Collaboration Synergies is a leading advisor on business process management and business process modeling in manufacturing companies. We have hands on experience in process mapping, and process management as used in today’s manufacturing value chains. This includes applying business processes to support single plant operations, plant-to-plant linkages, and full scale company-to-company collaborative enterprise value chains. CSI subscribes to and supports modern tool usage such as business process modeling systems (BPMS). We are a member of the Business Process Management Group, an international association of practioners and advisors.

Business Process Management (BPM) is a rapidly growing technology application idea with great potential for operational improvement and cost savings within manufacturing enterprises and their value chains. If you are like most companies the new ERP system is firmly in place and the CRM, PLM, and supply chain applications are on line. With all the newest technology firmly in place there are still some operational capabilities missing.

1. Major information system applications are still islands of information leaving obvious gaps that prevent full information exchange.

2. The promise of collaboration between entities (departments and/or companies) seems impossible due to wide systems disparity and the high cost of programming required to make changes.

3. Functional information interoperability as seen from the managerial perspective is still frustratingly lacking.

BPM is aimed at bringing cross functional effectiveness to the organization by bridging gaps between islands of information and filling the voids between your existing processes. A few examples of BPM will include:

• Adding functionality to existing business systems such as CRM, ERP, MES, WMS, etc
  * It may be less expensive to extend an older ERP or MES system using BPM than to install
    new or reprogramming the existing software.
  
  
• Link business systems to aggregate data and processes.
  * Build processes between systems acquired through acquisition to provide a full view of   operational information.
  * Connect the MES systems within a value chain or an extended enterprise to support
     where-to-build strategies.
  
  
• Link a number of systems to provide and support new processes.
  * Build a process to provide demand driven schedule data across a value chain.
  * Connect the manufacturing execution systems to the planning and scheduling system
  * Develop a process that allows certain CRM users to view and exchange data with the
    warehouse management and the manufacturing scheduling systems
  
  
• Design, build, simulate, and finalize new stand alone business processes using data from any source.

Modern BPM system tools greatly reduce or eliminate the programming time and effort to make changes. Demonstrated proof of concept can often be done in less than a week.

Our approach is based on many years of experience in managing manufacturing companies. We have a process that identifies opportunities and ensures your project is tied to business goals and strategies. Please review the section on services and/or call to discuss your interests.