Plastics engineering and maintenance company High Duty Plastics has reduced both its planning and dispatch times by more than a third after installing MORE-MX Manufacturing, Scheduling and Capacity Planning software.
High Duty Plastics uses MORE-MX to plan all production in one central place. Everyone works off one plan, which is displayed to all involved through one avenue. Staff go to one place for information, whether it’s to look at recipes or find answers to questions.
“We’re getting huge time efficiencies – an average of 35-40% – from the start of the order right through to dispatch,” says Tom Vigor-Brown, Design and Production Manager, High Duty Plastics Ltd.
“MORE-MX is our central nervous system. It’s a big thing, to have everyone working off one plan. We have more forward planning ability and anyone can go in and look at a recipe without having to question someone else.”
In the past, staff spent a lot of time trying to track down answers to questions. Information could be stored in someone’s head, or in a folder, or on a piece of paper, or ‘in any one of a hundred different places’.
There is now much less uncertainty, Tom Vigor-Brown says.
“MORE-MX gives us central storage and all of the answers are there. If you have a question, you always go to the same place – if it’s not in there it doesn’t exist. That certainty saves substantial amounts of time. Our planning and dispatch processes are 80% easier.”
MORE-MX has made his job less stressful, he says.
“We have foresight of what’s coming up. Work orders are automated and we’re getting more jobs out the door.” Repeat business is one of the ways High Duty Plastics gauges its success. It now has the data to measure this key metric.
Enprise’s support for High Duty Plastics through the MORE-MX installation process has been ‘outstanding’, Tom Vigor-Brown says.
“As we’ve gone along, anything that hasn’t aligned with our production methods Enprise has made suitable for our specific operation. It’s pretty hard for Enprise to know what our requests will be in advance, simply because it’s hard for us to know in advance what we need. Enprise has done a lot of work that was not originally anticipated or promised. They’ve really been outstanding.
“We are rolling the system out to more staff progressively which means we’re increasing returns and getting MORE-MX to its full potential.
“I would recommend MORE-MX to other manufacturing companies, without a doubt. It’s definitely an advantage to any company in manufacturing.
“MORE-MX has absolutely met my expectations and delivered on all the sales promises. It’s done everything we expected and more. The quoting module is still in train – we’re just starting to use that. But everything else is complete and more than what we expected. I’ve never said that about any other software, because it’s never happened before. I’m quite surprised because our business is complex – it’s complicated and there’s a lot going on. We’re at capacity all the time.”
About High Duty Plastics Ltd
High Duty Plastics (HDP) is a long-established Kiwi-owned company with a reputation for designing, developing, producing and delivering progressive and innovative solutions that can face today’s and future challenges – from one-off projects to high-volume production. HDP has one of the most advanced workshops in the country with a raft of modern equipment including CNC lathes, CNC machining centres, CNC routers, 3-D printers, robotic welders and laser cutting/engraving machines. HDP services all industries including transport, forestry, dairy and hydropower.
Highlights
High Duty Plastics says MORE-MX ‘has done everything we expected and more’. MORE-MX functions as the company’s central nervous system, providing a one-stop-shop for information storage and display, as well as planning, production and dispatch processes. The company has reduced planning time by an average of 35 – 40%.
High Duty Plastics has foresight of what work is coming up, work orders are automated and it’s getting more jobs out the door. The company says it’s getting ‘huge’ time efficiencies, from the start of the order process right through to dispatch. Planning and dispatching processes are 80% easier than before. Any staff member can go into MORE-MX and look at a recipe or find answers to queries – the information is always in one place, every time.
Business benefits
Plant is fully optimised at all times
Capacity Scheduling is now fully under control
All information in one place
All staff work off one plan
Centralised display capability
Self-serve information saves time
Forward planning ability
Work orders are automated.
Key outcomes
35-40% time saving from order to dispatch
Planning and dispatch processes are 80% easier
‘More jobs out the door’.