Robotic arm working on an automated production line

Manufacturing

Connect the shop floor to the business that runs it.

ERP integrated with production, materials and quality data, so plans reflect what the plant can really build and analytics show where time and material are lost.

Explore solutions
  • ERP and production integration
  • Inventory and materials management
  • Planning and operational analytics
  • Quality and process automation
  • Cloud and data modernization
Industry challenges

What gets in the way.

Manufacturers run on two clocks: the business systems that plan and cost production, and the plant-floor systems that record what actually happened. When the two are loosely connected, schedules are built on stale information, shortages appear mid-run, and costs are reconciled after the fact.

  1. An ERP that lags the floor

    Completions, scrap and material consumption entered late or in end-of-shift batches, so inventory and cost figures trail reality.

  2. Shortages found at the line

    Bills of material, lead times and on-hand balances out of step, causing expediting and stoppages alongside excess stock of the wrong items.

  3. Plans built beside the system

    Production schedules prepared in spreadsheets because the system does not reflect true capacity, so the official plan and the real plan drift apart.

  4. Quality recorded on paper

    Inspections, nonconformances and corrective actions captured on forms or in standalone tools, which makes root-cause analysis slow.

How Consult America helps

From the core system to the data around it.

We integrate business systems with production systems so the ERP becomes a dependable record of what the plant built, consumed and shipped, then use that data for planning, quality and operational analytics. We work in Oracle Fusion Cloud SCM and Manufacturing where they fit, and integrate with the execution, equipment and quality systems you already run.

  • Integrate to the floor

    Production, consumption and quality events reach the system of record as they occur.

  • Plan to real capacity

    Planning built on accurate bills of material, routings and lead times, with shortages surfaced before the run starts.

  • Turn operational data into decisions

    Analytics and predictive models that show where throughput, yield and material are being lost.

Solution areas

Where we focus in manufacturing.

Each area is delivered by the same team that designs it, from assessment through production support.

  • ERP and production integration

    ERP connected with shop-floor, equipment and warehouse systems, so work orders, completions and consumption are recorded once and accurately.

    • Oracle Manufacturing work definitions and work orders
    • Interfaces to shop-floor and equipment systems
    • Event-driven updates for completions and scrap
    Related serviceAPI & systems integration

  • Inventory and materials management

    Accurate materials data and deliberate inventory policy, so the right components are on hand without excess stock.

    • Governance for item, bill-of-material and unit-of-measure data
    • Oracle Inventory Management and Cost Management
    • Supplier collaboration for inbound materials
    Related serviceOracle SCM

  • Planning and operational analytics

    Supply and production planning on reliable data, with visibility into throughput, downtime and yield.

    • Oracle Supply Planning and Replenishment Planning
    • Production and inventory performance dashboards
    • Demand forecasting at item and plant level
    Related serviceSupply-chain operations

  • Quality and process automation

    Quality data captured in the flow of work, routine processes automated, and exceptions routed to an owner.

    • Inspection and nonconformance records captured in the workflow
    • Workflow for corrective and preventive actions
    • Automation of repetitive data entry and approvals
    Related serviceProcess automation

  • Cloud and data modernization

    Ageing plant and business applications moved to supported platforms, and operational data consolidated for analysis.

    • Oracle Cloud Infrastructure migration in planned waves
    • An operational data platform for production and quality data
    • Predictive maintenance on sensor and telemetry data
    Related serviceOracle Cloud Infrastructure
Capabilities

Oracle Cloud, AI, data, integration and cloud.

The platforms and practices behind the solution areas, as they apply to manufacturing.

  • Oracle Cloud

    Planning, production and cost.

    • Oracle Fusion Cloud SCM
    • Oracle Manufacturing
    • Inventory and Cost Management
    • Supply Planning

  • AI

    Models that act on plant data.

    • Predictive maintenance from sensor data
    • Demand and material forecasting
    • Anomaly detection on quality and process data
    • Assistants over work instructions and procedures

  • Data

    Plant and business data together.

