Characteristics of Project Management in Manufacturing Industry and Software Support Platform Mofang Network Table

The intense competition in the global manufacturing industry and the reshaping of supply chains have led to domestic demand and export growth in China's manufacturing industry falling short of expectations. At the same time, consumer demand is constantly changing, with a surge in personalized needs and shorter update cycles, presenting new challenges for China's manufacturing industry. In this context, the traditional MTS (Make-To-Stock) inventory-based manufacturing model is no longer suitable, and issues such as inventory risk and forecasting risk have become a Damocles sword hanging over manufacturing enterprises.

As a result, the MTO (Make-To-Order) order-based manufacturing model has been recognized and adopted by more domestic manufacturing enterprises due to its high responsiveness, low inventory characteristics, and flexible switching.

In the MTO model, orders can be regarded as independent projects, but manufacturing enterprises often face situations where multiple projects are carried out simultaneously, involving centralized management and coordination of multiple related projects. This includes resource coordination between different projects, such as human resources, materials, production time, and scheduling. This necessitates the introduction of a project portfolio (characteristics of project portfolios: multiple projects running simultaneously, multiple projects with interconnections) management approach, which raises higher requirements for production management in manufacturing enterprises.

The MTS model is equivalent to single project management, where manufacturing enterprises can manage production effectively through traditional ERP systems. However, when upgrading to the MTO production model and introducing project portfolio management, they face challenges such as an increase in product categories, significant and frequent demand fluctuations, and the complexity of production processes with an increase in temporary projects. Traditional ERP systems struggle to perfectly resolve conflict management and coordination for multiple projects, making it difficult to keep up with the project portfolio management approach. Since the old system is not effective, if enterprises wish to develop a new customized system, they first face high initial development costs, ongoing costs for added functionalities and daily maintenance, and significant time consumption. In this dilemma, manufacturing enterprises urgently need a suitable solution.

Mofang Web Table provides a unique solution to meet the new needs of project portfolio management for manufacturing enterprises. Mofang Web Table is a configurable software platform that empowers users to flexibly build personalized usage scenarios and quickly adjust according to market and enterprise changes. This platform is fully applicable to the multi-project coordination management of the MTO production model, enhancing the production delivery capabilities of manufacturing enterprises through digital power, controlling overall product quality, and creating unique core competitiveness.

Advantages of the MTO project portfolio management system based on Mofang Web Table

Flexible customization of order production plans and piecework rules: In the MTO model, multiple projects run in parallel, requiring different processes and raw materials. Enterprises can use the rich configuration modules built into Mofang Web Table to formulate order plans that meet their needs and customize piecework rules, allowing production costs and profits to be accurately reflected.

Flexible production processes, achieving process standardization and automation: Changes and additions to orders under the project portfolio management approach are difficult to predict. Mofang Web Table provides flexible production processes, allowing enterprises to conveniently plan and adjust production tasks based on real-time changes in orders and the continuous addition of orders. The modularization of processes enables automated adjustments of business processes while automatically reminding relevant personnel to ensure orderly production.

Real-time tracking of production progress and control of product quality: With multiple projects running in parallel, controlling production progress and product quality is particularly important. Through Mofang Web Table, personnel in manufacturing enterprises can track order production progress in real-time, obtain product records in real-time, and ensure timely delivery of orders while guaranteeing product quality.

Seamless integration with external systems, providing decision support and control capabilities: Project portfolio management is a high-level management approach for enterprise senior managers to deal with strategic projects and multiple organizational projects. Mofang Web Table, with its industry-first "external field group" function, enables seamless integration with various external systems of the enterprise, empowering managers to have real-time control over key information such as personnel, finances, materials, production, supply, and sales, while providing comprehensive statistical analysis and accurate data support for decision-making.

Automated data analysis and raw material procurement forecasting: Demand forecasting for manufacturing enterprises in the MTO model is challenging and requires a certain production cycle, with some inventory needed if necessary. Mofang Web Table provides users with customizable material analysis reports for production management personnel to view as needed, clearly displaying material changes at each stage and automatically generating procurement forecasts, with a one-click function for submitting pre-purchase requests.

Years of persistent research and continuous improvement have allowed Mofang Web Table to have over 150,000 loyal users, including many medium and large manufacturing enterprises both domestically and internationally. Let's take a look at how they achieve production management through Mofang Web Table.

Huawei UAE Representative Office

The Huawei UAE Representative Office uses Mofang Web Table as a development platform to develop a project portfolio management system that supports the MTO production model, taking only one month from demand to launch. The new system comprehensively incorporates base station surveying, design, and material requirements into management, allowing for material aggregation based on base station orders to guide production and transportation plans. After going live, the UAE Representative Office continued to optimize the new system based on the flexible scalability of Mofang Web Table, quickly making functional changes and additions according to actual situations and needs, enabling the new system to fully support all project requirements. The use of the new system not only improved overall work efficiency but also enhanced managers' control over project progress, while the close connection between various links accelerated the project process.

Wade Crane

Wade Crane is a professional manufacturer of non-standard European cranes, typically using the MTO production model, where each order is a project, usually in a multi-project parallel mode. They customized a system application that meets Wade's entire process using Mofang Web Table, and through its unique integration features, they achieved bidirectional synchronization of SAP data to the application, helping various departments track production, shipping, installation, and other data and process progress in real-time, replacing Oracle P6 project management work. The new system significantly improved work efficiency and enhanced managers' overall control over project progress, achieving close cooperation between various processes and accelerating production. After the system went live, Wade continued to utilize the flexible scalability of Mofang Web Table to continuously improve and expand functionalities to adapt to the changing management needs at different stages of enterprise development, greatly supporting Wade's enterprise management innovation needs.