Assignment Task
Analysis of the actual problem
Here in the thesis the main processes to focus are Order entry, Order confirmation and Order fulfillment. Once the order is entered into the system for particular RDD, the system should send the customer an order confirmation. However, with the current logic the system only confirms the sales order which comes under horizon of 7 days and which can be only fulfilled by fixed production orders.
The current as is process consist of the following activities:
The customer orders are coming into the system by various different ways like manual, Edi, Trade place etc. Then system does ATP (Available to promise check) based on all the supply elements like, available stock, stock on transit from factories to central warehouse, already confirmed orders and the fixed production orders. Order Confirmation date is calculated based on this ATP check and communicated to costumers as an order confirmation, but only if the RDD lies in 7 days in future. Otherwise customer has to wait a long and do not even have any confirmation about his order until and unless it comes under the horizon of 7 days and once the RDD comes under the 7 days horizon then Customer gets an order confirmation and if the production got delayed or if there is anything wrong with the logistics department, the customer gets the postponements of one one day, because of the logic of SAP, it does not allows to give order confirmation outside 7 days.
Confidentiality Clause
This master thesis contains confidential data of company BSH Hausgeräte GmbH. This work may only be made available to the first and second reviewers and authorized members of the
board of examiners. Any publication and duplication of this master thesis even in part is prohibited. An inspection of this work by third parties requires the expressed permission of the author and the company BSH Hausgeräte GmbH.
Preface
The project was requested by BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, where I was doing an internship. My thesis question was developed in collaboration with Ms. Daniela Ernst, my supervisor, and Mr. Stefan Marek, Head of the department of GPL-SC5P. The thesis was challenging, but thorough research allowed me to address the topic that we had chosen. Ms. Daniela Ernst and Prof. Dr. Christian Schmiech, my thesis guide from the University of Applied Sciences Hof, were both constantly available to answer my questions. I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors for their guidance and assistance during this process. I would like to express my gratitude to all my colleagues at BSH Hausgeräte GmbH for their excellent collaboration. It was always beneficial to reflect ideas regarding my study with them. Discussions with my friends were also beneficial to me. They kept me motivated if I ever lost interest. I would also like to express a special thanks to my parents. Their insightful advice and kind words have always been valuable to me.
Introduction:
The manufacturing industries face huge transformations nowadays mainly due to the rapid
development in digitalisation. 91% of the industrial companies are investing in creating digital factories all around the world. Leading manufacturing companies are deploying several technologies to digitalise not only their production but their entire supply chain. These technologies include big data analytics, real-time planning and connectivity, digital twinning, and autonomous systems among many others. These technologies are part of a wider revolution known as Industry 4.0, where the factories are expected to evolve into self-running entities by embracing new technologies such as the cloud and the Internet of Things. Out of these technologies reveals that big data, analytics and additive manufacturing are amongst the technologies considered crucial in transforming every step of the supply chain. By adopting and implementing these technologies manufacturers can increase productivity, improve efficiencies, and also increase sustainability. Due to the increased digital networking of machines and processes in manufacturing, more external sensors are installed at production systems to acquire data for production, optimization, and maintenance purposes. As a result of this, the amount of data to be stored and processed is growing every day. This process of extracting valuable insights from data is called data analytics. The applications of data analytics in manufacturing are several. To name a few predictive maintenance, predictive quality, safety analytics, warranty analysis, sales forecasting etc.
On the other hand, the demand planning also has the similar importance because they both go hand in hand. When this both things work well, we can call it the best supply chain. Here in the thesis as well the focus is on planning and production and with the both, the reliable confirmation date would be provided to the customer for a longer horizon.
1.1 Objectives of thesis
The primary objective of this thesis is to provide a customer with an order confirmation date for a longer horizon and then improve the reliability of the order confirmation meaning it should not be changed even if BSH is confirming it even for longer horizon, which results in say the date keep the date.
