ThoughtFocus keeps you as lean as you can be with solutions for embedded technologies, cloud, enterprise modernization, and everything else.
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Crucial to every manufacturing value chain, Bills of Materials (BOM) involve complex processes, large volumes of data, and broad, cross-disciplinary team engagement. But too often BOM inaccuracies are the source of supply chain delays, productivity losses at stores and warehouses, operational losses due to idle production time, and revenue losses due to delays. For lean manufacturing and operations teams these challenges can be especially devastating. Warning signs from BOM-related problems can also include:
- Persistent supply chain delays
- Errors caused by data inaccuracies
- Manual processes and communications
- Production idle times
- Loss of productivity at stores and warehouses
To improve the performance of BOM-related processes, ThoughtFocus examines core processes and data with a thorough KPI-driven approach. Your ThoughtFocus team will take a deep dive into the current state of BOM and its outcomes to identify and prioritize productivity barriers and sources of your cost inefficiencies. This will form the basis of a BOM improvement plan that will be the best fit for your manufacturing environment.
BOM challenges scale upward as your operations grow, especially when product companies are working with distributed teams and supply chain partners. The more complete your Bill of Materials, the easier it becomes to make better decisions so you can plan, procure, test, ramp, and launch new products with confidence and accuracy.
ThoughtFocus examines every BOM engagement with a set of standards and principles derived from deep experience in manufacturing environments. ThoughtFocus improves BOM performance with these and other steps, informed and perfected through countless client engagements:
- Streamlining access to BOMs through data capture and integration, providing the right people with early visibility to BOM information. With more lead time, supply chains can make great strides in flexibility and efficiency
- Identifying integration points for enterprise systems connected to BOM management and eliminating data entry redundancies and errors, so BOM data is accurately captured, synchronized, tracked, and reported
- Increasing tracking and traceability of BOM components so errors that would otherwise cause delays or inefficiencies can be avoided, or quickly diagnosed and resolved
- Maintaining completeness of BOM data using clearly defined BOM qualification parameters. This minimizes risks due to data omissions
- Integrating BOM processes with consistency and singularity across all engaged teams and disciplines so those who work on the BOM can easily share data
- Establishing a single source of truth by implementing an item master with complete, detailed, and consistently structured part information that is centrally managed and dynamically fed to the BOM. This ensures processes are executed and decisions are made with accurate and up-to-date data and reduces duplication of effort
- Performing intelligent analytics maximize the value of BOM processes and data. When data is accurate, fully integrated, and visible from a single source of truth, BOM data can be mined with analytics tools powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning to yield visualizations and predictive analytics. Those insights can drive quantum improvements in manufacturing efficiencies as well as a continuing stream of optimizations throughout BOM lifecycles
- Improving accuracy by gathering data directly from sources and eliminating data entry steps at every opportunity. This includes extracting metadata directly from CAD, for example, and using OCR and other scanning technologies for automated data capture of components, products, and packaging at the source
A detailed and accurate BOM is critical to successful manufacturing resource management. With ThoughtFocus, BOM production will be better controlled, and operations teams will be better equipped to make decisions that will drive maximum efficiency throughout product lifecycles.
In the Aerospace industry where safety can be a matter of life and death, ThoughtFocus has provided independent verification and validation solutions for 16 years, enabling compliance with government laws and regulations, and fulfilling critical safety requirements. From critical engine control systems that allow crew and passengers to travel in safety, to in-flight entertainment systems that improve the traveler experience, ThoughtFocus engineers have provided the compliance necessary to keep high-value engineering projects moving forward on schedule.
Milestones achieved by the ThoughtFocus validation and verification teams include:
- More than half a million hours of testing experience
- 99.9% on time delivery for verification and validation solutions
ThoughtFocus combines automation and every required effort to verify and validate your systems and offers access to premier aerospace engineering talent with all the experience and certifications needed for a successful outcome.
When projects fail, the entire verification and validation process must be repeated – a process that is typically three times longer than many development projects. Failure is truly not an option for the industry. ThoughtFocus has an impeccable record of achieving successful audit completion on the first attempt.
To achieve this, pre-audit readiness measures become especially important. These include carefully structured program management and thorough program planning. This is also why Verification and Validation solutions include integrated review teams of key client and ThoughtFocus professionals, and why technical support for audits is provided 24x7.
