Engineering plastics firm moves to APS system

Bridgwater-based aerospace plastic machining and assembly subcontractor Trig Engineering is about to be first of the Ensinger group companies to go live with Mapics’ SyteLine 7 ERP system. Ensinger Precision Engineering (EPE) and Ensinger Ltd (both part of global engineering plastics producer ensinger GmbH of Nufringen, Germany) will be next, as the group moves its UK headquarters, its engineering plastics distribution business and EPE production to new facilities at Parc Eirin, Tonyrefail, South Wales. Roll-out will be complete by next August. Steve Tipples, Ensinger’s general manager, says: “Trig Engineering chose SyteLine 7 chiefly due to its advanced planning and scheduling (APS) engine.” The company has to manage a wide range of production projects with very different cycle times and MRP couldn’t cope. Meanwhile, “EPE’s main criterion for the purchase was SyteLine 7’s flexibility in terms of customisation… It looked like a 95% fit, and we can customise the rest without customising the code,” he says. And Tipples adds: “We also were attracted by the fact that the system was built on Microsoft.NET, which will give us … seamless communication with suppliers and customers … and provide for integration between the divisions.” The software, services and maintenance contract is worth around £287,000. the system replaces a mix of systems including a Sanderson PICS implementation that had been heavily modified since installation 15 years ago.