Rose Bearings to cut lead times with Mapics’ supply chain system

Rose Bearings, which manufactures precision rod-end and self-aligning spherical bearings for the aerospace industry, is implementing Mapics’ Supply Chain Management APS (advanced planning and scheduling) suite (formerly Thru-Put from one of Mapics’ earlier acquisitions) at its Lincoln facility. Rose says top of the list of its expectations is to shorten lead times which are traditionally very long in its business sector, while also reducing inventory and improving customer responsiveness – all important competitive issues for the company. The implementation is part of the firm’s strategy to align itself with the Theory of Constraints (TOC) concepts for manufacturing production and supply chain interaction, as per Eli Goldratt’s ‘The Goal’. The APS will work alongside Rose’s existing Mapics XA ERP system (now nattily renamed ERP for iSeries solution), which went live in October 2000. Rob Warner, Rose financial controller, says: “Even though we are at the very early stages, I’m positive that the strengths it will bring to our businesses are immense. Since we implemented Mapics it has always been our intention to expand our capabilities – in fact, one of the main reasons for selecting it back in 2000 was because of its integration and migration path. “Looking back to when we first read ‘The Goal’, it was obvious that the concepts explored were ideal for our business model. Although we didn’t have the infrastructure in place to act upon it immediately, Mapics’ solutions have proved to be significant enablers in helping us achieving our goals.” Mapics’ APS allows manufacturers to make the best use of supply chain capacity and plan production across the entire supply chain, improving delivery performance and enhancing productivity. It actively improves supplier relationships by allowing collaboration via the Internet. And it can help sales and operational planning by improving the infrastructure for collaborative forecasting with input from customers, sales, marketing and production.