ERP is the first proposed by the United States Gartner Group consulting firm, as today's international one of the most advanced enterprise management model, it reflects the world's most advanced enterprise management theory at the same time, but also provides the enterprise information technology. Integration of the best solutions. It unifies the logistics, human flow, capital flow and information flow of the enterprise for management, in order to maximize the use of the existing resources of the enterprise and achieve the maximization of the economic benefits of the enterprise.
It is a new generation of integrated management information system from the development of MRP (Material Resource Planning), which extends the functions of MRP, the core idea is supply chain management, it jumped out of the traditional corporate boundaries, from the supply chain to optimize the resources of the enterprise is based on a new generation of information systems in the era of network economy. It is a new generation of information system based on the era of network economy. its role in improving enterprise business process and enterprise core competitiveness is obvious. erp started to appear in the early 1980s. From the 1990s, the international famous ERP products represented by SAP and Oracle entered China and expanded rapidly. Then, some early ERP products also appeared in China, such as Brocade ERP, Lima ERP, Hejia ERP and Kaisi ERP.
ERP is a huge management information system, to make clear the principle of ERP, we must first of all along the four main stages of ERP development, from the most basic sixties time period type MRP principle.
ERP development stage chart
40s: to solve the inventory control problem, people proposed the order point method, when the computer system has not yet appeared. 60s time period type MRP: with the development of computer systems, making it possible for a short period of time for a large amount of data complex operations, people to solve the defects of the order point method, proposed the MRP theory, as a kind of Inventory ordering plan - MRP (Material Requirements Planning), i.e., Material Requirements Planning stage, or basic MRP stage. 70's Closed-loop MRP: With the deepening of people's understanding and the further popularization of computer systems, the theoretical scope of MRP has also been Developed, in order to solve the procurement, inventory, production, sales management, the development of production capacity demand planning, shop floor operation planning month and procurement operation planning theory, as a production planning and control system - closed-loop MRP stage (Closed-loop MRP). In these two stages, the emergence of the Toyota Production System (Kanban management), TQC (Total Quality Control), JIT (Just-In-Time Production) and CNC machine tools and other supporting technologies. 80's MRP Ⅱ: With the development of computer network technology, the enterprise's internal information has been fully **** enjoyment, MRP's subsystems have been harmonized to form a collection of procurement, inventory, production, sales, finance, engineering technology and other integrated subsystems, such as the production planning and control system - Closed-loop MRP stage (Closed-loop MRP). , engineering technology, etc. as one of the subsystems, the development of MRP Ⅱ theory, as a kind of enterprise operation and production management information system - MRP Ⅱ stage. The representative technology of this stage is CIMS (Computer Integrated Manufacturing System). Into the 90's, with the further intensification of market competition, enterprise competition space and scope of the further expansion of the 80's MRP Ⅱ is mainly oriented to the enterprise internal resources comprehensive planning and management of the idea, and gradually developed into the 90's how to effectively use and manage the overall resource management ideas, ERP (Enterprise Resources Planning enterprise resource planning) and then produced. ERP is by the U.S. Gartner (Gartner Group Inc.) in the early 1990s, the first proposed, when the explanation is based on the development of computer technology and supply and demand chain management, inference of all types of manufacturing in the information age management information system development trends and changes.
The application and development of ERP in China
The introduction of ERP is a matter of considerable concern to many enterprises. Since 1981, the first machine tool factory in Shenyang from the German Engineers Association introduced the first MRPII software, MRPII / ERP application and promotion in China has experienced nearly 20 years from the start, exploration to the maturity of the stormy course. According to incomplete statistics, China now has about 700 enterprises to buy or use this advanced management software. However, the effect of its application is very uneven, the gap between the various enterprises is large. To this end, we need to review the entire process and think about it.
Review of China's MRP-II/ERP application and development process can be roughly divided into three phases:
The first phase: start-up period.
This stage almost throughout the eighties, its main feature is based on the introduction of MRP-II, the implementation and part of the application stage, the scope of its application is limited to the traditional machinery manufacturing industry (mostly machine tool manufacturing, automobile manufacturing and other industries). Due to the constraints of a variety of obstacles, the application of the effect is limited, known as the "three-thirds theory" stage.
