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| Case Study |
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Web based integration solution improves
planning and scheduling mechanism |
By integrating
multiple steps for managing shop floor data, Patni's solution
simplified and improved the planning process for a leader in
the aerospace domain.
The Client
The client is a global technology leader providing high quality
products in the aerospace domain.
The Challenge
As the client operated in a highly competitive aerospace market,
it had to ensure timely delivery of high quality products. Accordingly,
the client had setup multiple manufacturing plants across US
and Europe for giving its customers the flexibility of locations
to source products. As the manufacturing plants at some locations
depended on raw material produced at other locations, the client
faced significant challenges in managing manufacturing operations
according to dynamic changes in the schedule. Further, due to
smaller batch sizes, it was difficult for the client for keeping
track of the work-in-progress.
The client used Baan as its backend ERP system for tracking
production related data while quality related information was
maintained in a quality management system. However, as the two
systems were not integrated, maintaining data in two systems
was difficult. This posed critical challenges to the client.
Some of these challenges included:
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Difficulty in maintaining quality records and testing
results to comply with stringent statutory requirements |
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Inability to establish tight control over data accessibility
for ensuring security |
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Inability to take fast decisions due to inconsistent
data quality. |
The Solution
The team from Patni analyzed the client's requirements and proposed
a web-based solution that addressed all the business challenges
of the client. A new interface was created which empowered the
operators to view and update data from both the systems simultaneously.
This avoided duplication of work and created consistency of
data between production data in Baan and the quality management
system. The solution also provided a facility to check availability
of raw materials and issue raw materials according to the production
orders.
Solution highlights include:
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Online defect tracking mechanism was designed to reduce
overhead of operations on defective materials |
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Interface provided to planners, for viewing minute-to-minute
shop floor schedule and tracking work-in-progress at each
center |
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Graphical planning board was designed to make adjustments
to schedules based on changing demands |
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Flexible access control mechanism ensured data security
by providing authorization based data access to multiple
sites |
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Synchronous integration between web front and back end
ERP |
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Multilingual support, country specific date and time-zone
support |
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Touch screen support. |
The Technology
The Benefits
The entire solution was developed in a record timeframe of only
two months using an offshore model. This enabled the client
to drastically reduce development and deployment costs.
Other significant benefits include:
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Efficient planning and scheduling mechanism to take
care of
dynamic requirements |
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Visibility of work-in-progress across all sites enabled
quick decision making |
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Increased customer satisfaction due to the ability to
commit accurate delivery dates to the customer |
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Increase in data capturing efficiency by 40% through
simplification of data entry interfaces |
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Availability of accurate data for statutory compliance |
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Better tracking and control of raw materials |
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Reduced transaction processing time |
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