I know the part creation process varies wildly from company to company, but what, if anything is everyone doing to ensure the proper creation of part numbers? Do you have a sign off process, documents that must be attached/completed before the Epicor record can be created? Etc.?
I have heard of configurators… so that every part must go through a configurator so that the record is created consistently and so that the part fields and part methods are created consistently… Apart from that, is anyone else doing something else to manage the creation of parts or is the process for your company an email to an engineer who creates the part and bill according to what you tell them, or…
In short, we are trying to find the right tool to manage everything that goes into making a part number record- especially the back and forth and documents leading up to it… which is why I am thinking maybe ECM workflow with forms???
Not really. The design engineers are the ones who do the models and prints that drive what the manufacturing engineers are entering in the system. So, the design is saying what the material requirements are based on their calculations.
I’ve long liked the idea of a Rules Engine that worked across all of our systems (and not just Kinetic). It’s great and all to “document your business processes” on paper, but what would be REALLY nice is actionable documentation. You can try to hard code that in a function/BPM of course, but that is difficult to modify. This can be done in several ways:
Polyglot Notebooks
This capability comes out of the Python/AI world where one mixes documentation with executable code. Microsoft took it a step further by adding PowerShell, C#, F#, and other languages to Python.
Custom Code
One can declare rules via JSON and evaluate conditions using (many) libraries including Microsoft’s open source Rules Engine.
Epicor
I don’t know how many of you have followed the Epicor acquisition of Acadia Software, but making documentation actionable is exactly what they do. Instead of writing a document, the documentation becomes a training document, a testing framework, and an execution plan - all in one. I think it’s going to be a great boon for Epicor users.
One could use these tools to codify your Part Creation process among others. Food for thought.
Pretty sure I had someone mention something about “Actions plans for workflow management and Tasks that can be assigned to nearly any record in the system”
So that would go a long way into applying an approval process to a part creation process.