After the Covid Pandemic Outbreak in recent times for most of the competitors it’s becoming really difficult to deliver the goods on time. Taking the advantage of this opportunity and a value add to the customers, BSH is working on it to make it possible because the Factory of Dillingen which produces Dishwashers is really doing well and mostly not many changes in the planned production. The Pilot project has been launched by BSH for the Brand Neff for the factory of Dillingen and for the Customers in Pool Europe, which consist of Germany and other neighboring countries. In the initial times it would be only applicable to some of the Products as trial-and-error method and if we get positive results, it would be practiced for all the Products produced in the Factory of Dillingen.
The suggestion and improved process are needed for three reasons: (1) To avoid the postponements by one day and every day until the order gets final confirmation and get ready for delivery (2) to get rid of the stocks as early as possible from the factory’s warehouse, which resulting in the factory closure of one day per week and (3) to increase the customer satisfaction.
Therefore, a search was carried out to look for proper confirmation horizon for order confirmation in which the postponements are also less and we are keeping the date, which BSH had promised at the time of sending the confirmation.
BSH Hausgeräte GmbH
2.1 Company overview:
BSH Hausgeräte GmbH is one of the world’s leading companies in the sector and the largest home appliance manufacturer in Europe. To be the first choice for consumers worldwide drives the company and its employees. BSH aspires to continuously improve quality of life at home with its outstanding brands, innovative, sustainable products and top-class digital solutions.
Alongside the global brands Bosch and Siemens, as well as Gaggenau and Neff, the appliance brand portfolio includes the eight brands Solitaire, Thermador, Balay, Profilo, Constructa, Pitsos, Coldex and Junker, each of which maintains a strong local relationship with consumers. In combination with valuable digital services from the ecosystem brand Home Connect and with its service brands like Kitchen Stories and BlueMovement BSH aims to offer consumers personalized and sustainable solutions to improve their everyday lives and make them smile.
Successful all over the world
Founded in 1967 as a joint venture of Robert Bosch GmbH (Stuttgart) and Siemens AG (Munich), BSH has been 100 percent owned by Bosch Group since January 2015.
Over its 55-year history, BSH has grown from a German exporter into one of the world’s leading home appliance manufacturers. The product portfolio ranges from cookers, ovens and extractor hoods, dishwashers, washers and dryers, fridges and freezers to small appliances such as vacuum cleaners, coffee machines or food processors.
Consumer Centricity
The consumers and their needs are at the center of all of BSH’s developments. Therefore, BSH tests prototypes and products in user experience labs, under real-life conditions in all phases of development together with consumers. The results are constantly incorporated into the development of new home appliances and solutions. In this way, BSH can precisely meet the different needs of consumers: innovative and high-class home appliances characterized not only by design, user friendliness and energy efficiency, but also additional digital benefits.
2.2 Vision and Mission:
Purpose
Purpose is our reason for existing, our contribution to the bigger scheme of things, the why! It represents our intrinsic motivation, the mindset that “binds” us all together as a company:
We improve quality of life at home.
The very purpose of BSH comes down to making people smile at home – no matter whether home is in sub-Saharan Africa or Downtown Manhattan.
Vision
Our vision describes what we consider our ultimate objective. All our research data tells us that consumers want to get rid of the chore of household routines – they would actually love it if these chores became enjoyable aspects of daily life. Secondly, it tells us that consumers want perfect results:
We create delightful household experiences with exceptional results.
Mission
Last, but not least, our mission explains how we will reach that very objective. We know that will only succeed as a team – and that we need to commit relentlessly to understanding our consumers. Furthermore, we need to pick up a holistic understanding of sustainability (people, planet, profit) and make it an essential behavioral paradigm:
Together, we grow a sustainable business – economically, environmentally and socially – by relentlessly pursuing consumer-inspired products and services.
As our mission is all about behavior and execution, BSH needs to adapt and concretize on all divisional and departmental levels. Only then, can we bring our purpose to life and, ultimately, make an impact.
