BACKGROUND:
Morrison Products is an HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) company that specializes in the manufacturing of air distribution products and systems for commercial and residential buildings. They offer a wide range of products such as grilles, registers, diffusers, flexible duct, and other air distribution products.
Their products are designed to provide optimal airflow and comfort in buildings while also ensuring energy efficiency. They also have a team of experienced engineers who can provide customized solutions for specific projects. They have a commitment to quality, innovation, and customer service, which has helped them establish a reputation as a reliable supplier of HVAC products.
THE PROBLEM:
As a leader in their industry, Morrison Products Corporation recognized that they had an opportunity to react faster and smarter to the quickly changing needs of their customers, the changing availability of materials from their suppliers, and the day-to-day changes on the shop floor.
Their current scheduling process was slow, heavily dependent on manual input, and prone to errors. They felt that there was a massive opportunity to build on their already competitive position if they could automate and standardize the scheduling process across all four of their plants.
Morrison Products decided to implement Advanced Planning and Scheduling software as part of their lean manufacturing approach. This software uses advanced algorithms and analytics to optimize production scheduling, considering factors like machine capacity, material availability, and labor constraints. By automating the scheduling process with APS software, Morrison Products would achieve more accurate production schedules and free up valuable resources for other strategic initiatives.
ORIGINAL ENVIRONMENT:
Morrison Products Corporation uses QAD’s ERP software in a multi-site/plant environment with QAD’s Repetitive Module. In addition, 3 plants were using a home-grown Excel-based scheduling system that is no longer supported, while one plant was using Preactor’s scheduling solution.
PROPOSED SOLUTION:
After careful evaluation, Morrison Products determined that implementing a fully automated Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) solution would be the best way to achieve their objectives. The APS software would streamline the allocation of resources, improve scheduling flexibility, and enable real-time production planning. By automating the scheduling process, Morrison Products would reduce lead times, improve customer service levels, and reduce errors associated with manual processes.
The proposed solution was designed to help optimize manufacturing operations and improve scheduling efficiency, allowing the company to respond to changes in demand or disruptions in the supply chain more rapidly. This would drastically reduce the time it takes to schedule from hours to minutes, providing a competitive edge in the marketplace.
THE SELECTION PROCESS:
The selection committee, composed of members from multiple departments across all plants, evaluated various software solutions. The goal was to identify the manufacturing scheduling software that would best help Morrison Products achieve its objectives.
After careful consideration of all available solutions, the committee concluded that the QAD Scheduler, Siemens Op Center, and PlanetTogether software packages were best-suited to meet the company’s needs. Each package was thoroughly evaluated in terms of its functionality, cost-effectiveness, and ability to be easily adapted for our specific requirements.
- PlanetTogether handled all of Morrison Products Corporation requirements.
- Only PlanetTogether handled all constraints including materials.
Additional tools included scheduling optimization tools, real-time data analytics capabilities and much more that far surpassed its competitors in terms of functionality. - PlanetTogether was also able to demonstrate that they were investing heavily in development and that they had a clear roadmap for the future.
- There was already a proven seamless integration path connecting QAD with PlanetTogether which would save money upfront while protecting them from software upgrade issues.
- In conclusion they felt that PlanetTogether would truly give them a significant competitive advantage.
BENEFITS:
As a result of implementing the PlanetTogether software package, Morrison Products
was able to achieve the goals that it had set out to achieve at the beginning of the process.
By standardizing a formal scheduling process over all four of their plants, the company is now able to predict accurate customer ship dates, allowing them to provide reliable delivery dates to their customers.
Additionally, the software’s flexibility allows Morrison Products to react quickly to disruptions in the supply chain and adjust material requirements accordingly. The software’s enterprise-wide accessibility has also provided all work centers with access to the schedules, enabling them to make more informed decisions.
Overall, the implementation of the PlanetTogether software package has allowed Morrison Products to improve their production process and achieve greater efficiency in their operations while meeting customer requirements.
CONCLUSIONS:
In conclusion, Morrison Products implementation of the PlanetTogether software package has proven to be a successful and beneficial decision for the company.
An additional benefit was that the data generated by the software has allowed Morrison Products to make more informed decisions about their operations, such as identifying new machine purposes, new tooling, and labor requirements. The collaboration with LSI-Scheduling Solutions and ERP Consulting, who have extensive experience in working with QAD.
