Finance Pro+ Production Management lest you optimize resource use to increase the flow of production.

Many businesses have invested large sums in Production Management (MRP II, ERP) and have little to show for it If we measure a system's success by its ability to increase profit, it is easy to understand why we find such a high failure rate in this type of technology. While these systems are very attractive in theory, in reality they are complex, require long batch calculations and do not readily accept the variables found in real-life factory situations: sickness, equipment breakdown, supplier delay. The Finance Pro+ Production Management module is based on Theory of Constraints (TOC) which focuses on balancing throughput (and not capacity) by managing the Capacity Constraining Resources (CCRs) or bottlenecks in factories, since these are what really determine the real production output.

Theory of Constraints simplifies production management by using the principle: «Drum - Buffer - Rope».

Every loss of time due to a bottleneck is a loss of time for the whole system, and, in the same way, any time saved on a non- CCR resource (a non-bottleneck) is an illusion. It is therefore important to adequately follow all activity flowing through a bottleneck and to ensure that all bottlenecks are fed without creating tracking problems in the factory. In order to do this, Finance Pro+ uses the Drum- Buffer-Rope technique:

• Drum: the bottlenecks determine the pace of factory throughput
• Buffer: safety-stock upstream of the bottleneck which guards against stoppages and ensures that the bottleneck always has enough work on hand.
• Rope: Using a "pull" strategy, the necessary raw materials are requisitioned as they enter the bottleneck.

Finance Pro+ Production Management interfaces with the Costing module which designs configuration and routing for product production. A production schedule is developed according to client and materials needs. Based on this schedule, manufacturing orders are created and released solely as requested by the "buffer." This avoids high work-inprogress costs. Use of bar codes in the factory allows for tracking the status of each MO and ensures that the bottlenecks are maximized in order to optimize the overall pace of factory production.