Values
Our commonly shared values define the qualities and characteristics we strive for in everything we do: our behaviour and relationships, our organization and processes and our products, services and innovations.(BSH Intranet- 2022)
2.3. Neff(brand name)
NEFF is a brand dedicated to those who love cooking. Since 1877, it has been a mission to develop ideas, which are exactly what enthusiastic cooks are looking for: for example, are ideal for everyone who enjoys creating great food together with family and friends. Cooking with enthusiasm is what shapes our brand – and has done so for more than 140 years.
NEFF has a long, proud heritage, but we have never rested on our laurels. From the very beginning, NEFF has tweaked, innovated and perfected.
A flame was lit and the first roast was cooked in a coal oven from NEFF. That was in 1877, when Carl Neff founded his range and oven plant. But there was something more to the appliances he produced: Carl Neff always endeavoured to make cooking and baking a little bit easier. NEFF continues to do this to this day, creating quality appliances with unique features that revolutionise people’s experience in the kitchen and, in turn, produce generation after generation of cooking enthusiasts.
The ability to anticipate change has always been an important skill for successful entrepreneurs. At the turn of the century, cafés became a new type of public forum, as the bohemians called bourgeois norms into question with their antiestablishment and unorthodox lifestyle. Carl Neff was quick to recognise that confectioners needed better ovens if they were to satisfy the sweet cravings of these customers who regularly frequented cafés as hubs for lively discussion, paving the way for the first patented gas burner for bakeries in 1919.
In the 20s, NEFF manufactured small, space-saving stoves, specially made to fit on the wagons of travellers wandering through the countryside. The enamel was decorated with small, colourful flowers.
In the 40s, NEFF processed sheet metal for airplanes. And it was these very sheets that NEFF later used in Bretten when the company returned to making stoves, some of them for the US Army barracks. Dr Alfred Neff had been running the company on his own since his father’s death in 1940, and not only that, for a time he also served as mayor of the municipality of Bretten. Meanwhile, production experienced steady growth. The plant was destroyed during a bombing raid in 1945 but by the time of the 1948 currency reform, 424 employees were again working in the newly constructed workshops. NEFF was on its way to becoming an international brand.
NEFF’s drive toward revolutionising kitchen appliances continued throughout the post-war era. The new stand-alone stove with enamelled surfaces was the first to be equipped with separately controlled top and bottom heat.
NEFF’s new stand-alone No one could have imagined such a stove development. Out of the rubble of post-war Germany emerged the economic miracle. Between 1950 and 1960, the economy tripled. “Made in Germany” became the mark of quality for export goods.
NEFF was riding this wave of success. The demand both at home and abroad grew exponentially, as did the number of employees. In 1950, NEFF became the first manufacturer to install thermostats in standard ovens, as well as introducing the first appliances with a uniform design in terms of shape, colour, and size. In 1952, the new “Arcus” stove standard ovens became one of the hottest commodities in Europe. Soon the company made the easy transition from stove manufacturer to home appliance manufacturer and introduced refrigerators and washing machines to the market. One of NEFF’s most successful decades was rounded out with numerous developments:
A refrigerator in every home: In the mid-50s, the refrigerator became the symbol of a new zeitgeist, the dawning of the modern era. NEFF expanded its product range accordingly, thereby contributing to a new breakfast and supper culture as refrigerators made cold cuts, cheese platters and fruit yogurt part
The first microwave oven: In 1957, NEFF caused a real stir and simplified cooking by introducing Europe’s first microwave, then known as the “electron oven”
Cooking on a cold burner: In 1958, NEFF introduced another sensation; Europe’s first operational appliance with induction cooking
NEFF stoves and home appliances also travelled. The 60s were a time of almost constant growth for the company, in part because the world finally discovered NEFF. Exports rose steadily as more and more shipments were sent abroad; as far as Ethiopia, Angola, Bolivia, India and Hong Kong.
