Benefits Across All Operations

Frustrated by the shortcomings, in 2015 Dalsin Industries opted for Epicor to meet its ERP needs. Within a year, a time period that included installation and training, the advantages of the new system became apparent. The powerful ERP capabilities touch every aspect of the organization and are too numerous to mention individually, but Dalsin described a few that especially stand out.

“We can follow a job through each operation, unlike before,” he says, describing how the ability to drill down into jobs provides Dalsin Industries with much more actionable information at its fingertips. “That includes the production rate attained in pieces/hr. and what was quoted. If we don’t hit the quoted numbers, we know that something is wrong. Either our projected rate is too high, or our production has a problem. We then investigate to make sure that the projected rate is correct—ensuring that an operator did not ‘wand out’ or exit the system too early in an operation or too late—and adjust accordingly. So we perform due diligence to make sure it is not simply a log-in/log-out issue. “From that point, we can assess other potential issues,” he continues. “We can work with operations managers and operators to explore setup and other processes and then make improvements.”

Another area where Dalsin Industries benefits is through its use of the new ERP software: price-break tables, which list discounts based on volume sales and purchases.

“When performing purchasing functions, the old system did not allow us to include price-break tables for parts we were purchasing, or tables for subcontracting services,” recalls Dalsin. “This made it very difficult for our purchasing department to do its job. We can add these tables with the new system.”

Tracks 1000-Plus Jobs per Month

Adding or changing some 1100 jobs per month, Dalsin Industries relies on its ERP software across the board, from material orders to schedules to deliveries. As soon as an order is finalized, the system provides the purchasing department with items for ordering and the acceptable minimum and maximum quantities. Based on the accepted quote and other inputs, the software creates a bill of materials, and a job can be scheduled with start and due dates as well as due dates for each operation.

Multiple resource views and online scheduling tools such as the change-impact informer offer a manufacturer’s master scheduler and manager the ability to visually locate overload problems and slack conditions, then perform cost and throughput analysis on schedule changes before they are firmly committed, according to an Epicor description of the ERP system’s scheduling capabilities. The system’s scheduling engine uses several factors that affect production quantity, setup time, production time, capacity and priority as well as others to calculate how long it will take each job to complete. It then displays the schedule through the Job Scheduling Board, the Resource Scheduling Board and the Multi-Resource Scheduling Board.

In addition, jobs can be scheduled in a what-if mode, analyzing potential bottlenecks before finalizing the actual schedule.

“So you know right out of the gate if you can hit the customer’s deadline,” says Dalsin.

Dalsin Industries also takes advantage of Epicor ERP’s Business Activity Queries (BAQs) that allow users to pull specific data out of the system.

“We can turn those BAQs into dashboards that users can place on the system’s main menu for easy access,” Dalsin explains, noting that the custom BAQs and dashboards are created by the company’s IT department. “We can tailor these to specific needs, helping our people perform more efficiently. One dashboard we use addresses operations, notifying us when an operation has not been completed on time, and indicating the time available to catch up, prior to the final job due date, in order to ship on time. Another dashboard indicates when a job is ready to ship so that the shipping department can pull the product for delivery to the customer.”

Dalsin further explains other areas of customization—nearly every program within the ERP system is customizable—as well as the ability to personalize users’ screens.

“Personalization is helpful,” he continues, “because each person differs in what data they need and how they process it.”

Challenges Met

ERP helps Dalsin Industries meet the myriad challenges inherent in operating as a multi-location contract manufacturer on a daily basis, according to Dalsin.

“Today, customers want things ASAP—no waiting for three to four weeks—so it’s whatever we can do to expedite turnaround from when we get a quote to when we ship product out the door to satisfy customers’ needs,” he says. “Without customers we have no needs, so we need to keep them happy and process their orders accurately and timely. Our ERP system lets us do that. If we were trying to keep everything straight without an ERP system, we would be pulling our hair out.” MF

See also: Epicor Software Corp.

Technologies: Management

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