Design Philosophy

In the never-ending struggle to do more with less, manufacturers have begun turning to technology in an effort to efficiently manage shop floor operations with the slimmest of staff. Today’s leaner and more agile manufacturing environments have created a nearly insatiable demand for robust manufacturing execution systems. Consequently, software developers have released numerous computer-based scheduling and execution packages in recent years to meet the demand.

In a crowded field of disparate scheduling and execution packages, what makes ATOMIC stand out?

Seamless Integration

In a word, it's integration. The ATOMIC System was designed not only to integrate with its many optional modules, but to integrate as seamlessly as possible with the ERP system to which it is bound. Once implemented, most users can scarcely tell the difference between where the ERP system leaves off and ATOMIC screens begin.

This fluidity comes entirely by design. Unlike standalone PC-based packages, ATOMIC was built explicitly for System i™/400-based platforms, with “hand off” points that fit neatly into the logical flow of the base ERP system… Create a work order(SF0010), and ATOMIC automatically picks it up to apply scheduling details; Select a work order on any machine schedule, and ATOMIC automatically throws you into the conventional ERP inventory inquiry screen for its bill of materials.

ATOMIC is Fast

ATOMIC is also extremely fast. Designed in highly modularized ILE objects, ATOMIC runs circles around other scheduling and execution packages because it shares a common database with your ERP system — no clunky cross-platform interfaces to worry about. When you make a change to a work order, or change details in the product master, ATOMIC knows about it instantly.

Developed in an Actual Shop Floor Environment

Another key component in the ATOMIC design is that the majority of the system was developed not in a lab, but in an actual shop floor environment. By teaming with various client-partners, CNX developed the modules comprising ATOMIC over a 5-year period in heavy-duty manufacturing settings. The resulting system is a collection of extremely hardy software, battle-tested with some of the most difficult end-users in the industry: manufacturing employees.

ATOMIC Grows With Your Company

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, ATOMIC was designed to grow with your company. As front office needs change, companies sometimes find they have outgrown the functionality provided by their base ERP system. ATOMIC version 3.0 is designed to pull all ERP-based data through a single service program. This makes the ATOMIC code very easily retrofitted to work with any System i-based ERP package (and with a bit of extra effort, any ODBC-compliant package). So if your company decides someday to switch from PRMS to BPCS, or from BPCS to SAP, even if it's on a different platform, the ATOMIC front-end that manages the shop floor can continue to function with the same look and feel to the users. Such minimal disruption to the shop floor considerably shortens the learning curves associated with changing ERP packages.