“The software empowers our team to create more accurate and dependable plans, efficiently incorporate job schedules into enterprise operations, monitor execution and respond quickly to unplanned events,” Watts says. “And, we’ve increased shop-floor visibility and efficiency, while improving OTIF from 75% to more than 85%.”

Of note: The firm doubled its business through the Covid era, as it earned several contracts for a variety of medical-related equipment. “Made2Manage allowed us to accommodate that spike in activity,” Watts says, “and it also exposed areas where we needed to improve.”

Specifically, renewed efforts to optimize planning and scheduling led to improvements in the firm’s ability to efficiently move jobs through the shop. “We also developed new policies and procedures to help us optimize our scheduling,” Watts adds.

New areas of focus include using the ERP system to help optimize how MWG purchases raw material, including leveraging data related to lead times and the actual production schedule to avoid ordering material prematurely. And it has changed how it takes orders from customers, including scheduling time for engineering.  “We’ve been able to alleviate bottlenecks in engineering,” Watts says, “in order to get jobs released to the shop in a timelier manner, and get the programming done to ensure a more even flow.”

All of this has allowed MWG to eliminate expedited orders and their associated headaches.

“We used to have three expediters out there pushing rush jobs through; all they did was shuttle parts through the shop. While that job has disappeared, we, of course, still get rush orders. The software has us better prepared to fit those orders into the existing schedule, while allowing us to provide accurate delivery dates to our customers.

“Lastly,” Watts adds, “we’re also measuring—for the first time—schedule adherence, which has become a critical key performance indicator. We realized that in order to improve our efficiency, we must run the next job in the queue when it’s supposed to run. Otherwise, the schedule is not truly optimized. The ERP system allows us to understand why we’re not running to queue, drill down to solve the problems, and measure ourselves in a whole new way.” 

On-Time Deliveries Boosted by 39%

Precision sheet metal fabricator USA Dutch Inc., Graham, NC, is a soup-to-nuts shop providing an array of services including laser cutting, CNC punching, bending, welding and CNC machining. Established in 1987, the family-owned business and its management team credits the use of JobBoss² ERP for increasing its on-time delivery by 39%; slashing quoting time by 75%; and increasing visibility gained by job and department by 100%.  

Adaptability is key for a shop to survive as long as USA Dutch has—18 yr. and counting. Jeff Albaugh, operations manager, knew that manual processes could only take his shop so far, so he opted to implement an ERP system that could take it digital. Before bringing in JobBoss², USA Dutch struggled to meet on-time delivery schedules. And it had no visibility into why jobs were delayed, often finding themselves over or understocking inventory. The quoting process took days to complete, says Albaugh, and things were not moving as smoothly as they could.

Today, USA Dutch uses its ERP system as a “quote-to-cash” solution. The whiteboard scheduler feature within JobBoss² helps Albaugh during purchasing, he says, to buy on time and not overbuy. It also helps him schedule jobs more efficiently and, in turn, deliver production on time. 

Albaugh explains: “Scheduling has made a difference. Our on-time delivery has gone from 60% to 99%. Visibility into scheduling across the shop gives us insight into why jobs have been delayed, and helps us get those jobs back on schedule. I can see which departments are overloaded and which jobs might need reassignment.”

Finally, the USA Dutch team appreciates the integration of Paperless Parts into its JobBoss² solution, helping to drastically improve its quoting time. While quoting used to take several days for a job of 75 parts, for example, employees now can get quotes out in just a matter of hours.

“Quicker quoting and improved on-time delivery have helped us improve our win rates amongst the competition,” Harbaugh surmises. “Since adding JobBoss², we’ve seen revenue grow by 83% and employee headcount by 166%.”

