Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM) is defined as an application supporting control processes for managing events within and between companies in real-time.

This integrated software functionality supports five major business processes including the ability to monitor what is happening within the supply chain, notify the right person in case of a delay or critical event, simulate activities, control your processes and measure your supply chain activities so that you can adapt your business process and make it more effective and efficient. In the graphic you see which core services exist in a SCEM system.

Through these services it is possible to receives updates to events and provides proactive alerts and responses to events throughout the supply chain.

You can take advantage of SCEM to support business in

• Monitoring and Tracking our Supply
• Sharing supply data globally
• Notifying the right persons at the right time when an exception occurs.
• Enabling event reporting

Capabilities of SCEM Application

Helps monitor and track end-to-end business transactions in the Supply Chain by providing a unified view of the business transactions spread across heterogeneous systems.

• Ability to monitor various notable events of a logical end to end transaction in multi-tiered supply chain including activities carried out by the supplier, carriers, to provide visibility beyond your department, beyond your company, to detect an exception and potentially automatically trigger a remedial action.
• Ability to correlate various notable events in multi-tiered supply chain and raise alert for action if delay or non-occurrence of one notable event impacts future activities of the same or other multiple transactions.
• Ability to view real-time auto-refreshed BAM dashboard showing progress and exceptions in color coded display of logical end to end transactions covering all notable events from begin to end throughout the supply chain.
• Ability to trigger email notification based on actionable exception to the transaction occurring in-house processing or during the vendor side processing.
• Allows real time detection and monitoring of business situations and exceptions from huge volumes of event data coming out of numerous sensors and systems, making it ideal for operation managers to quickly respond and take corrective actions.
• Ability to subscribe to an external event streams such as traffic alerts, Sensors, RSS feeds, RFID feeds , synthesize and correlate that massive date with state of the transaction in the system to arrive at potential exception or an action.
• Ability to identify trends and raise an actionable alert.
• Ability to filter out routinely progressing events automatically, and focus only on exceptions thereby improving efficiency of Logistics staff.
• Provides flexibility in modifying Alerts on a live production system without re-generation or re-deployment of the artifacts. Ability to declaratively change the recipient of the alerts/ notification

Oracle BAM Dashboard tracks end-to-end Field Service process too:

• My Oracle Support for issue capture
• E-Business Suite for Field Service & Spares
• Global Trade Management for export compliance
• DHL to track part shipping logistics

SCEM architecture

Oracle Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM) architecture components are as follows

• External Event Sources like B2B messages, Enterprise Event Sources like EBS, Fusion and other Enterprise Applications act as input sources.
• Events relevant to the business process are defined in the Situation template, which are then processed in the mid tier by Oracle Event Processor (OEP).
• Event Routers pick up the relevant events and get the payload associated with the events from the input systems and form the Logical Transaction Object which is cached using Coherence.
• The Situation Processor, or the CEP component, applies the business rules to the stream of events and evaluates them e.g pattern matching, aggregation etc., and arrives at the situation to be monitored which has critical business impact.
• The output (response) of the Situation Processor is sent to the Visualization layers such as BAM dashboards or mobile devices along with alerts and notifications

The current SCEM implementation uses the following Oracle components and technologies from Oracle Fusion Middleware (FWM):

1. E-Business Suite R12.1.3+ (Business event source)
2. Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g, (11.1.1.1.6) PS5
   • Oracle Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) 11g [SOA composites]
   • Oracle Event Processor (OEP) 11g [Processing events/logic]
   • Oracle Business Activity Monitor (BAM) [Optional: Presentation layer]
   • Oracle Coherence 3.7.1.1 [Caching infrastructure]
   • Oracle TopLink [Persistence Modeling]
3. Client technologies
   • Oracle JDeveloper 11g (PS5) [SCEM Designer - Design Time, customizations]
   • Eclipse IDE (Galileo) [Customizations - optional]

For more information on Oracle Supply Chain Event Management, check the details

If you refered to earlietr Post on Oracle Landed Cost Management , you might seen this consists of

• Charge Management, where users can defines the charges and proration methods
• Landed Cost Calculator, which performs estimated and actual cost calculations
• Cost Repository, which consists of estimated and actual cost information corresponding to each receipt in Oracle Receiving.

