Best Practice Story 3 – Prospective Resource Planning

Best Practice Story 3.1: Integrated order planning

Brief description:

The core objective of Use Case 3 is to implement an integrated order forecast for ERCO products based on market information. The data input for the forecast is the project data from the Customer Relationship Management System (date of “expected incoming orders”) in connection with ERP quotation data (product + quantity) from the sales companies. These are also enriched with information from social media and the erco.com homepage. From this, a forecast of the expected incoming orders for the capacitive design of ERCO production is made with the aid of automatic learning procedures. The forecasts are also used in demand planning to adjust the supply chain in the event of discernible changes in demand.

Expected results:

The result of the use case execution is the improvement of the forecast accuracy of the incoming order quantities. This makes it possible, for example, to increase the availability of critical components and shorten delivery times through more targeted coordination of the production program.
The joint use of forecast data also enables value-creating collaboration with the eleven worldwide sales companies.

Best Practice Story 3.2: Data mining concept (acquisition, storage and analysis) in the area of production

Brief description:

The field of action for Use Case 3.2 is the production of conductor rails for the flexible connection of luminaires (spotlights) to walls or ceilings. Production is carried out with a special machine consisting of 15 stations of considerable complexity. Currently, machine status data is determined and updated, but not evaluated. Within the framework of the research project, a possibility for fault analysis using machine learning methods is to be developed.

Expected results:

In addition to the implementation of a fault analysis at the production plant, the acquisition of skills for data analysis and pattern recognition is an essential result of the use case processing.