Barriers to production made easy

Quotation and sales order processing times reduced from days to minutes; engineering resource reallocated; reduced WIP (work in progress); and nearer JIT (just in time) production and supply chain operations. Those are among top line benefits at queue management and information display systems manufacturer Tensator, mostly as a result of its front-end product configurator-driven ERP system. Other advantages cited by Tensator managing director Jeremy Williman include improved customer service, better flexibility and responsiveness to change, greater manufacturing accuracy and reduced wastage. This is a story that should strike a chord for any company offering products with high variety – and provide some useful direction. Tensator makes everything from seatbelt retractors to queuing systems for airports, the retail sector and security, as well as information and merchandising displays – almost all customised. As Williman explains: "In our Tensabarrier range alone, there are posts, bases, webbing in retractable cassettes, and beams: there are 52 standard colours for the posts and beams, plus specials; 36 standard colours for the webbing and specials there too. You're already up to a million permutations, and then there's the different dimensions." Back in 2000, when Williman led an MBO, the firm was attempting to manage all that – for more than 15,000 customers globally through 53 distribution centres – conventionally on an obsolete IBM System 36 with 15 year-old bespoke software and an AS/400. The sheer variety meant over 38,000 BoMs (bills of material): estimating and quoting was essentially manual, involving two engineers full time, each writing new BoMs whenever customers wanted a new variant or one they couldn't find – and with every BoM saved in case of repeat orders. New systems and business process automation were the answer. With a target of increasing revenues five-fold within seven years against a background of growing competition from low wage economies, the firm needed custom quotations to be produced much more quickly and accurately – and once confirmed, sales orders had to be converted swiftly into works orders. The company went for a Geac Streamline ERP system with integrated Datadialogs Edenorigin rules-based product configurator software, the latter automating almost everything from quotation to order input, also generating multi-level BoMs directly on the fly. Simply by ticking boxes, order takers can now deal with the most complex variants, with relevant screen graphics easing the whole process. The system deals with dimensions, linked sub-assemblies, alternate routings and the rest. Massive payback Now, quotations and orders are generated from just 342 stored generic BoMs, while configured BoMs pass straight onto the enterprise system for procurement and production scheduling. Says Williman: "The configurator lets us deliver precisely what customers want far more quickly and reliably… The system paid for itself in less than a year by letting us reallocate the two engineers to more useful work – focusing on more complex, high value, bespoke quotations." And with that kind of business growing at about 20% per year, that's doubly good. He's not saying the configurator is a panacea. "It works very well if there are a relatively short number of questions to answer," he says, "but it makes no sense to capture every little additional detail. The solution [if you need more variants or parameters] is either to go in and modify the BoM slightly, or make use of the free-form dialogue field to modify the works order." Nevertheless, information from the configurator mostly drives manufacturing and the supply chain through Tensator's ERP, according to stocks and vendor delivery times. Purchasing here is semi-automated with value-based levels of authorisation and weekly aggregate call-off against blanket orders and forecasts. The firm also operates kanban systems for runners and low value items. Williman says it's all enabled Tensator to cut lead times and start operating a JIT system of component delivery to the assembly shops, which has in turn reduced component stocks and also WIP costs. As for production, he says: "All products are modular, so it's relatively easy to manage [variety] at the assembly level, and we have good, long term relationships with our subcontract finishing organisations that handle colour and finish, so they are very responsive." Indeed, high variety standards and specials are all pushed through the same shopfloor, with standards on a next day promise, and subcontractors and stockholding locations geared to that. At this level, part of Tensator's solution has also been shopfloor layout, with flexible cells and a flexible workforce – the latter meaning "two planners can respond to pretty much anything customers throw at them without having to worry about finite capacity scheduling." In fact, following planning, daily works schedules are launched onto the shopfloor and picked up by supervisors at local screens, so there's good scope for flexibility. Williman also says there's no need to link the configurator/ERP combination into scheduling so that sales, for example, could automatically see shopfloor loading and get real lead times, or immediate data on available capacity for late or changed orders. "The shopfloor and supply chain are both used to handling rush orders, and sales can just make a quick phone call and it's a 'yes' or a 'no'." However, Williman says he is looking into barcoding. "I see it as a 'nice to have'," he says. Currently, the system is being set up so that materials can be wanded through goods-in and throughout production and packing. "I want the business to be able to know where items are, what has happened to them – get tighter control of stock and components. We need to be able to go online and deliver instant promises. We also need our partners, joint ventures and wholly owned companies around the world to be able to do the same by linking into the system via their browsers so they can process quotes, give delivery dates and so on." Incidentally, it's also worth noting that Williman sees the firm's Solidworks-based engineering design and development team as part of its success – but not because of its integration with ERP and manufacturing: it isn't. He says the system is used mostly for 3D modelling and developing fly-bys and walk-throughs, creating virtual renditions for customers. As far as production and sales are concerned, he makes the point that, since all BoMs are handled by the configurator, issues around engineering to production BoM creation are limited to the generic ranges – so numbers and frequency are low. Beyond that, generic images and documentation are adequate.