Therefore you can conclude Purchase Order, tax and charge information flows from Purchasing, EB Tax and Advanced Pricing respectively. This information is used by Oracle Landed Cost Management to calculate the estimated landed cost.

Invoice information flows from Accounts Payable to Oracle Landed Cost Management for actual cost calculations.

Estimated and actual cost information flows from Oracle Landed Cost Management to receiving and costing for costing and accrual accounting.Let's take a deep dive .

Integration of Oracle LCM with other modules

Oracle Landed Cost Management integrates with several other Oracle E-Business suite applications during the processing of estimated and actual landed costs for an item as per fig 1 in context to data flow and Integration:

Oracle Landed Cost Management is fully integrated with other Oracle E-Business Suite modules. The following are the modules that are integrated with Oracle Landed Cost Management:

Oracle Purchasing

PO information is the baseline information used to itemize expected shipment or receiving lines on which extended supply chain charges will be applied, beacuse of this LCM provides visibility into Oracle Purchasing purchase order data to build expected shipments for charge application and subsequent landed cost estimation calculations.

Thats means , when you entering expected shipments the reference information provided by PO module saves time and decreases errors that might occur without automated access to this information. After the purchase order information is available in LCM , expected values received from the purchase order such as, quantity and price can be edited for estimated cost calculation purposes and thenafter all the necessary data is provided to help arrive at an accurate three way match after an invoice for a purchase order line or charge is entered into Oracle Payables.

ost Important , Landed Cost Management recovers the tax lines associated to the purchase order that was originally calculated by EB-Tax, in order to include the non-recoverable amounts into the landed cost.

Oracle Purchasing (Receiving)

Oracle LCM integrates tightly with the PO Receiving module, as this completely relies on the Receiving transactions to calculate the estimated landed costs for a Landed Cost Management shipment. These helps in estimating landed costs and then forwarded to Oracle Cost Management to update inventory valuations and accounting.

Oracle Payables

Invoices created in Oracle Payables provide the actual cost information that supports the actual landed cost calculations that occur in Landed Cost Management.

Oracle Cost Management and Oracle Process Manufacturing (OPM) Cost Management

After actual values are received from invoices the actual landed cost is calculated in Oracle Landed Cost Management.

The variances between the actual landed cost and the estimated landed cost are determined. Those variances are passed to Oracle Cost Management which in turn updates the proper accounts and valuation.

If you are using Oracle Process Manufacturing than you must first run a concurrent program that will pass the variances to OPM Cost Management and that application will in turn update the proper accounts and valuation. Both process and discrete Costing applications follow similar flows:

Landed Cost Management calculates the estimated and actual landed costs and the variances, which are used for costing valuation and accounting.

Oracle Advanced Pricing (Optional)

Integration with Oracle Advanced Pricing enables you to set conditions for the automatic application of the required charges, fees, duties and taxes for a Landed Cost Management shipment. This means that estimated charges can be applied automatically to a shipment.

Additional Reference

• Oracle Landed Cost Management Overview

Capital goods are expensive machines which are used for many years before being disposed of.

Examples like advanced medical systems, electronic microscopes and lithography systems are highly complex and customer-specific. Instead of selling off-the-shelf, these products are configured in consultation with the customer. The end product is in most cases unique and fulfills the exact needs of the customer. It is created through the careful combination of different hardware modules and software. The hardware modules are standardized, designed for flexible use in many customer-specific configurations.

Therefore , Configure-to-Order (CTO) represents the ability for a user to define the component make-up (configuration) of a product at the very moment of ordering that product, and a vendor to subsequently build that configuration dynamically upon receipt of the order.

Do you know , Dell has operated as a pioneer in the "configure to order" approach to manufacturing, whereby delivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications.

