Chicago —Oracle Corp. announced a new capability in Oracle Flow Manufacturing that automates and streamlines sequencing processes, allowing companies to quickly optimize the order of assembly items to be built on a production line for increased productivity and efficiency.

Oracle Flow Manufacturing is a comprehensive application that supports flow techniques to reduce product cycle times, minimize inventories and improve product quality. The new sequencing feature supports critical sequencing requirements including: forward/backward sequencing, prioritized constraints, dynamic re-sequencing, component sequencing, and pre-sequencing stock checks. Additionally, the program helps manufacturers manage spacing, grouping, required transition, forbidden transition and N/P.

In a flow manufacturing environment, multiple constraints exist in production lines that determine efficient and inefficient sequences. For example, a machine can have a desired setup changeover sequence or a machine might process certain items in a batch. If the sequencing order or batching for these items is not met, a company risks increased costs and poor productivity. In each case, the goal of sequencing is to determine the optimal sequence for assembling a product, given multiple demands and constraints over a set of production lines.

Says Ken Rice, manufacturing engineering manager at Indiana Mills & Manufacturing, Inc., "IMMI has been protecting people for more than 40 years with our commercial and child restraint systems…We have multiple constraints that affect how products are manufactured. Oracle's new sequencing feature will help us select the best building assembly sequence to maximize resource utilization during the manufacturing process…."