover reflects the rate a com- pany flushes inventory from its sys- tem within a given financial reporting period and is a direct measure of a company’s most important liquid resource—cash.
When manufacturers consider new capital investments, the effects on inventory should be one of the prime parameters for payback calculations. If you compare all of the numbers, you will usually find that the value of the increased inventory in an inflexible system may be greater than the cost of the new equipment—instant payback. MF
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