Configure-To-Order

Oracle Manufacturing enables you to define options available for products and to process orders for unique product configurations while maintaining control of inventory, planning, and cost accounting.

A Configure to Order environment is one where the product or service is assembled or kitted on receipt of the sales order.

Do you know, Oracle Applications supports the Configure to Order environment with a range of features in order entry, demand forecasting, master scheduling, production, shipping, and financial accounting.

Key points for Configure to Order are:

• includes Pick-to-Order (PTO) and Assemble-to-Order (ATO) items, models, and hybrids.
• supports building configurations using other configurations as sub-assemblies (multi-level configure-to-order)
• supports internal and external sourcing of ATO models at any level in the BOM
• supports multi-level PTO/ATO hybrids

Some standard Definitions

Assemble - to - Order Model (ATO Configuration)

• Model bill of material with optional items and option selection rules
• Configuration manufactured from mandatory components and selected options, or purchased from a supplier

Assemble-to-Order Item

• Standard bill of material with mandatory standard components
• Item manufactured from mandatory standard components, or purchased from a supplier

Pick-to-Order Model (PTO Configuration)

• Model bill of material with optional items and option selection rules
• Pick slip used to kit included items and selected options

Pick-to-Order Item (Kit)

• Standard bill of material with mandatory included items
• Pick slip used to kit included items

Hybrid

• Pick-to-Order models with optional Assemble-to-Order items
• Pick-to-Order model containing Assemble-to-Order model

Multi-Level Assemble-to-Order Model (Multi-Level ATO Configuration):

• A model bill of material with a non-phantom model as a component
• Configuration manufactured from mandatory components selected options, configured sub-assemblies, or purchased from a supplier.

Multi-Level Assemble-to-Order Items:

• Standard bill of material with standard components and configured components
• Item manufactured from standard components and configured components

Integration

The following Oracle Application products are integrated to provide Configure to Order features:

• Bills of Material
• MRP/MPS, SCP
• APS
• Order Management products
• Configurator products
• Work in Process
• Inventory
• Flow Manufacturing
• Cost Management
• Purchasing
• iSupplier Portal

Therefore , Configure to Order enables configure to order and discrete manufacturing processes to be integrated directly into your operational processes.

Oracle Advanced Supply Chain Planning (ASCP) is a comprehensive, internet-based planning solution that decides when and where supplies should be deployed within an extended supply chain (for example, inventory, purchase orders and work orders). This is the supply planning function.

Oracle ASCP addresses the following key supply planning issues:

• Purchased parts planning
• Capacity Modelling and Forecasting
• Supplier Demand Forecasting
• Production Planning and Scheduling
• Available to Promise calculation
• Sourcing Optimization, Supply Constrain Resolution
• Excess and Obsolete Planning and Simulation
• Distribution Planning

The integration with United Parcel Service (UPS) can be described as a collaboration between two companies that have provided its customers with proven transportation services, coming together to provide a common solution for those customers who use both Oracle Shipping Execution and UPS,

The Integration will be in the form of API's Oracle-UPS APIs is a set of programs which integrate shipping information, provided by UPS Online Tools into Oracle Applications suite to help customers streamline operations in the fulfillment cycle.

Oracle - UPS integration will enable Oracle customers to:

• Verify address/postal code for their shipment.
• Inquire about time in transit for ground shipments.
• Get shipping costs for deliveries.
• Track the packages after shipment.

Oracle-UPS APIs will be used throughout the Oracle ERP application suite. Order Management and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Applications will use these APIs to verify address and postal code and to provide customers with shipping service selection while taking orders.

Shipping Execution Applications will use these APIs to integrate UPS functionality seamlessly into the Oracle Shipping functionality.

Read this:

• KNOW WHAT IS SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT (SCM)? : An Overview
• SCM Subsystem

This article is an easy guide for Techno-functional consultant to understand SCM from Implementation as well as Oracle Application product Prospective.Lets start the topic with some of high points of earlier post .

