In moldmaking, traditional production planning starts off with mold design, machine scheduling, outside services scheduling, assembly, quality, and then finishes with the hope of hitting the promised delivery date. With enough experience, most moldmakers get pretty good at predicting the future. But, is pretty good enough?

Many leading shops are considering enterprise resource planning (ERP) to improve their competitive position. When implementing ERP, shops conventionally cram the schedule full of the required operations to complete the job as quickly as possible. This may not be the most effective method. Consider turning tradition upside down and starting with the end in mind by using the delivery date and scheduling the process backward. For one mold builder, the overall benefits of this approach have been amazing.

Despite all the hard work, the company was not impressed with the results two years into the implementation. The shop had more information, but there was little change. It developed a lot of numerical information regarding its productivity, machine use and material resources but could not get the data into a format that would enable the shop to predict delivery accurately. The team was not fully using the Synergy system.

Approaching ERP

Implementing an ERP system company-wide requires a lot of planning, effort and monitoring to ensure success and to minimize problems. The consultant’s experience saved time and prevented costly mistakes that someone with less experience would make, according to the company.

one starts with the goal, develops the objectives and then adds tactics to achieve the goal. For example, to achieve the goal of increasing sales by 20 percent, one needs to work backward and figure out how many additional projects are needed and how many prospects are required to fill the sales pipeline.

The ERP system is only a tool to continuously improve performance. we believes it is the people who make it happen. It’s easy to forget that the success of the system depends on the people who use it, An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success.

An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success.

Implementing ERP

Today computer screens are installed at every manufacturing cell, shop floor personnel see everything happening in real time, and project schedule changes are instantly recognizable. Communication improved because everyone is working from the same real-time information. The entire team has visual accountability from monitors installed at each workstation.

Employees no longer need face-to-face meetings to update everyone, which has reduced interruptions by 70 percent. Now, updates are provided through the ERP system. And, operators no longer interrupt a program manager to report a delay. Instead, program managers and operators manage communication using Skype to report problems and delays without leaving their workstations.

Improving Performance

ERP software, scheduling and schedule adjustment are critical to maximizing machine use when it comes to correctly scheduling the constantly changing mix of detail machining and molds. Today everyone has visibility. For example, as soon as an operation is complete, the software automatically schedules it to the next workstation. Operators no longer need to leave their workstation, walk to the program manager and receive their next setup.

Inspections are now paperless with Unipoint Mobile. Tablets at the machines and on the shop floor benches collect data. In multiple part runs, like detail machining and high-cavitation molds, Synergy sets the inspection frequency and retains the time stamp to avoid rushed reports at the end of each shift. If the staff does not perform inspections at the scheduled intervals, Synergy sends out alerts for corrective action. As a bonus, machinery and inspection equipment, preventive maintenance and calibration are now scheduled into the workflow, which results in improved performance and reliability. The old method of waiting until there was open time for a problem was far more costly than this new, proactive approach.