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With a product range of over 40,000 different wire ropes across a wide range of applications, each requiring a precise manufacturing specification, Brunton Shaw's scheduling capacity can quickly reach breaking point. Brunton Shaw have been involved in making wire ropes for over 100 years,& were faced with ever decreasing lead-times for orders & increasing complexity & variety in the actual manufacturing process. Each type of rope comprises a vast potential combination of components of different widths, materials, & finishes, all needing to be put together according to a specific "recipe" using certain machines in a specific order. When the traditional scheduling system of paper lables & planning boards became increasingly frayed, Brunton Shaw turned to Preactor International & RMS for help. A complex manufacturing process, with multiple variations & dependencies, including the following: Product range of over 40,000 wire ropes Diverse & demanding market sectors Demand for decreasing lead times Hand written schedules, manual master card specifications & work orders Manually updated planning board Complex process issues with variety of bobbin sizes Process issues compounded in the event of process machine malfunction Variety of coatings can be applied to bobbins in as part of the process Large numbers of variables "exposed" manual system frailties Inability to keep up with production schedule changes Limited IT experience within the company A number of systems were assessed including RMS, & an MRP system used by the parent company Jean Potts, production control manager at Brunton Shaw went with RMS & Preactor, commenting "The 2 key things that stood out for us in the Preactor system were quality & useability. For me the interactive Gantt chart was the best aspect. I could move a job around the production area & immediately see the impact on the entire manufacturing process" Customising Preactor to the demands of Brunton Shaw was very complex. Preactor has been designed to deal with scheduling problems that are too complicated for people to control in the time frames that business calls for. One of the peculiarities at Brunton Shaw was the requirement to establish the precise formula for each possible rope costruction. Sometimes the actual working formulae were not accurate enough for Preactor to deliver the maximum benefits, so we had to rework these. This involved a lot of complex maths & very long formlae indeed, comments Don Dyas, director of RMS. The Preactor system is unusual in that it is not linked to MRP or ERP systems, but just an in-house database containing products codes & construction details. Mike Novels, CEO of Preactor International" commented on the application: "This is a good example of how complex scheduling can be. Companies want to be able to incorporate their own well known, tried & tested, best practises to maximise production & automate the mathematics while retaining the ability to try alternatives. The ability to drag & drop operations around while process times are calculated on the fly is a key strength of the Preactor Advanced Scheduling solution, & it gives the user immediate visual feedback on the implications for future production. RMS's work that customised Preactor for this very specialised scheduling solution is a credit to their staff " Preactor has delivered considerable benefits to Brunton Shaw's planning capabilities, most notably there is much more information available. Better quality management information & more of it Properly planned control of production Work to lists broken down to any level required Interactive Gantt chart with real time drag & drop Enhanced & improved customer service Customer orders delivered consistently & on time Jean Potts concludes "Preactor has revolutionised us, & brought us into the 21st century" |
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