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Real time process tracking for production lines and job shops – across the supply chain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Prodsmart (Real time process tracking for production lines and job shops – across the supply chain)

Período documentado: 2018-07-01 hasta 2018-12-31

Manufacturing SMEs are an underserved segment that represent 95% of manufacturers and are an integral component of OEM supply chain networks. More than 80% of SMEs do not possess a Manufacturing Execution System (MES), which are computerized systems used in manufacturing, to track and document the transformation of raw materials to finished goods. Without a MES, SMEs rely on paper and spreadsheet-based systems to track their operations, which leads to high processing costs, increased waste, lower productivity and insufficient data and tools to optimize production.

Prodsmart is a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) Manufacturing Execution System solution for real time process tracking for production lines and job shops – across the supply chain. Prodsmart is a complete system for analysis, management and optimization for manufacturing SMEs working in real time. It is a cloud based MES that uses mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) to collect data directly from the production site. Manufacturing execution systems (MES) are computerized systems used in manufacturing, to track and document the transformation of raw materials to finished goods. Prodsmart is the only solution that is a pure MES for manufacturing SMEs.

With our feasibility study, our objective was to ensure that Prodsmart’s services were viable. The feasibility was focused on feedback from customers and working with stakeholders. We have contacted potential partners and clients and expanded our focusing groups to European countries like UK, Italy and Spain as well as the US. Furthermore, we have also proceeded with the assessment of our market, business model and risks of project deployment. It was also important to plan our work schedule for the next two years of Phase 2 project, as well as our business plan. We have also aimed to define our IPR strategy.
The work that has been completed during this period covered by the report is summarized in the following bullets:

We executed a comprehensive market assessment of hypothesis and assumptions combined with an analysis of environmental forces, market trends, competition and market entry obstacles, risks, opportunities and comprising our resources and constraints.
We have identified our end-users key partnerships with potential stakeholders and marketplaces and potential clients, which are essential to analyze the current market trends.
We have established the commercialization of our solution based on two market channels: Inbound and Outbound.
We have positioned ourselves as a project to innovate and completely eliminate paper usage and provide a set of real-time analyzes that enable factories to reduce waste and increase efficiency. Our main goal is a stock-free world, operating through a network of suppliers and consumers connected by just-in-time processes throughout the value chain.
We defined a realistic and attainable work program/plan to ensure that all the objectives are met, focusing our attention on specific technical and commercial obstacles that could present limitations to our market expansion since we want to become future leaders.
Since the launch of our business, we have focused on our customer retention and have always gone the extra mile to listen to our client’s feedback, implement it in the development process and optimize Prodsmart to not only best fit the users and manufacturer’s needs but also provide the high-end experience and functionalities we have designed.
Although we are still in the beginning, our client retention rates and their positive feedback makes us confident that we have adopted an efficient strategy to continuously improve the UX and UI as well as include as many features as the current structure allows us to.
Our clients have reported us the following improvements:
20% gains in efficiency (compared with paper/spreadsheet business as usual)
75% waste reduction (compared with paper/spreadsheet business as usual)
Zero setup time and instant collaboration
Prodsmart ambition is to build a world in which all factories are linked, allowing them to control the production of goods from raw materials to the final consumer, while creating a connected ecosystem of warehouses along the entire production chain. Prodsmart’s mission is to empower production potencies so they can work with a smaller structure, more agile, more productive and more efficient, becoming thus the world's leading specialist in the supply of production management software.

After completing our feasibility report, we concluded that what we comprise to develop, meaning the ultimate goal for our solution, is to demonstrate the capacity of Prodsmart to integrate seamlessly in a supply chain, in order to enable zero-stock manufacturing prompted by eCommerce. One of our major objectives is to demonstrate Prodsmart at the supply chain scale in a pilot (PT and/or UK).
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