Efficient Workflow Scheduling of 600 Work Centers

When Connecticut Spring & Stamping (CSS), Farmington, CT, sought to improve its ability to more efficiently schedule its 600 work centers and improve on-time delivery and customer satisfaction, it turned to ERP software from Global Shop Solutions to help effectively run and simplify its job shop.  Among the capabilities gained: 

• Display real-time scheduling data on computer monitors throughout the factory
• Accurately track material using GS Mobile
• Automate purchasing
• Use dashboards in all departments
• Simplify certification documentation through barcoding 
• Deliver materials with special packaging to the right jobs at the right time. 

CSS employs some 450 people to serve a variety of industries including aerospace, automotive, electronics and medical-device manufacturing. An engineer- and make-to-order metal former, it manufactures precision springs, progressive and fineblanked stampings, and machined components.

CSS upgraded to Global Shop Solutions' ERP system when its previous ERP system no longer could meet the growing company’s needs. In particular, managers sought to provide real-time scheduling through multiple departments, and hurdle inventory-management and other challenges hampering on-time delivery. 

Among the results delivered with the new ERP system: a 35% improvement in on-time delivery, which generated an all-time high rate of 97.5%. This helped enable a 50% increase in sales. Scheduling inhouse work for thousands of part numbers through 600 work centers was hard enough with CSS’ old ERP system. Worse, many of its parts require the scheduling of multiple secondary work centers, some with as many as 28 operations performed—inhouse and at offsite vendors. 

With new Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) software, scheduling all jobs has become faster and more efficient, reports CSS president Steve Dicke. More importantly, APS provides the real-time data needed to complete jobs on time, resulting in a huge leap in on-time delivery rates. 

“Based on the extensive routers we create for every part, GSS tells us when we need to do something in each of our work centers,” says CSS president Steve Dicke. “It gives us the lead times and lets us know when parts need to come out of a work center to keep us on time. Equally important, we can see the available capacity of all machines at any given moment, which allows us to ensure we can deliver before promising specific due dates to customers.” 

One improvement for CSS came from using APS to electronically send scheduling data to large monitors stationed in every department. Previously, workers had to log into the ERP system to know which job to work on; now they simply look at the monitors to know what to be working on in the moment and what’s coming next. 

“Having live scheduling data at each work center definitely has improved our workflow,” says Dicke. “The information is always accurate because it comes straight from APS, and workers don’t stand around wondering what to do next.”

Other ERP capabilities that have simplified processes at CSS: automated purchasing, and the use of tailored dashboards. Automating the purchasing process has helped the company make big strides in its goal of become paperless. When purchasing materials, buyers look at the Purchasing Dashboard to review material requirements, planning functions and purchase history to see what is needed for each job. They don’t order materials until demand is created through the work order, and they buy straight from the Material Dashboard rather than using material-request sheets. 

And when it comes to customizing the ERP dashboards, CSS software engineer Richard Delatorre has customized several hundred programs, modifying dashboards to include more data, refiguring or reorganizing screens, and consolidating information from many different screens into one.

Goal: Real-Time Inventory Visibility

Precision automotive-parts maker Hi-Lex America Inc., Battle Creek, MI, manufactures mechanisms for operating vehicle windows, doors and hatches. Parts must be manufactured and delivered just-in-time across complex international supply chains. To maintain peak efficiency and cost effectiveness, the company requires complete and real-time inventory visibility.
To help achieve such lofty goals, the firm selected Plex ERP for all of its production sites throughout the western hemisphere. Hi-Lex operates from more than 50 locations in 18 countries, including 10 sites in North America, a plant in Brazil, and six sites in Europe.  By consolidating on a single, advanced ERP, the firm expects to cut scrap rates, increase uptime and reduce IT-support costs.

As part of its efforts to maintain peak supply-chain efficiency and high customer satisfaction, Hi-Lex has been able to streamline manufacturing operations with Plex ERP, company officials report. Using the platform’s advanced resource planning capabilities and seamless connectivity, the company now has a far-more precise, detailed and holistic view of stock levels and material needs, updated in real time.

Coming in July: Industry 4.0 Forum and ERP Shootout MetalForming magazine will host the Industry 4.0 Forum and ERP Shootout July 16-17 in Northbrook, IL. Details and to register.

