Advanced planning board transforms Völkl production operations

Völkl IT manager Gerold Fath says the new dashboard tool is giving excellent visibility and control over resource allocation via a graphical representation of shop floor operations. Franz Ederer, production planning manager at Völkl, comments: "In order to make accurate decisions on our capacity to deliver on existing orders, as well as to take on new business contracts, we needed a single view of our planning processes to effectively manage resource allocation. "The APB solution has given our project managers greater visibility into project status and helps them plan for disruptions – meaning they can realign and adapt their strategy quickly and maximize productivity." IFS president and CEO Alastair Sorbie adds: "The saying goes, 'If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail', but accurately planning in the current market is extremely difficult. "Manufacturers are under immense pressure to optimize productivity and meet delivery deadlines regardless of changes in project specification or customer requirement." Hence the new planning board software, developed in close collaboration with Völkl. Fath says Völkl had onsite support from IFS during the implementation, which has now been fully installed, catering for production planning a full year out. "All incoming orders are now coordinated with the sales and purchasing departments to enable simultaneous planning and rescheduling to make sure the end product is always delivered on time," says Fath. "Völkl's involvement throughout the research, development and testing stages has been invaluable in helping us develop a tool that will drastically improve productivity and cost efficiency for all our manufacturing and process industry customers," says Sorbie.