In the 1980s, China has just entered the transition phase of the market economy, enterprises to participate in the market competition does not yet have the consciousness or not strong. Enterprise production management problems: machinery manufacturing industry per capita labor productivity is only about one-tenth of the advanced industrial countries; product delivery cycle is long; inventory reserve funds accounted for a large number of low utilization of equipment and so on. In order to improve the backwardness of the situation, China's machinery industry system in some enterprises such as the first machine tool plant in Shenyang, Shenyang Blower Factory, the first machine tool plant in Beijing, the first automobile factory, Guangzhou Peugeot Automobile Company, etc. have introduced MRP-II software from abroad. As a pioneer in the application of MRP-II in China, they have traveled a bumpy and winding road.
First of all, there are technical problems with the management software itself. At that time, the introduction of foreign software is mostly running on large and medium-sized computers, mostly relatively closed special systems, openness, universality is very poor, the equipment is huge, the operation is complex, the system performance is difficult to improve. And foreign software did not complete the localization of the work, and then there is a huge cost, etc., while the lack of appropriate supporting technical support and services; Secondly, there is a lack of MRP-II application and implementation of the problem of experience. Secondly, there is a lack of experience in the application and implementation of MRP-II. Thirdly, there is the problem of ideological awareness of the obstacles. At that time, most of the leaders of the enterprise to this project is not enough attention, just as a simple computer technology. Nevertheless, there are still some enterprises have gained some benefits, such as the first machine tool factory in Beijing, Shenyang Machine Tool Factory and Shenyang Blower Factory; there are also enterprises application is not ideal, for example, Guangzhou Peugeot Automobile Company in the late eighties * * * spent more than 20 million francs from France to introduce the MRP-II system and installed in the two BULL company's DPS7000 Host, the goal is to achieve the company's orders, inventory, production, sales, personnel, financial and other unified management, in order to improve the company's operational efficiency, but the results of the application of the part of the software system is less than one-tenth of the function. Therefore, from an overall point of view, the benefits of the enterprise and the huge investment and the original ambition is far from.
To this end, some people believe that "foreign MRP-II software is not suitable for China's national conditions and factory conditions"; some experts and scholars in the analysis and summary of the application of this paragraph, put forward the "three-third" argument, namely: "foreign MRP-II software can be used one-third, one-third of the modifications can be used, one-third can not be used." This is what has been jokingly called the "three-thirds" stage.
The second stage: the growth period.
This stage is roughly from 1990 to 1996, its main feature is the application of MRP-II/ERP in China and the promotion of better results, from the practical aspects of the previous concept of negation, known as the "three thirds of the rest of the" stage.
The stage of the main actor is still mostly foreign software. With the deepening of reform and opening up, China's economic system has changed from a planned economy to a market economy, the product market situation has changed significantly. This presents a serious challenge to the traditional management. The stage of the management software is still mainly positioned in the MRP-II software promotion and application, but the areas involved have broken through the machinery industry and expanded to aerospace, electronics and home appliances, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other industries. Typical enterprises are Chengdu Aircraft Manufacturing Industry Company, Guangdong Kelong Rongsheng Refrigerator Factory, Shanxi Jingwei Textile Machinery Factory, Shanghai Machine Tool Factory, FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Group and so on. In addition, like the Beijing First Machine Tool Factory, Shenyang Machine Tool Factory, Shenyang Blower Factory and other veteran MRP-II users in the start of the national "863" CIMS (ComputerIntegratedManufacturingSystem Computer Integrated Manufacturing System) focus on engineering, have gained promising returns. For example, the management information system of Beijing First Machine Tool Factory realizes production management as the core, connecting various functional departments such as material supply, production, planning, finance, etc., which can quickly adjust the plan according to the market changes, balance the capacity, and improve the efficiency by more than 30 times, for which it won the "Industrial Leadership Award" granted by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) of the U.S.A. in November 1995; the MRP-II project of Guangdong Kelong Rongsheng Refrigerator Factory, which has been approved by the U.S.A. and the U.S.A. MRP-II project, by the U.S. APICS (American Production and Inventory Control SocietyInc. was created in 1957) experts recognized to reach the level of A-level applications, and so on. In short, the majority of MRP-II users in the application of the system have gained more or less benefit, this is an undeniable fact.
