Druck goes lean with integrated sales and manufacturing system
1 min read
In a push to become a leaner manufacturer, Leicestershire-based sensor and test calibration equipment maker, Druck, has implemented enterprise software vendor, Minerva’s ERP/ manufacturing software linked to its sales order processing software. Dean Plamer reports on the resulting benefits.
Leicestershire-based sensor and test calibration equipment manufacturer, Druck, has implemented enterprise software vendor (and QAD reseller), Minerva’s ERP software, Mfg/Pro.
The group’s systems manager, Shelley Jones, explains: “We’ve always adopted the attitude of delivering exactly the product a customer requires. We never say no … but this generates an almost limitless product range that’s difficult to plan, manufacture, monitor and control.
“We had a manufacturing system which was rapidly becoming past its sell by date and didn’t talk to our SOP [sales order processing] system.”
So, over six months last year, the £75 million turnover company implemented Mfg/Pro, integrated with its SOP system. “Our implementation team [15 cross-functional staff] matched our processes against Mfg/Pro to define new procedures … The CIM load function was very useful to transfer our static data: 25,000 items, 180,000 BOMs [bills of material], customer details and final inventory levels from the old to the new system.”
The actual “Big Bang” implementation took place over a Bank Holiday weekend with around 8,000 ‘live’ works orders being transferred into the new software by Druck’s 15 staff. “We successfully met our target to go live on the following Thursday morning, which meant being without the system for just one working day.”
And things have really taken off for Jones (and Minerva) since the go live date. “We now have Mfg/Pro running in our French, Dutch, German and US operations,” she adds. “Using the same system across the whole business enables expertise to be transferred quickly and easily between sites.”
According to Jones, the benefits of having an integrated manufacturing and SOP system are time savings, improved accuracy and improved costing. And she says, “These are all vital for companies running a mass customisation strategy.”
And a team of just three Druck people now handle all production documentation, kitting instructions and stock issues, despite the fact that the company has almost doubled in size. “Production orders for our fast-lane standard products appear as orders on the shop floor almost instantaneously on loading sales orders, which is a vital element in our drive to achieve lean manufacturing,” explains Jones.