• As mention in earlier post a Supply Chain is a network of retailers, distributors, transporters, storage facilities and suppliers that participate in the sale, delivery and production of a particular product.
  • Make a note a supply chain is product specific, not company specific
• Supply chain management (SCM) is a systematic approach to manage the entire flow of information, materials, and services from raw material suppliers through factories and warehouses to the end customer.
• Moreover , SCM involves the flows of material, information and finance in a network consisting of customers,suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors.
• You should be clear with Flow that SCM can manage :
  • The flow of actual materials, the top middle bars
    • From suppliers : flows of raw materials, intermediate products, finished goods
    • Reverse material flows : returns, repairs, servicing, recycling, disposal
  • and the information flows
    • From suppliers : manufacturing capacity, delivery schedules, promotions they have going
    • Reverse flows : sales, orders, inventory, quality, promotions
  • And finally, there are financial flows:
    • From suppliers: Credits, consignment, payment terms, invoice
    • Reverse Flows : payments, consignment
• Supply Chain Management is the management of the entire value-added chain, from the supplier to manufacturer right through to the retailer and the final customer.
• SCM has three primary goals: Reduce inventory, increase the transaction speed by exchanging data in real-time, and increase sales by implementing customer requirements more efficiently
• The need for SCM is because effective Supply Chain Mgt. is the next logical step towards increased profits and market share.
• Supply Chain Management (SCM) in line manager prospective is "let's-keep-things-moving-efficiently".

Read the rest of this entry »

Manufacturing environments can be classifed as discrete, repetitive, or process, or combinations this post will give more insights on different methods.

Project Manufacturing

Project manufacturing is used to meet demand driven production requirements for large contracts or projects.

Project manufacturing allows you to plan, schedule, process, and cost against a specific contract or a group of contracts for a specific customer.

Also it is possible to make task references to planned orders, jobs (part of Discrete Manufacturing), purchase orders, sales orders, miscellaneous transaction and other entities within Oracle Manufacturing.

Discrete Manufacturing

Discrete manufacturing is used for assemblies that you make in groups or batches.

It involves defining jobs with a job name, a job type, assembly, a job quantity, a start date, and an end date and use assembly bills of material to create job material requirements and routings to schedule job production activities and create operation specific material and resource requirements.

Discrete manufacturing is the most common production method for the application of flow manufacturing. Shippable end items are usually measured in individual units or "each". The production quantities produced in manufacturing can vary from one to large order quantities. In contrast to process intensive factories, discrete manufacturing usually requires more people than machines.

Flow Manufacturing

Flow Manufacturing is an innovative manufacturing approach that aligns production with customer demand.

Flow manufacturing employs Just-In-Time (JIT) concepts such as manufacturing to demand (vs. forecast),

• Production lines for families of products
• Pull material using kanbans
• Consume automatically material and costs upon completion

These in turn helps decrease inventories, optimize machine utilization, reduce response time to customer needs, and simplify shop floor activities. The most important part is to design production lines and production processes so that each line can produce a constantly changing mix of products within a family at a steady rate.

In flow manufacturing a product progresses through its manufacturing processes without stopping, like water in a river, hence the term "flow.

The goal of the flow manufacturer is to design and create a manufacturing line capable of building different products, one at a time, using only the amount of time required to actually complete the work.

Wait time, queue time, and other delays are largely eliminated in flow manufacturing.

Process Manufacturing

Process Manufacturing automates the entire product lifecycle for recipe-based manufacturing, from new product development, recipe management and production, to cost, quality, and regulatory management. It enables you to formulate products to individual customer specifications, manage variability, optimize capacity, and drive continuous process improvement.

Continuous manufacturing is another name of "process" manufacturing.

Assemble-to-Order(ATO) Manufacturing

This is where available options for unique product configurations. You can master schedule models and options then create work orders to build these unique configuration.

Repetitive Manufacturing

You use repetitive manufacturing for assemblies you make on a continuous or semi continuous basis over a predefined interval.

You identify which assemblies are built on which production lines in advance. You can build assemblies on dedicated lines (one assembly per line) or on mixed model lines (many assemblies per line). You can build an assembly on multiple lines.

