OPINIONS FROM ACROSS THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY Modernise your ERP now

Why manufacturers must consider modernising ERP during a downturn.

By Infor ANZ Vice-President and

Managing

Director Jarrod Kinchington.

The perfect storm of pandemic-related disruptions is still a major source of irritation for manufacturers. Those disruptions have been major contributors to the inflation we are now experiencing worldwide. Many believe that inflation will lead us into a recession, and some say it already has.

Modernising the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is usually the biggest lever that companies use to improve organisational performance. ERP is the de facto source of the organisation’s operations. It is the fountainhead of all data and insights that enable analytical insights. However, in an economic downturn, organisations need to balance the benefits of modernisation against the costs. Monolithic and costly ERP implementations are generally not justifiable in a recession. Application leaders have to be strategic and incrementally modernise capabilities with a business-driven approach to optimise value.

Thinking of ERP in terms of broad components, the classic segmentation includes financial management systems (FMS), human capital management (HCM), enterprise asset management (EAM), and supply chain management (SCM). In an ideal environment, any company would like to be at the cutting edge of all these areas. However, under recessionary pressure, leaders can instead take a composable approach to their modernisation roadmap. A two-tier ERP strategy, wherein the Tier 2 ERP tackles the manufacturing-related challenges, keeping the finance-centric Tier 1 ERP intact, can be a judicious choice for stakeholders — delivering an expedited time to value at lower cost and risk.

Growing popularity of two-tier ERP systems

In today’s environment, most manufacturers are dealing with a major reconfiguration of the supply chain, with reshoring and near-shoring of manufacturing facilities. Consolidation through acquisitions is likely to accelerate during the downturn. In addition, most organisations will be dealing with multi-vendor enterprise systems throughout their operations. With a two-tier ERP strategy, businesses don’t need to view their headquarters and other sites as a collective whole. Instead, they can consider the needs of each location, along with the organisational operational requirements, to choose the best systems capable of easily working together to meet their diverse needs.

This course of action is particularly important when, for example, a large company acquires multiple organisations. To avoid supporting inherited legacy ERP systems, whilst also not disrupting the company’s core ERP system, the best course of action is a twotier ERP approach. This action allows manufacturing operations or disparate entities, departments, or subsidiaries to be on the same second-tier ERP, while corporate ERP remains with the same finance-centric ERP system.

In today’s climate of diversification and exploring new market opportunities, organisations could be supporting a business unit that operates in an industry outside of its core business model. In such a case, the organisation’s existing ERP system probably lacks certain capabilities central to effectively managing the new business unit. An ERP system with specific industry capabilities can help bridge processes and workflows between the two entities. While it is natural to focus on the cost-saving advantages of two-tier ERP implementation in a downturn, the advantages go far beyond cost savings:

• A two-tier solution allows subsidiaries to take more control of their enterprise system, deploying quickly and cost-effectively since the time to implement and time to value are much shorter — a competitive advantage during an economic slowdown.

• Subsidiaries of large multi-national corporations (MNCs) are subject to different competitive forces, with organisations continually adapting to new threats and opportunities. The two-tier strategy will allow subsidiaries to easily respond to local challenges.

• Ability to codify or automate a business process that powers competitive differentiation and let the ERP form adapt to organisational functions rather than the other way round. Organisations can adopt and adjust at will the business processes and workflows they consider the “secret sauce” of their business strategy.

• An opportunity to benefit from the comprehensive functionality and scalability provided by larger ERP solutions, while also taking advantage of industry-specific capabilities.

• Selecting an industry-specific and manufacturing-centric second-tier solution allows the automation of productionlevel workflows, parts sourcing, inventory management, and production processes to be optimised.

Selecting the right ERP solution for a two-tier strategy

Of course, not every ERP solution is well suited to all manufacturing sectors’ requirements for a two-tier ERP system. Manufacturers should look for a two-tier ERP solution that can deliver comprehensive functionality, flexibility, and a low total cost of ownership. Cloud-based ERP software offers significant benefits over software deployed on-premises. With the right cloud-based solution, an ERP system can be implemented quickly and easily integrated with existing systems.

In this time of uncertainty, companies should plan beyond surviving the recession and focus on strategies to thrive afterward. Every recession widens the performance gap between winners and losers. Now is not the time to neglect digital transformation, but to become more astute in investment in initiatives that generate more value for a lower cost. infor.com/en-au

USA: Mathematicians have found the elusive ‘vampire Einstein’ shape

world. The water production of EWA is from 25 to 40 l/ day in the hottest and driest climate on Earth.