Plus, as of the early 60s, all NEFF stove types were matched in terms of size and colour. They could also be combined within kitchens and no longer just as stand-alone appliances. NEFF was the first manufacturer to feature built-in ovens, stoves and cooktops integrated within cabinets, thus igniting the explosive success of the built-in kitchen. The size of the oven was also adapted. In 1967, NEFF increased the oven volume in response to the continued growth of exports. While the traditional German roasts and chickens were an easy fit, the old ovens were a bit too small to accommodate the equally traditional turkey in many other countries. From then on, there was room for the Thanksgiving and/or Christmas turkey, which has since found its way into the occasional German oven as well.
In the 70s, Germany was opening up. By 1971, every tenth employee was a foreign national. Many worked at NEFF, arriving from Italy, Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia. What’s more, colour invaded the kitchen. Colourful patterns covered the walls and NEFF set the tone with its new DESIGN LINE for stoves. “Exclusive chestnut brown goes with any kitchen,” read one advertisement.
At the start of the 70s, pioneer Rudolf Wilhelm Begerodas came up with one of NEFF’s greatest success stories: the CircoTherm® convection system. The system came onto the market in 1974, making it possible to cook and bake on several levels at once without intermingling flavors and is a hot trend still going strong today.
The 80s were all about firm bodies and hairdos, made possible by aerobics and hairspray. Munching on a carrot was already considered a meal by many young aerobics fans but at least the carrot was guaranteed to be crisp; in 1989, NEFF launched its first refrigerators with VitaFresh®. In the various zones with their different humidity levels and 0°C temperature, vegetables and lettuce, as well as fish and meat, could be stored for longer without drying out.
There was also the telescopic CLOU® pull-out oven shelf introduced by NEFF in the 80s. Rails on ball bearings let them slide easily and the new linear lights allow cooks to see what they are sliding in and out of the oven.
The past 20 years have seen countless unique features from NEFF to continue to make the kitchen a home for enthusiastic cooks to experiment in:
TwistPad®: The contemporary one-button control with a digital display that is, of course, removable for easy cleaning
FlexInduction cooktops: Not only do they offer the well-known benefits of
induction – namely, heat applied precisely and directly while the burner remains cold – but they also sense the size of the pan used so that no energy is wasted
FullSteam: Combines the heating modes of a conventional oven and steam cooker so that vegetables come out fresh, vitamins are retained and flavours are intensified.
VarioSteam®: Adds moisture to the oven in the form of steam so that roasts, for example, are much juicier. The heart of the system is a sensational NEFF innovation. The dual-pump water system provides a steady supply of fresh water
Slide&Hide®: When an oven is installed in the most practical location – namely, where it can be used without bending over – the door gets in the way. Unless, of course, it’s hidden away, like the Slide & Hide® retractable oven door that simply disappears underneath the oven.
Extractor hoods: Whether ducted or recirculating, extractor hoods from NEFF not only draw steam but also draw admiring looks, thanks to their unique design.
NEFF’s CleanAir recirculating module is also unique, reducing odours by an additional 25%.
In 2018, NEFF took the next step into the future by launching their first Wi-Fi enabled premium kitchen appliance range with Home Connect, making it possible for cooking aficionados to not only manage their oven, fridge, dishwasher and other home appliances with Wi-Fi but to opening them up to an added range of clever functionalities with the Home Connect system.
2020 saw the 2 millionth Slide&Hide® oven run off the production line in Bretten, a location which has been at the heart of NEFF since 1877, producing quality ovens then, now and in the future.
Dillingen Factory( where product is produced)
In 1960, the location in Dillingen was founded by Robert Bosch GmbH. Initially, fuel pumps and later kitchen machines were produced here. Since 1976, BSH Hausgeräte GmbH has been manufacturing dishwashers here for the whole world. In 1999, for example, the world’s first fully automatic dishwasher came from the Dillingen plant.
Functions of the Location:
Development of dishwashers, technology center for dishwashing
Production of dishwashers (Daily production capacity of 11,500 units)
Logistics Center ( Storage up to 1 million units)
Further functions such as purchasing, supply chain, information technology, industrial engineering, quality management, technical product management, business administration
