Materials Management, Tracking and Traceability (MMTT) systems provide a cost-effective alternative to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) centric information technology (IT) infrastructure architectures.

 ERP systems integrate accounting with materials requirements planning and then “bolt-on” third-party point solutions, such as a warehouse management systems, to enable the use of data collection technologies such as barcode, RFID and wireless mobile data collection devices.

MMTT systems, on the other hand, integrate the device interfaces into a middleware layer that provides an integrated interface between the devices and front-office applications such as accounting and customer relationship management (CRM). MMTT systems provide a complete integrated data collection capability from the receiving dock to the shipping dock and all operational functions in between.

MMTT systems capture tracking, traceability and quality control data. They can be also be interfaced with process control and testing systems to provide recipes and collect data to form a complete materials traceability record.

Some of the functions integrated into an MMTT system can be seen from the software modules that can be integrated into a BellHawk MMTT system:

When combined with low-cost accounting systems (such as QuickBooks Enterprise) and low-cost CRM systems (such as SugarCRM), MMTT Systems, such as those provided by BellHawk Systems, can provide a very cost-effective operational IT infrastructure for mid-sized industrial organizations. They typically include a simplified materials planning and scheduling functionality but can be integrated with advanced rules-based scheduling and planning systems, when appropriate.

MMTT systems can also be used in conjunction with older ERP systems to enable them to be used with modern barcode, RFID and wireless mobile data collection technologies. In this case, the ERP system provides the accounting functionality and can provide the materials requirements planning and job scheduling capabilities, if needed.

A major benefit of an MMTT System approach is that it isolates the IT department from having to know about device interfaces. It also enables the organization to use the best-of-breed accounting and CRM systems that are specific to their needs.

MMTT systems only need to exchange a small amount of information with accounting and CRM systems. So automated data exchange can usually be quickly implemented using standard interfaces. This is a lot simpler than trying to directly implement interfaces with lots of different devices or bolting-on multiple point-solutions to get end-to-end tracking and traceability.

MMTT systems are very effective in handling situations in which an organization is a custodian for customer owned and vendor owned materials, as well as its own materials. An MMTT is able to track all this inventory uniformly but only report inventory transactions to the accounting system that impact the accounts of the organization. This avoids having to use work-around “hacks”, such as zero-value inventory, to track vendor and customer owned inventory.

MMTT systems are also very effective in integrating with  vendor and customer supply-chain systems as well as providing the infrastructure interface for on-line web-based customer order and product-configuration systems.

For more information about the MMTT systems approach, please click here for a downloadable PDF copy of a white paper on MMTT systems.