Researchers have discovered a new 14-sided shape called the Spectre that can be used to tile a surface without ever creating a repeating pattern, ending a decades' long mathematical hunt. Only in March 2023, a retired printing technician named David Smith stumbled upon a remarkable discovery in the world of mathematics. He found a 13-sided shape that could completely tile a surface without ever repeating. The shape, nicknamed “the hat” for its vaguely fedora-like shape was the culmination of decades of hunting by mathematicians around the world. Since 1961 mathematicians had wondered if such a shape could exist. At first, mathematicians found a set of 20,426 shapes that could tile together while creating a pattern that never repeats (in contrast to the tiles on a kitchen floor, which do create a repeating pattern). Eventually, mathematicians found a set of 104 shapes that could create such a never-repeating tiling. Then in the 1970's physicist and Nobel prize winner Roger Penrose found a pair of shapes that together created anon-repeating tiling. And for decades since, mathematicians continued to wonder if the same trick could be done with only a single shape. That semimythical shape, known formally as an aperiodic monotile, came to be known as “the einstein,” which means “one stone” in German. Now, however, Smith and his colleagues have laid those objections to rest: they've found a shape that can tile a surface without repeating or being flipped. They described the new shape in a paper published to the preprint database arXiv, though it has not yet been peer reviewed. To find the ghostly shape, the team started with the original “hat” shape and added an extra side to it. That new shape still required its mirror image to fully tile, but the researchers discovered that by transforming the 14-sided shape's straight edges into curved ones, they could dispense with mirror images and work with just the one shape.

Livescience.com

Czech Republic: Pulling pure water out of the air during a period of intense drought

What do you do when there’s literally no water anywhere. You pull it out of the air.

The device was aptly named SAWER, Solar Air Water Earth Resource. The entire research, development and implementation of the research prototype were carried out at the CTU UCEEB at Bustehrad in the Bohemian region of the Czech Republic. Then a research prototype was manufactured and tested in the UAE. The tests proved the efficiency of the system, even its possibility of autonomous operation when powered by electricity also from solar panels. Efforts in 2021 were between CTU UCEEB and KARBOX, a member of the major CSG holding company in the Czech Republic. The joint effort was crowned by a grant project to produce a commercial prototype, both in size for the ISO 1C container and in a small mobile version, named EWA - Emergency Water from Air. Targets of interest for commercial solutions are the military, research teams and anyone facing water shortages in some areas of the

The devices have been tested in the laboratories of the CTU UCEEB and then took up the invitation from the Czech Embassy and the Czechrade Representation in Australia to bring the EWA mobile devices to Australia. “Testing in the field has shown us model results with tests under real climatic conditions. Furthermore, we gained significant experience on water issues in Australia, living in Australia outside of major cities and established potential business contracts,” said a CTU researcher. Both SAWER and EWA are totally unique devices worldwide due to their ability to extract water from very hot and dry air. The global uniqueness is confirmed by patent protection across the world. Czech Technical University

Australia: Skyscrapers send stress to new heights

New research from Bond University reveals that high-density urban environments, such as skyscrapers, increase people's stress levels and heart rates. In contrast, quieter and lower density areas promote relaxation, creativity, and reduced negative mood. The study suggests that urban planners and developers should consider the impact of design on human well-being. By understanding how environments affect people's health and emotions, cities can be designed to improve residents' quality of life and enhance the longterm value of projects.

No wonder New Yorkers have a reputation for being angry – all those skyscrapers could be stressing them out. New research from Bond University in Australia has found concrete jungles make our hearts beat faster, while quiet streets can boost creativity. The study by Assistant Professor of Psychology Oliver Baumann and Briana Brooks-Cederqvist measured people’s physical reactions to urban environments by tracking their heart rate and brain frequency. They used portable heart monitors and EEGs to track the responses of the same people in two different locations on the Gold Coast, known for its towering beachside skyscrapers. Combined with a questionnaire about how participants felt in each location, Dr Baumann found they felt significantly more stressed in higher density areas. “Previous studies of how people respond to urban environments have relied largely on self-reporting by the participants, and that always leaves room for potential internal biases,” he said. “Having this physical evidence alongside the questionnaires meant we could clearly see the impact that the different environments were having on people’s stress and comfort levels in an objective way.”

In lower density areas their subjective feelings of comfort were increased, negative mood was decreased, and their heart rates were reduced, showing they were more relaxed. In addition, their EEG brain activity was indicative of a more contemplative and creative state of mind. “There are a couple of possible explanations for this,” Dr Baumann said. “In more closely built or condensed areas, people can perceive them as more dangerous because there is less open space and more traffic which can increase their vigilance and fear response,” he said. “In a more open area, these feelings are reduced, and that’s what we saw in the brain activity measures.”

Dr Baumann said he hoped the study would provide evidence and opportunities for urban planners and residential community developers to embrace human-centred design.

