Southern Precision Fabrication (SPF) America, LLC is a fabrication company with over 45 years of experience in copper bus bar and connector production. The company provides both precision components and assemblies to the OEM market from a variety of materials including copper, mild steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. With an unparalleled focus on quality, SPF is committed to being a top supplier of products that exceed customer expectations.
- No digitization with existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system which required external data retention portal
- Relied on manual data collection and analysis
- Lack of full plant floor visibility
- Increased margins by 10+%
- Increased On-Time Delivery (OTD) by 40%
- Reduced temporary workforce from 20 to 3 employees
- Increased Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
Challenge
Time for an ERP Upgrade
SPF America, LLC relied on an existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system which required an external data retention portal. The setup resulted in several challenges, the majority of which stemmed from a lack of digitization within the company’s operational framework. The absence of digitization meant that employees had to download data manually into spreadsheets for analysis, which hindered efficiency and productivity.
Additionally, SPF lacked full plant floor visibility in their existing ERP system, with employees struggling to access real-time production status and resorting to manual searches. This slowed operations, leading to gaps in communication and inefficiencies in workflow. Another difficulty SPF faced was the ability to obtain meaningful and trustworthy data. The measurement of Cost of Quality through internal scrap, external rejects, and rework was inconsistent, negatively impacting quality recording.
Recognizing the need for a stronger solution, SPF began the search for a new, cloud-based ERP. The company sought a platform capable of improving job scheduling, enhancing operational cost visibility, and consolidating accounting, production control, material management, and record retention functions into a single system. After a rigorous evaluation process involving three potential solutions, SPF selected Plex ERP.
Solution
Choosing and Implementing Plex ERP
Plex stood out due to its ability to surpass the needs of SPF, its avoidance of subscription-based pricing models, and the proactive support provided by Plex implementation partners. Additionally, Plex provided comprehensive product demonstrations and connected SPF with an existing customer, which further increased SPF’s confidence in the Plex ERP.
The Plex-SPF relationship began in December of 2021 with training beginning promptly, and by August of 2022, SPF was live on Plex. The success of this 9-month implementation process is attributed to the efforts of the SPF team, Plex, and implementation partner Control+M Solutions.
With the help of Control+M, SPF developed a diligent implementation approach. They created structure around their plan, utilizing checklists to ensure that no detail was overlooked and conducted weekly team meetings. Four individuals from SPF reviewed existing data necessary for the migration to the ERP. Interactive training sessions provided by Plex helped foster a smooth system transition. Although demanding, this process proved to be highly beneficial.
Despite encountering a few challenges along the way, SPF’s implementation journey highlights the importance of planning, communication, and a willingness to adapt. This combination led to the team’s successful go-live.
Result
Achieving Operational Excellence and More
Since implementing Plex, SPF America has experienced a significant transformation in their daily operations, marked by enhanced visibility and efficiency across all processes. The company now has unprecedented visibility into their shop floor operations, allowing employees to better anticipate and manage potential disruptions. Moreover, SPF has improved control over production costs, a critical aspect for maintaining profitability in the competitive metal forming market.
Through utilization of IntelliPlex, an integrated data visualization and analytics platform, SPF is now able to automate the tracking of all business processes, providing real-time insights through intuitive dashboards displayed across the shop floor. This increase in available information, including metrics such as on-time delivery (OTD), overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and scrap, enables daily reviews with shop leads, encouraging continuous improvement and focused attention on KPIs. The access to real-time data has streamlined order expediting processes, leading to increased profitability and agility in response rates to customers.
Throughput has been further optimized with Plex’s comprehensive visibility into shop floor operations. Productivity gains have been realized through enhanced monitoring capabilities and reporting functionalities and Plex’s accuracy in providing OEE metrics has surpassed the previous system. An additional benefit is SPF’s margin growth of over 10%. Despite complexities that arose from SPF’s multiple locations and differing go-live dates, the integration process continues, promising further enhancements over time.
Employee Empowerment
Additionally, employee engagement and confidence has increased, driven by monthly meetings to foster understanding and alignment with organizational goals. The streamlined processes and enhanced access to data have empowered employees to embrace change and actively provide input. SPF has also been able to significantly reduce their temporary workforce, shifting from 20 to 3 employees. The company increased sales without increasing headcount.
Joe Brackin, SPF Plant Manager, says, “Before Plex, our production scheduling had severe limitations and orders were routinely late. We had little visibility of the actual cost of jobs until the entire job was completed. Now, with Plex, our production scheduling is spot on; our OEE is rising, OTD is consistently at 98%, and we can view the job costs at each operation.”
This case study is a replicated version, with the original available on the Plex website. To access the original version, please click here.
Published September 24, 2024
