Page 36 - MetalForming July 2013

ERP to the Cloud
An E&E press operator works at one of several Plex terminals throughout the plant. By logging into the ERP system, he can immediately learn of all of the jobs scheduled for the day and also note how much raw material is required, what’s available and where it’s stored. If required, the operator can call material handlers to ensure he has the materials needed to complete his work.
Before implementing Plex Online, a quality spill might have taken two or three days to clean up. Now we can quarantine questionable parts in a mat- ter of minutes.”
Cost of Poor Quality Cut Nearly in Half
The overall measurable where improved lot traceability becomes most notable is cost of poor quality. From 2011 to 2012, E&E reduced its cost of poor quality by a whopping 42 per- cent. IT director Liu explains:
“We’ve been able to reduce our scrap rate because our operators on the plant floor red-flag quality issues instanta- neously, using Plex-connected operator terminals. If, for example, the operator has a questionable part-quality meas- urement on the part-specific check- sheets, the system automatically places the workstation in a hold status. He can- not return his workstation to production mode until a supervisor or the quality department makes a disposition.”
This process, managed by Plex Online, drives accountability on the shop floor and creates real-time visi- bility that allows E&E’s work teams to attack quality issues before they fester and become major sores. And, it is this new level of accountability and visi- bility throughout the company that
thousands—forward (into assemblies) or backward (to the original coil). Pre- cise lot traceability holds the key to cost-effective and timely quarantine of defective, or possibly defective, parts.
“With Plex Online, we’re able to track every packaged container related to each overall part lot,” Swanson con- tinues. “That’s made our inventory tracking incredibly accurate—before Plex, we had come to expect annual inventory adjustments on the order of $70,000; in 2012 we had a nearly negli- gible inventory adjustment of just $15,000.”
That type of improvement in inven-
E&E experienced immediate and signifi- cant improvement in lot traceability and inventory tracking and accuracy by upgrading its ERP system, as witnessed at this cage-nut press line tasked with fastener stamping and assembly. The operator has a lot to do here, including managing the packaging operation and ensuring quantities are correct. Using the Plex terminal (far left) to log production data, he reports when each box has been packed. Once he has a full pallet, the system creates a master pallet label. The serial number from every box on the pal- let then becomes associated with the master pallet’s serial number.
tory accountability allows E&E to bet- ter gauge and utilize manufacturing capacity, and to schedule its plants more efficiently.
“Now we’re able to forecast capaci- ty into the future—we couldn’t do that before,” Swanson says. “And, the abili- ty to precisely trace lots backward and forward improves the precision with which we can target our quarantines.
34 MetalForming/July 2013
www.metalformingmagazine.com