Thanks again for all of the visits to my site, and watch out for volume #2.
In this walkthrough we will show how you can create service agreements and orders, and then how you can use the additional tracking features within Service Management to get a tighter handle on your service orders.
Dynamics AX allows you to configure your own Vendor Evaluation Criteria and then track the vendor performance against any or all of the criteria that you have defined. When you combine this with the Power BI tools, you get a great way to rate vendors, and also a nice way to present Vendor Scorecards.
The Lean Manufacturing capabilities are new with Dynamics AX 2012, and they give you a different way of managing your manufacturing processes as compared to the traditional discrete manufacturing models of BOM’s and Routes. Don’t be scared away though by its new terminology and constructs that it uses to model the manufacturing processes. It shares a number of the processes that the traditional manufacturing models use, and is pretty easy to configure if you know the right steps.
Also, you don’t have to be a pure “Lean” organization to use the Lean manufacturing processes that are built into Dynamics AX. You can pick and choose what you use, and even create hybrid manufacturing models that blend both the traditional and lean processes.
In this worked example I will show you how you can create a simple set of Lean Manufacturing processes and see them in in action.
In this worked example we worked through the setup of a set of simple production and transfer Kanbans. The interesting thing about these processes, is that you don’t necessarily need to be a Lean Manufacturer in order to take advantage of these capabilities. For piece work, then this process works really well, and also the transfer Kanbans can easily be used by traditional manufacturers to replenish floor stocking areas.
Having multiple activities in a Process Flow that are chained together.
Using the planning and scheduling in conjunction with the Lean Manufacturing to create the purchase forecasts etc.
This is a really useful feature within Dynamics AX. Just because you have always used BOM’s and Routes does not mean that you can’t dabble in Process Flows and Activities. Give it a try and I’m sure you will like what you find out.
This week I was challenged to find a way for one of our customers to view how many customers they have by zip code, and compare it to the population within the area so that they can determine if they should accept new customer requests. Their customers are actually sales people, and they did not want to have more than one customer per 10000 people within the local zip code or surrounding area.