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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Supply chain | Supply Chain Management, Commerce / Lean vs Discrete Manuf...
Supply chain | Supply Chain Management, Commerce
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Lean vs Discrete Manufacturing Feature Comparison

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Posted on by FSS

Does anyone have a list of features/requirements that should be considered when deciding to use lean vs discrete manufacturing in D365?

Both have ways to configure flows, both can have IOT add-ins, both SHOULD be built on value added activities on the floor.  

When I think of lean vs discrete, I think of needs around costing and visibility to variances.   I think of capacity management, I think about the work to manage production orders..  I look to see if there is truly PULL or are they simply pushing to "supermarkets".. 

I'm curious to see what others are considering when deciding which tool to use.  It would be great if there was a list of features for each and indicate what one approach can provide that the other can't (or at least not without a significant amount of work).

Thoughts?

  • MarcRohde Profile Picture
    MarcRohde 312 User Group Leader on at
    RE: Lean vs Discrete Manufacturing Feature Comparison

    This is a good description and I would add, you can run mixed mode.  We are currently running discreet and doing a POC with lean for specific areas of our plant.

    The biggest concept our group has needed to push is that lean processes need to be static by their nature. Flows are created with one set of parts and changing parts is more challenging because you can't just select an alternate BOM. The other thing is you get one input and one output per resource. When we have supply feeding two upstream areas we have found we need to have two resources.

    You also don't really have a great way to do variance analysis because you aren't tracking labor and all material is consumed per bin transaction -- so you will never have material or labor variances. This isn't bad if you are running a lean operation, following standard work, and using tools like hour-by-hour boards to manage production.

    As we do our POC we are focused in on areas that are a great fit for lean, like sub-assemblies that have no alternate BOMs rather than the areas that aren't a clear fit.

    I would say the other area I struggle with in F&O related to Kanbans it really doesn't seem to support Kanbans as a material replenishment strategy. In other ERP systems, I have used Kanbans to pull material into a line from bulk inventory as well as triggers with suppliers. So far these seem to be limitations of F&Os approach to Kanban. We will work around it using a PO strategy to trigger resupply (POs as Kanban cards) and warehouse replenishment but it would be better (especially for internal replenishment) to be able to make the process more visual.

    I would love feedback if my comments are misunderstandings and I'm just not understanding the process well.

  • Suggested answer
    Hana Xue Profile Picture
    Hana Xue Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Lean vs Discrete Manufacturing Feature Comparison

    Hi,

    Lean is more of a management concept, lean production is value oriented in a way that actions that don't create value are removed and actions that create value take place in a continuous flow of customer pull.

    In discrete manufacturing, products are comprised of components that can be touched, and counted parts can be broken down & disposed-off or recycled after production assembles in a linear or routing way. Discrete = ROUTE + BOM. Discrete manufacturing would be something where all components are fairly fixed, i.e. making a chair.

    For the characteristics of lean production and discrete manufacturing you can check the following articles.

    Discrete manufacturing - Training | Microsoft Learn

    Lean manufacturing - Training | Microsoft Learn

    Best Regards,

    Hana

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