    • Operational data platform
    • Production, yield and downtime models
    • Automated checks on bills of material and routings
    • Dashboards in Oracle Analytics, Power BI or Tableau

  • Integration

    ERP and floor, in step.

    • Shop-floor and equipment interfaces
    • Event streaming for production events
    • Supplier EDI and portal integration
    • Oracle and non-Oracle ERP connectors

  • Cloud

    Supported, resilient platforms.

    • Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
    • Re-platforming of ageing applications
    • Tested backup and disaster recovery
    • Monitoring and patch currency
Use cases

Practical business use cases.

Examples of the work this involves. They describe the shape of a project, not a named client engagement.

  • Use case 01

    Recording production as it happens

    Integrating shop-floor systems with Oracle work orders so completions, scrap and material consumption post as they happen instead of in end-of-shift batches.

  • Use case 02

    Cleaning up bills of material before planning

    Auditing bills of material, routings and units of measure, assigning data owners and fixing discrepancies so supply planning produces output people can use.

  • Use case 03

    Moving quality records off paper

    Replacing paper quality forms with a workflow that captures inspections and nonconformances at the point of work, linked to the lot and the work order.

  • Use case 04

    Flagging equipment issues before failure

    A predictive maintenance model built on existing sensor data and validated against maintenance history, with alerts routed into the maintenance workflow.

Delivery approach

How an engagement runs.

Strategy, design, build and run, applied to the realities of manufacturing.

  1. Walk the floor first

    We observe how work orders, materials and quality data move today, including the paper and spreadsheets, before designing anything.

  2. Fix master data before planning

    Bills of material, routings, items and lead times are cleansed and owned, because planning cannot be better than the data beneath it.

  3. Pilot one line or product family

    Integration and planning are proven end to end on one line before rolling out across the plant or to other sites.

  4. Measure, then improve

    Throughput, yield and inventory accuracy are tracked after go-live, and the next improvement is chosen from the data.

Perspectives

How we think about this work.

Related services

The services behind this work.

OracleOracle SCMSupply chain on Oracle Cloud: planning, inventory, procurement and order management.EngineeringAPI & systems integrationMaking systems that were never designed to talk to each other exchange data reliably.AI & DataForecasting & machine learningModels that stay in production and keep being retrained, not a notebook that was accurate once.Enterprise TransformationProcess automationRemoving manual steps where it pays, and saying so where it does not.AI & DataData platform & warehousingOne place where the numbers agree, with lineage back to the source.OracleOracle Cloud InfrastructureOCI landing zones, migration and operations, built to your security and compliance requirements.
FAQs

Questions about manufacturing.

Can you integrate with our existing shop-floor systems and equipment?

Yes. We build interfaces between ERP and shop-floor, equipment and quality systems, using APIs, events or files depending on what each system supports, with monitoring on every interface.

Do we have to move to Oracle Cloud to work with you?

No. Our integration, data and automation work applies to Oracle and non-Oracle environments. Where an Oracle Cloud migration is being considered, we assess it against your requirements first.

How do you approach predictive maintenance?

We start with the sensor and maintenance history you already have, set a baseline, and deploy a model only if it clearly improves on it. Alerts are wired into the maintenance workflow so a prediction leads to an action.

Can the work extend across several plants?

Yes. We prove a design on one line or plant first, then roll it out using the same templates, data standards and integrations, adjusted for each site's local requirements.

What happens after go-live?

Managed services cover application support, interface monitoring, release management and continuous improvement, so the link between plant and ERP stays healthy as both change.

Industries

Other industries we serve.

  • Regulated

    Financial Services

    Oracle Financials, a faster close, and reconciliations and controls that stand up to audit.

  • Regulated

    Public Sector

    ERP modernization, budgeting, procurement and grants, and digital services residents can rely on.

  • Operations

    Supply Chain

    Supplier, inventory and order data connected end to end, with analytics that drive the next decision.

  • Commerce

    Retail

    Stores, ecommerce and marketplaces connected, with inventory, customer data and forecasting on one core.

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