Experience teaches that audit processes must be designed and conducted with sensitivity to individual regulatory, design, and production environments – as well as the culture of the client company. ThoughtFocus becomes an extension of the client’s team, representing their way of doing business with customers and partners, providing scalability, and expanded capability at lower cost, without sacrificing work quality or project schedules.
Thoughtfocus Industry Certifications
Thoughtfocus has achieved certifications that ensure the highest degree of controls on quality, security, business continuity, and regulatory compliance, including:
- ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems
- AS9100 Revision D, Aerospace Quality Management System
Thoughtfocus also incorporates best practices from:
- PMI, the Project Management Institute
- Capability Maturity Model Integration, the CMMI Institute
- Lean Six Sigma
Thoughtfocus Verification and Validation solutions:
- Failure Mode Effects Detection and Accommodation for Roll Royce Engine Control Software
- Central Aircraft Interface Maintenance System of Engine Vibration Monitoring Unit
- Auto Pilot System
- Engine Interface Unit
- Cabin Pressure Control Systems
- Engine Interface Power Management System
- Integration & Testing
- Reverse Engineering Prototyping
- Engine, APU and MLGB Fire Protection System (IMA and federated)
- Control Laws Support Software (CLSS) - Interface between hardware and engine control laws software as well as scheduler - for Low-cost Turbine Engine Control (ALTEC)
- Fuel Quantity Management System
- Fire Protection System including boot loader
- Cargo Smoke Detection system
- Tire Pressure Monitoring Unit
- Fly-by-Wire Power converter
- Air Data Computer Systems
- Engine Interface Power Management Systems
- Cabin Pressure Control Systems
- Standby Primary Flight Display Unit
- Engine Interface Unit (EIU)
A well-managed, continuously updated catalog of product information will drive more efficient e-Commerce and product development projects, while delivering a high-quality user experience through every channel of engagement. Catalog Management is a critical solution for every product seller, distributor, and buyer. ThoughtFocus catalog management solutions provide:
- Central repository of all desired product information
- Ability to automatically index and classify products along any relevant set of categories
- Effortless access to product information for an unlimited range of users
- Integration of product documentation, including data sheets and visualizations designed for any specific end user
- Visualization of every image, including drawings, models, and other visualizations
ThoughtFocus catalogs have clocked more than $1 billion in sales revenue from nearly 4 million SKUs, nearly 400,000 individual e-catalogs. Our solutions are proven, highly automated, and deliver a great user experience at front and back ends, including full integration of hotspotted visualizations, CAD models, BOMs, and highly automated user consoles.
ThoughtFocus Catalog Management solutions have been provided to many manufacturing customers and contexts in support of initiatives like these:
- Product development: Aftermarket customers have leveraged ThoughtFocus' web technologies to increase B2B sales revenue through online sales with operational transparency. Transactions are conducted with high security by tapping into a wide array of security solutions from ThoughtFocus
- Self-Service portals: For e-Commerce solutions, ThoughtFocus provides flexible backend consoles that load user information and customer-relevant collateral assets. The application of configurable business rules makes admin options intuitive to use, and full integration ensures that transaction-related data flows seamlessly to every necessary system, including ERP, CRM, and BI for advanced analytics
- Enhanced user experience: Gain an edge over the competition and improve customer retention by delivering a best-in-class user experience. ThoughtFocus' user experience design tailors the aftermarket e-Commerce experience for users of every type
- E-catalog creation and maintenance: User satisfaction and retention often depends on order accuracy scores. ThoughtFocus digs deep into engineering data to build product catalogs that offer a full slate of detailed information and to inform the results of context-sensitive product searches. Visualizations too make a huge difference to the user. Visual diagrams of products can be hotspotted so users can quickly find exactly what they’re searching for
- e-Commerce: Accurate product information is assured by capturing engineering data, including product visualizations, and repackaging it for e-Commerce use. A secure transaction engine, seamless data integration to every relevant repository, and a superlative user experience design set ThoughtFocus e-Commerce platforms apart
Other ThoughtFocus Catalog Management benefits:
- Business Insights. Business-critical insights can be captured from on-board analytics or plug ins to third-party analytics applications
- Cloud Migrations. By leveraging cloud technologies for catalog management, vast reductions in IT infrastructure spending can be realized
