Flow ,Discrete & Process manufacturing in ERP ?

Posted on November 10th, 2007 by Sanjit Anand | Print This Post | Email This Post

This is a very basic question for ERP consultants , what is basic difference into two manufacturing operation : discrete manufacturing and process manufacturing . Lets redefined and understand in simple words:

As we know, in ERP prospective manufacturing operation can be broadly classified into two major category:

• Flow manufacturing
• Discrete manufacturing
• Process manufacturing

Discrete Manufacturing

Discrete manufacturing is distinguished by the production of distinct items that use bills of material and routings to determine costs and lead times.

Examples: Automobile manufacturing, computer manufacturing, dishwasher and washing machine manufacturing, etc .

Typically they follows either a Product, Process or a Combination Layout these layouts can be understood like:

• Product Layout - Processes come to the product . typical example are Ship Building, Car Assembly Line, PC's, etc.
• Process Layout - Products go to Process areas Typical Example are Cabinets and Casings, Sub-assemblies, Rubber Mixing, etc.

Is normally a Product that is "Built Up" from components or sub-assemblies.

A note with Oracle Product
Discrete manufacturing is Oracle Applications method to handle the unique problems in manufacturing equipment, like electronics, medical devices or a complicated assembly like the space shuttle as indicated above.

Discrete manufacturing is based on piece parts that are assembled or machined to make larger assemblies.

Oracle Discrete Manufacturing has a great deal of functionality to manage the Bills of Materials, Routings and Engineering changes that are required to adequately track assembly and cost the finished product.

Flow Manufacturing
Flow manufacturing is also called Lean Manufacturing or JIT(Just-In-Time) and uses the principles of demand flow manufacturing to produce product is required, for customer orders, quickly and to meet the demand exactly on-time.

Usually, in order to use Flow a company needs to have production facilities that subscribe to the principals of Lean Manufacturing. It is necessary to design production facilities so that production lines, resources, machines, and labor are making only what is needed for immediate customer orders.

Process Manufacturing

Process manufacturing is distinguished by a production approach that has minimal interruptions in actual processing in any one production run, or between production runs of similar products. This approach produces multiple unique products in relatively small batches flowing through different production operations throughout the factory.

They typically follows a Process Layout.

They are normally producing a Product that is "Homogeneous" and equally divided for the convenience of packaging.

Typical examples are Food, pharmaceutical and other batched-based manufacturers such as refineries, wineries, etc .

A Note with Oracle Process Manufacturing
The OPM capabilities allow for multiple units of measure because the flexibility in batch production is required in process industries.

Process manufacturing is used at companies that make products that use formulas, receipts and/or have co-products or by products. Typical users of OPM are manufactures of food products or chemicals that have complex internal processes and need a high level of control.

The OPM capabilities allow for multiple units of measure because the flexibility in batch production is required in process industries.

What makes process manufacturing different from discrete?

Process manufacturing uses formulations or recipes. A discrete manufacturer uses Bills of Materials (BOMs). A discrete manufacturer assembles along a routing, whereas a process manufacturer blends in a batch.Apart from these other difference with other factors are summurized as:

Which come under which category ?

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