(BY AMT ERP Research Group)
Introduction to ERP is a question that many companies are quite concerned. Since the 2001 Shenyang First Machine Tool Factory introduced the first MRP II software from the German Engineers Association, MRP II / ERP in China has experienced nearly 20 years from starting, explores mature storms. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 700 companies have purchased or used this advanced management software. However, the effect of its application is unbalanced, and the gap between each enterprise is large. To this end, we must have a matter of review and thinking about the entire process.
Review my country's MRP-II / ERP application and development process, which can be roughly divided into three stages:
The first stage: starting period.
At this stage, almost throughout the 1980s, its main feature is based on the introduction, implementation, implementation and partial application phase of MRP-II, which is limited to the traditional machinery manufacturing industry (mostly machine tool manufacturing, automotive manufacturing and other industries) . Due to the constraints of various obstacles, the effect of the application is limited, and it is called "three three-third" stages.
In the 1980s, China has just entered the transformation of the market economy, and the awareness of enterprises participating in market competition has not had or not strong. The production management problem of enterprises is heavy: the per capita labor productivity of machinery manufacturing is only one-third of the advanced industrial country; the product delivery cycle is long; the inventory reserves are large, and the equipment utilization rate is low. In order to improve this backward situation, some companies in my country's machinery industrial systems such as Shenyang First Machine Bed Factory, Shenyang Blind Machine, Beijing First Machine Burding, Guangzhou Peugeot Motor Company, etc., introduced MRP from abroad. II software. As a pioneer in China, they have gone through a bumpy road.
First, there is a technical issue of management software itself. Most foreign software introduced at the time was running on large, medium-sized computers, mostly relatively closed special systems, open, versatility, huge versatility, complex operation, system performance. Moreover, foreign software does not complete the work of localization, and then it is huge, and it is lacking technical support and services of the corresponding support; secondly, there is a lack of experience in MRP-II applications and implementation. Again, there is an obstacle problem with ideological understanding. At that time, most of the leaders of the company had not emphasized this project, just as a simple computer technology. Despite this, there are still some enterprises that have obtained some benefits, such as Beijing's first machine bed factory, Shenyang machine tool factory and Shenyang blower, etc., and some enterprise applications are not ideal, such as Guangzhou Peugeot Motors in the late 1980s. More than 2 million The franc introduced the MRP-II system from France and installed on two Bull's DPS7000 host. The goal is to achieve unified management of orders, inventories, sales, personnel, finance, etc., to improve the company's operational benefits. However, the result of the application of the application cannot reach a very important function of the software system. Therefore, from the whole, the benefits of the enterprise have grateful and huge investment and the original macro map is far away.
To this end, some people think "foreign MRP-II software is not suitable for China's national conditions and factory"; some experts scholars have put forward the "three three-third" arguments after analyzing and summarizing this application situation, namely : "The foreign MRP-II software can be used in one-third, and one-third can be used, one-third can not be used." This is the "three three-third" stages known as people.
Second stage: growth period.
This stage is roughly from 1990 to 1996, its main feature is that MRP-II / ERP has achieved better results in China's application and promotion. From practice denying past concepts, it is called "three A third stage of one-third.
Most of this stage singing protagonist or foreign software. With the continuous deepening of reform and opening up, my country's economic system has changed from the planned economy to market economy, and the product market situation has undergone significant changes. This puts a severe challenge for traditional management methods. Although the management software is still mainly mainly targeted and applied in MRP-II software, the field involved has broken through the machinery industry to expand to aerospace, electronic and home appliances, pharmaceutical, chemical and other industries. Typical enterprises include Chengdu Aircraft Manufacturing Industry, Guangdong Corporate, Shanxi Jingwei Textile Machinery Factory, Shanghai Machine Tool Factory, FAW-Volkswagen Group, etc. In addition, MRP-II users like Beijing's first machine bed factory, Shenyang Machine Tool Factory, Shenyang Block Machine, etc., after launching the national "863" CIMS (Computer Integrated Manufacturing System Computer Integrated Manufacturing System), it has been obtained. Glenette gains. For example, the management information system of the first machine bed factory in Beijing has achieved production management as the core, join the material supply, production, plan, and other functional departments, it can quickly adjust the plan, balance capacity and efficiency by more than 30 times according to market changes. In November 1995, I received the "Industrial Leadership Award" in the American Manufacturing Engineer Society (SME); MRP-II project in Guangdong Corporate, the US APICS (American Production and Inventory Management Association American Production and) Inventory Control Society Inc. Created in 1957) The expert recognized the level A level A, and so on. In summary, most of the MRP-II users have got more or less income after the application system, which is the fact that it is not negative. The reason why this achievement is the main reason: one is the development of computer technology. Such as the introduction and popularization of client / server architecture and computer network technology, software systems on UNIX mini-machine / workstations and the generality and openness of the software development trend on the microcomputer platform make MRP-II's application to deeper The broader range of development; second, because Chinese companies have entered the system transformation and innovation stage, actively innovate enterprise management system and methods, and adopt new management means to enhance the company's comprehensive strength; third, some foreign software companies have completed The localization work, its products have also made a lot of improvements in openness and versatility, and China's financial system and market mechanisms have gradually close to internationalization, and there are some domestic companies through secondary development. After the modification, the domestic version of the software has been formed and the market has introduced it to the market, making China's enterprises have a broader choice; four, after a study and exploration, it began to change in the concept, and practical accumulation Have a certain experience. To this end, the industry's knowledge of the people whisper ignorated "three three-thirds", which in turn affirmed the promotion and application of MRP-II in China.
