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KP Wellman
Jobscope Manufacturing Software
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Make to profit as well as to order
The Wellman Group proves that it is possible to have it all - clear cost visibility and control across the enterprise, plus a system that suits the production methods of each of its individual companies.
One of the biggest difficulties in manufacturing automation today is providing planning and control software capable of satisfying both board level and shop floor requirements. The situation is particularly acute in make-to-contract industries where tight cost control over multiple projects does not necessarily go hand in hand with the pressure to get a specific job out of the door on time.
There are many information systems that are primarily focused on providing the high level financial reporting that ensures board level popularity. In many cases, however, they cannot demonstrate the adaptability and shop floor functionality that enables them to serve production needs with equal fluency. Manufacturing industry is awash with stories of efficient manufacturing units that have had to make unnecessary major changes to their operations simply to accommodate the reporting requirements of so-called enterprise systems. Under these circumstances, it is no wonder that board level enthusiasm is not shared by manufacturing personnel; to them it simply means a great deal of extra work for very little direct benefit. What is more, if high-level reports do not adequately reflect the real status of manufacturing operations, their ultimate value must be in some doubt.
In this sector, it is only too easy to make a product without making a profit. From the earliest estimates right the way through to commissioning, the make-to-contract (MTC) company needs to be able to allocate resources and identify costs for every element of the project. The trend for fixed cost/fixed delivery contracts has resulted in another imperative - the need for real time reporting. Since late delivery often incurs penalty costs, companies need the ability to monitor actual progress against plan on a project-by-project basis. Individual project visibility is, however, only part of the answer. Remedial action may get one project out of trouble but have serious, adverse impact upon other work in progress. Production staff need to be able to track individual projects but also to gain a clear picture of total shop floor loading in order to avoid bottlenecks and resultant delays and costs.
Group wide solution
It was against this background that Wellman Thermal decided to implement In2grate JOBSCOPE as a group wide solution. Based at Oldbury, West Midlands, Wellman employs 220 staff and has a turnover of £35 million. Wellman Thermal encompasses seven individual companies; Wellman Group, Wellman Robey, Wellman Furnaces, Wellman Defence, Wellman Graham, Wellman Process and Wellman Services. All companies use JOBSCOPE with the exception of Wellman Defence.
Wellman Thermal began manufacturing boiler and pressure vessels in the late 1800's and has expanded to include a range of industrial furnaces and heat exchangers, all for industrial, commercial and military markets. Most products are made to order and configured to customer specification although it does make some hot water boilers for stock. Used in schools, hospitals and airports these are stocked for emergency breakdowns and made in batches of five. They also make fast steam raising boilers for navy frigates and heat exchangers for Texaco, Shell and BP. At any one time the company is handling some 40-50 different contracts, each involving between 105-110 shop floor operations.
Increasingly, Wellman is involved in repair and refurbishment. Complexity varies considerably with some jobs taking 50 hours while others take 3,000 hours. But, every job is set up on JOBSCOPE whatever the complexity.
Wellman is clear on the business need driving the decision - they wanted a system that would give them full control of capital goods contracts. They required an information system that would not only record actual contract costs but could also be used as a tool to forecast the outcome of individual projects.
Strategically the board needed to measure each job against the group regional estimate, which would impact both the current selling price and also show if performance levels were being maintained against forecasted profits. JOBSCOPE provides Wellman with the unique advantage of being able to look for savings elsewhere, in order to achieve profit targets. Equally, Wellman has the ability to analyse each project to produce accurate quotes for similar work in the future.
In2grate was selected because of its strong background in contract control systems. 'The people were a major factor,' says Group IT Manager Anne-Marie Baillie. 'They talk from a position of knowledge having experienced manufacturing first-hand.' JOBSCOPE is used in its entirety throughout the company, for estimating, creating jobs and works orders, stock and inventory control, despatch and all financial accounting.
Top level benefits
Wellman continues to realise the benefits of using JOBSCOPE which include:
- Better control of factory capacity planning
- Ability to forecast outcome of contracts
- High visibility across operations via Forest and Trees report writing
Wellman filled another gap in with the introduction of shop-floor data collection and swipe cards. Now there is real-time analysis of labour costs and the company can see instantly the hours booked to any job. 'This is especially useful in knowing where we are in relation to the actual job cost and profit margin so we can identify problems early,' said Baillie. 'Before, the information could be a month old so the job might be shipped before the actual costs were known.'
Another failsafe is a series of alarms within the EIS. This is programmed for instance, to trigger an alarm if costs or labour exceed budget. An alarm is triggered too if stock levels hit pre-set levels with the system raising a faxable requisition automatically. 'It gives us a degree of visibility that is impossible with manual checks,' Baillie said.
Wellman has recently upgraded from version 6 to version 7 to make use of added benefits, reinforcing their continued commitment to JOBSCOPE. Anne-Marie Baillie concludes 'JOBSCOPE is so a much part of our business we could not run without it.' |
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