Bond University

USA: Brain implants developed by Elon Musk's company Neuralink have been approved for human testing

Neuralink aims to use its brain-computer interface (BCI) technology to restore movement in people with quadriplegia, meaning complete or partial paralysis of the arms, legs and trunk. Musk has also said that the brain implants could be used to restore sight in blind people. Neurons, or nerve cells, communicate via electrical signals to coordinate our thoughts, feelings and behavior. Neuralink's implants, which have only been tested in animals, would theoretically work by interpreting these electrical signals and transmitting the decoded information to a computer via Bluetooth. In the case of helping to restore movement, for example, the computer would then analyse the incoming information and respond by sending signals back to the body, stimulating nerves and muscles to control movement.

The implant is inserted into a small hole in the skull created by a surgery-performing robot and the implant's electrodes are then embedded just a few millimetres into the cortex, the brain's outer layer. Musk also added the procedure can be done in half an hour, without general anesthesia.

Livescience.com

USA: InGaAs Scientific SWIR Camera for ultra-low light level sensitivity

The 1280scicam SWIR camera manufactured by Princeton Infrared Technologies allows for the longest integration times for ultra-low light level sensitivity at megapixel resolution in the SWIR. This lattice matched InGaAs camera allows for high resolution SWIR imaging at 1280x1024 with high frame rates >93 frames per second (fps) at full frame size. The small pitch array, 12μm, combined with the high quantum efficiency of lattice matched InGaAs arrays enables impressive imaging in the SWIR and visible spectral bands. It is the SWIR camera of choice for applications such as low signal photon emission systems, semiconductor inspection, high speed machine vision, astronomy and telescopes, atmospheric imaging, chemical detection, thermal imaging, surveillance (day/night) imaging as well as art infrared reflectometry.

The 1280scicam SWIR camera has the capability of four setpoints, 20°C (no cooling), 0°C (fan cooling), -40°C, or -60°C (water cooled) using a four stage TEC integrated in a vacuum-sealed package. This advanced digital focal plane array (PIRT1280A1-12) offers 14bit digital output with a low read noise of <90e- with no image lag. This combined with low dark current InGaAs and four stage TEC will enable high sensitivity imaging with very long integration times, under two minutes. The camera utilises a medium based Camera Link™ to allow for fast, full frame rate imaging >93 frames per second at 1280x1024 at 14-bits.

The InGaAs detector provides high quantum efficiency response in the shortwave infrared as well as in the visible wavelength range, from 0.4μm to 1.7μm. This powerful camera system integrates to most frame grabber cards and delivers excellent performance in high-speed machine vision applications as well as microscopy where the small pitch long integration time is advantageous. Standard lens adapters are available for easy microscope and telescope integration.

Princeton

Australia: Flexible gold sensor unlocks new generation of medical implants

A thin, flexible gold sensor engineered at The University of Queensland (UQ) has the potential to unlock the next generation of implantable medical devices. Using a brand-new engineering method, researchers at UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) were able to produce a small film-like sensor that is both flexible and sensitive enough to enable a more streamlined future for electronic medical implants and real-time sensing applications. The intricate approach used by Dr Mostafa Kamal Masud and PhD candidate Aditya Ashok represents a breakthrough in the field of flexible nanoarchitecture and, ultimately, suggests a new way to miniaturise and improve medical devices for diagnostics, biological sensing, and neurological exploration.

“Although modern implanted electronics have developed rapidly over the past 60 years, most commercially available devices are still built on relatively similar – and limiting - design concepts such as thick ceramic or titanium packaging,” said Dr Masud. “We are offering a new route toward miniaturised, flexible, implanted medical devices that will diagnose and treat chronic diseases and help improve the lives of millions of people.” The film-like sensor designed by Dr Masud and Mr Ashok represents a novel approach to the field of mesoporous materials, which are highly porous substances with traits that benefit diagnostics, catalysis, and drug delivery.

Using a novel hybrid fabrication process under the guidance of senior AIBN group leader Professor Yusuke Yamauchi, Dr Masud and Mr Ashok were able to synthesise a mesoporous gold film that acts as an electrode for biosensing and bioimplant applications. The flexibility and sensitivity of the gold film make it an ideal wearable system for real-time monitoring of body glucose, while Dr Masud said there was strong potential for implanted nerve recording applications. “The demand for a simple and robust fabrication process with this kind of flexible electronics is enormous,” Dr Masud said.

“Our aim here is to see this sensor embedded in wearable devices – but the potential and possibilities in this field are vast. We’re going to be exploring more in our coming projects.”

Dr Masud and Mr Ashok acknowledge Dr Hoang-Phuong Phan from the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of New South Wales as a key collaborator in their broader work.