By enabling the company to improve process- and inventory-related operations, Plex ERP is helping Hi-Lex increase transparency and traceability. Using real-time data, stakeholders gain a holistic view of operations across sites and function. This empowers them to accelerate workflows, minimize stock levels and optimize quality control. And, with greater inventory transparency, the company also expects to improve performance against key metrics inclujding scrap, overall equipment effectiveness and productivity.

“Ease of use was a big factor in our decision to opt for Plex,” explains Raffaella Bagliano, IT lead for Hi-Lex in Europe.

"Choosing a system that was as intuitive as Plex and that could be deployed with the same interface across all sites has helped to make factory-floor workers and IT-support technicians more productive. And, by consolidating on a single, modern ERP system, we expect to significantly reduce waste, increase production efficiency and continually meet or exceed customer expectations.”

Victory Truck Body Gains Forecasting Power, Operational Agility

When Tarik Shaheen joined Victory Truck Body, a manufacturer of truck bodies employing a host of fabricating operations including laser cutting, press brake forming and robotic welding, his team was counting parts on clipboards.

“We literally had someone walking out on the floor every day to track inventory,” says Shaheen, who leads ERP strategy at the Glassboro, NJ-based manufacturer. “We would even shut down for two full days every year to do a physical count.”

Founded more than 35 yr. ago, Victory has evolved into a multifaceted enterprise with four divisions focused on engineered commercial-vehicle solutions. Its offerings include custom truck bodies, demountable swap-body systems, glass-transport equipment and fleet-repair services. As it has expanded, Victory’s legacy business systems—built on a heavily customized financial-management platform—outlived their usefulness.

“We were using bills of materials to manage the cost of goods sold, but weren’t truly managing inventory,” Shaheen explains. “We had no visibility into material consumption, no forecasting and no automated work-order tracking.”

Recognizing that the business had outgrown its legacy systems, Shaheen and his team began searching for an ERP solution that could support long-term growth. Goals included transitioning away from manual processes; gaining real-time data visibility; and implementing a cloud-based system with flexibility and scalability. And, it wanted a system based on the Salesforce platform.

"Our sales and office teams already were working on Salesforce,” Shaheen notes, “so retraining everyone on a completely different system didn’t make sense.”

Its choice for a new ERP system: Rootstock ERP, a cloud-based solution built on the Salesforce platform, and which enabled the company to keep its user interface consistent while introducing new manufacturing capabilities. “We needed something we could continuously improve,” adds Shaheen, “and Rootstock gave us that flexibility.”

The ERP-implementation process, conducted in 2022, marked a significant step forward for the organization. Victory built a small core team to lead the rollout and focused on preparing staff through hands-on training, standard operating procedures and Salesforce-based learning modules. “Most of our employees had never used an ERP system before,” says Shaheen. “We had to teach them the basics—from how transactions flow to why digital traceability matters.”

Once live, Rootstock ERP delivered transformative results across the business. Inventory accuracy improved dramatically, and the company no longer needed to shut down production for annual counts. Victory implemented cycle counting instead, enabling continuous tracking without disrupting operations. “We haven’t had to stop production for a full inventory audit since going live,” says Shaheen. 

Material procurement became more proactive, as well, and safety-stock levels were introduced to buffer against delays. “Now we’re thinking about what we need to order for projects coming up two or three months out—not scrambling at the last minute,” Shaheen adds.

Another advantage has been system adaptability. Unlike traditional ERPs that might require specialized development teams for customization, Rootstock allows Victory to tailor its system internally based on user feedback. “If a team member sees a way to work more efficiently, we can build that into the system ourselves,” says Shaheen.

Now, Shaheen has begun looking ahead to the next stage: more automation, deeper reporting and AI-powered forecasting. MF

 

See also: Global Shop Solutions, Aptean, Plex, A Rockwell Automation Company, ECI Software Solutions, Inc., Rootstock Software

Technologies: Management

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