You define repetitive schedules by the assembly, its daily quantity and its production lines, no job or work order exists. You can schedule production of a single assembly continuously for just a few hours or for any number of days.

You can schedule repetitive production based on the fixed lead time of your production line if the lead time does not vary from one assembly to another assembly. If the lead time varies by assembly, you can schedule the repetitive production time based on the routing of the assembly the line is building.

In repetitive manufacturing, you charge the cost of production directly to the assembly and line. You analyze and report costs by assembly and line during the period close. At period close, all charges to a repetitive assembly for that period are totalled and divided by the number of assemblies produced during that period. Period close also calculates assembly costs and usage variances.

Oracle Applications supports discrete, project, repetitive, assemble-to-order, and flow (work order-less) manufacturing methods

As usual APIs facilitate integration with complementary third party , in-house developed, or legacy applications. These APIs are standard in Oracle Process Manufacturing in various releases.

The benefits of OPM APIs are same usual:

• Automate data collection from plant devices
• Reduce custom interface code
• Provide easier software upgrades
• Allow connection to legacy systems
• Eliminate manual data entry and errors

So here are the List of APIs for Integration in OPM (Adopted)

• Production / POC
  • Start Resource Usage
  • End Resource Usage
  • Close Batch
  • Cancel Batch
  • Release, Certify, and Close Step
  • Post Resource Transaction
  • Incremental Resource Transaction
  • Timed Resource Transaction
• Costing
  • Item Cost
  • Resource Cost
  • Allocation Definition
  • Burden Details
• Formula
  • Create Formula
  • Insert Ingredients, (By)Products
  • Create Formula Usage Rules
• Inventory
  • Create Item
  • Create Lot
  • Create Item/Lot UOM Conversion
  • Create, Adjust, or Move Inventory
  • Change Lot Status or QC Grade
• Quality
  • Assays
  • Specifications
  • Samples
  • Sample Labels
  • Results

You can see the more details for API's and underline API name either document Part No# A83748-01 or you can check in the responsibility IREP

Obvious question was asked by yet another reader after this post?

"What are the modules that come under the umbrella of OPM ? "

Th answer is OPM includes OPM Process Planning, Product Development(which includes Formula,Recipe,Quality), Production, Financials(Costing,MAC), Logistics, Regulatory Management etc. These are products which come under this umbrella..

• OPM Cost Management
• OPM Formula Management
• OPM Intelligence
• OPM Inventory Management
• OPM Laboratory Management
• OPM Master Production Scheduling
• OPM Material Requirements Planning
• OPM Production Management
• OPM Purchasing Management
• OPM Quality Management
• OPM Capacity
• OPM Sales Management
• Oracle Financial

Is there any difference from Oracle Discrete Manufacturing?

Yes, there is ..If you came from Discrete manufacturing background, these are one -to-one mapping between modules.

.. OPM history

The history of Oracle OPM is one decade old, This is worth to know about OPM Life Cycle.

Next would like to provide some more information for OPM API's availability....

Aberdeen Group, has recently published one report for "ERP Options for Process Related Industries ", Here is the link for free report.

What you should know about Oracle OPM products

Oracle OPM designed exclusively for catering the business need for process manufacturers industry like:

• Consumer Packaged Goods
  • Food, Beverage, Health and Beauty, Household Products
• Industrial Products
  • Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Petroleum, Metals, Mining, Paper and Glass

The difference between Discrete and Process manufacturing can be best understood in my previous post.

Oracle OPM product Strengths

For those who are very new or not aware to Oracle OPM product, here are some of high points of Operational Functionality that product offered.Moreover there is significant changes has been seen in age of internet that has re-defined the operation of the supply chain(SCM) thus Oracle OPM Products too.

Please Check with Oracle OPM Page, to see what are the recent changes has been incorporated. based out of my exposure very long time back, these are the functionlity that product had.

Related article

• Discrete & Process manufacturing in ERP ?
• KNOW WHAT IS SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT (SCM)? : An Overview
• 11i EBS and Food Industry