The reason for such achievements, the main reason is: First, the development of computer technology. Such as client/server architecture and computer network technology and the introduction and popularization of software systems in the UNIX minicomputer/workstations and microcomputer platforms and the expansion of the software development trend of universality and openness have made the application of MRP-II to a deeper and wider range of development; Secondly, because Chinese enterprises have entered the stage of institutional change and innovation, and actively innovate Secondly, as Chinese enterprises have entered the stage of institutional transformation and innovation, they actively innovate the enterprise management system and methods, and adopt new management tools to enhance the comprehensive strength of enterprises; thirdly, some foreign software companies have completed the localization work, and their products have made many improvements in the openness and versatility, while China's financial system and market mechanism are also gradually close to internationalization, and then there are some domestic companies that have formed the domestic version of MRP-II software and pushed it to the domestic version of the software after the secondary development and modification of foreign software. Version of the software and put it on the market, so that Chinese enterprises have a wider range of choices; Fourth, after a period of study and exploration, people began to change the concept of practice has accumulated a certain amount of experience. For this reason, the industry has the insight to shout "three one-third rest", and then the stage of MRP-II promotion and application in China to give the affirmation.
But should not be ignored is that, although greater achievements, there are many shortcomings, mainly: (1) enterprises in the selection and application of MRP-II lack of overall planning; (2) the application of the scope of the breadth is not enough, basically confined to the manufacturing industry; (3) the scope of the management and functionality is limited to the enterprise's internal, has not yet been all the links in the supply chain are included in the MRP-II. (3) the scope of management and functionality is limited to the internal enterprise, not yet all the links in the supply chain are included in the scope of enterprise management; (4) some enterprises in the launch of the project did not make a detailed and comprehensive examination of the functions of the software and after-sales technical support for the supplier, resulting in unnecessary waste.
The third stage: maturity.
The period is from 1997 to the beginning of the next century, the entire period, its main feature is the introduction of ERP and become the protagonist; the scope of application from the manufacturing industry to expand to the secondary and tertiary industries; and due to the continuous practice of exploring the application of the effect has been significantly improved, and thus entered the ERP application of the "maturity stage.
The full development of the tertiary sector is a significant sign of modern economic development. The financial industry has long been the core of the modern economy, the information industry has become increasingly dominant in the modern economy, these are objectively required to have a new management software with a variety of solutions to adapt to it. Therefore, ERP has become the protagonist of the stage, and its tentacles to various industries, especially in the tertiary sector of the financial industry, communications, high-tech industries, retailing and so on. Thus, the scope of application of ERP greatly expanded. For example, Germany's leading ERP software provider SAP launched a variety of industry solutions, which, in addition to the traditional manufacturing industry, there is the financial industry, high-tech industries, telecommunications and communications, energy (electricity, oil and gas, coal industry, etc.), public **** business, commercial and retail trade, foreign trade, press and publishing, consulting services, and even in the health care industry and hotels and so on. The company's solutions are available in a wide range of industries, including healthcare and hotels.
In addition, with the development of the market economy, the original management style of Chinese enterprises has not been adapted to the requirements of fierce competition. Enterprises are faced with an increasingly competitive environment, ERP has more features and gradually favored by enterprises. It can provide enterprises with investment management, risk analysis, cross-country and cross-regional group enterprise information integration, profitability analysis, sales analysis, market forecasting, decision-making information analysis, promotion and distribution, after-sales service and maintenance, total quality management, transportation management, human resource management, project management, and the use of Internet to achieve e-commerce and other MRP-II Not have the function, the enterprise can use these tools to expand the scope of management, keep up with the rapidly changing market dynamics, participate in the international market competition, and get a good return.
However, in the new situation and the emergence of new problems, which are mainly manifested in: (1) enterprises in the implementation of the ERP project there is a "new shoes to walk the old road" phenomenon. Most companies have failed to optimize and restructure business processes and the implementation of ERP effectively combined, resulting in just a computer instead of the original manual operation of the situation, resulting in the ERP function is difficult to fully play. (2) the domestic ERP market is still immature, it is difficult to regulate the behavior of vendors. For example, individual companies in order to achieve their sales objectives, regardless of whether their products are suitable for the seller's reality, irresponsible to reach a contract, resulting in the implementation of the back of the work can not be carried out and the poor results of the end.
But, in any case, at present, China's macro-environment is becoming more and more perfect, and in the future the rise and fall of enterprises will depend more on their own competitive ability. In this situation, we believe that in the "maturity stage", China will have more and more enterprises will identify with ERP and use it to realize the technology and management of both wheels, the management level of enterprises and economic benefits will be greatly improved.