But it is not to ignore, although there are more shortcomings, there are many deficiencies, mainly: (1) Enterprises lack overall planning and application of MRP-II; (2) The wide range is not enough It is basically limited to the manufacturing industry; (3) The scope and function of management is limited to the interior of the company, and all the links in the supply chain have not yet been included in the management range of the enterprise; (4) Some companies should The project does not have a detailed and comprehensive investigation of the software function and supplier's after-sales technical support, resulting in unnecessary waste.
The third stage: maturity period.
The period is from 1997 to the beginning of the next century, its main feature is the introduction of ERP and has become the protagonist; the scope of application is also extended from the manufacturing industry to the second, tertiary industry; and due to continuous practice exploration, application effect It has also been significantly improved, and thus entered the "maturity phase" of the ERP application. The full development of the tertiary industry is a significant sign of modern economic development. The financial industry has long been the core of the modern economy. The information industry is increasingly becoming the leadership of the modern economy. These are objectively requested to have a new management software with a variety of solutions to adapt. Therefore, ERP has become the protagonist of this phase, and its tentacles extend to various industries, especially for financial industries, communications, high-tech industries, retail industry, etc. in the tertiary industry. This makes the application range of ERP greatly expand. For example, Germany's famous ERP Software Supplier SAP has launched a variety of industries. In addition to traditional manufacturing, there are financial industry, high-tech industries, post and telecommunications, energy (electricity, oil and gas, Coal industry, etc.), public utilities, business, and retail, foreign trade industries, news publishing, consulting services, and solutions for industries such as health care industry and hotel hotels.
In addition, with the development of the market economy, the original business management methods of Chinese companies have long been not adapted to the requirements of vigorous competition. Enterprises face an increasingly intense competitive environment, but ERP has been favored by corporate due to more features. It provides investment management, risk analysis, inter-national cross-regional group-type enterprise information integration, profit analysis, sales analysis, market forecast, decision-making information analysis, promotion and distribution, after-sales service and maintenance, comprehensive quality management, transportation Management, human resource management, project management, and the use of Internet to implement MRP-II, such as e-commerce, and enterprises can use these tools to expand their management scope, keep up with the changing market dynamics, participate in the competition of the international market, and get rich s return.
However, there has been a new problem in the new situation, which is mainly manifested in: (1) There is a phenomenon of "wearing new shoes to walk the old road" when implementing the ERP project. Most companies fail to combine the optimization of the business process with the implementation of ERP, resulting in just use the computer that replaces the original manual operation, causing the function of ERP to fully play. (2) The domestic ERP market is not yet mature, and the manufacturers are difficult to norm. For example, in order to achieve its own sales purposes, the company is not responsible for the vendor's truth, whether it is not responsible to reach a contract, resulting in an ending that the future implementation cannot be carried out and the effect is not effective.
However, in any case, the macro environment in my country is increasingly perfect. In the future, the rise and fall of the future will pay more depends on the company's own competitiveness. In this situation, we believe that in the "mature stage", China will have more and more companies will agree with ERP and use it, to achieve both technology and management, and the management level and economic benefits will be greatly improved. .
Above we introduced from the perspective of ERP in my country's application development history. Finally, in order to let everyone have a clearer understanding of the application of ERP in Chinese companies, we will take a look from specific implementation of ERP or will implement ERP, how do they understand the ERP system:
1. That is "upper" type. Refers to the new development of enterprises to manage, adopting "brought-to-mind" attitude, actively study, reference, and timely, when the conditions are mature, they will timely homework. For example, Volkswagen Co., Ltd. starts using SAP R / 3 system in January 1996, has been applying for more than two years, and its long-term impact is still observing statistics. However, a doctor from FAW Volkswagen, Lu Linkui, can be seen: "It turned out that we have calculated a flash-the public's annual insurance book may have to reach 80,000, using advanced management technology, and then calculate the composition of our car costs, active We have developed some kinds of automotive products, and finally produce 35,000 units can realize the guarantee, so we have sold more than 42,000 units in 1997, and 2 billions have been profitable at the end of the year. " 2. Blind optimistic. These companies have blurred the ERP, confused "ERP Software" and "ERP System" concept. They believe that as long as you invest a certain amount of funds to purchase computer hardware and some ERP software, you can solve the problem of the boss of the company. Or is the company's top, catch up the trend, spend money on external packaging. In fact, whether the ERP system is successfully implemented, the key is that enterprises must do five "P" work in the company, that is, Process (Business Process Reconstruction), People (Human Resources and Organization), Practice, Products (Information Support), Partnership (Choose a partner). There is no "5P" to play the foundation, just blindly optimistic, and the company is destined to hidden dangers.
3. Suspected to wait and see. The current ERP software market is generally "a hot", indicating that the company that holds this idea accounts for most. They believe that ERP is an irregular product, has not yet been "transformed" in China. Add it, many companies have been unfavorable in MRP II systems in the horse, making them a question of "ERP is suitable for China".
Therefore, we should also see that although ERP is now in my country, there are still many incorrect attitudes and opinions on the application of ERP applications, which will undoubtedly affect a large extent. These companies implement ERP effects, and for the further promotion and application of ERP in China, it is also unfavorable. Therefore, in order to adapt to the fierce competition of future globalization, our companies are for ERP, or for advanced management technology and ideas. There should be a comprehensive, awake understanding.
