Eldan Recycling manufactures machinery for recycling of various types of waste materials, including cables, tyres, electronics and automotive batteries. In the autumn of 2022, Eldan Recycling decided to implement digital production scheduling, and their choice of solution was ROB-EX. In production, things had become a rush towards putting out proverbial ”fires”. The main reason was that the applied production plan did not, in fact, reflect reality. There was no overview of the 1100-1200 production orders, and no overview of the consequences of adding rush orders, or moving orders about in the plan.
Eldan Recycling needed a scheduling system that matched both their daily operations and the actual situation on a given day. They also wanted a system that could eliminate the need for manual scheduling, so that all the paperwork relating to production could be dispensed with. Production Planner at Eldan Recycling, Brian Nielsen, explains: ”Everyone is really happy with ROB-EX, and I’m no exception. It’s no secret that it was a major transition going from a lot of manual scheduling, with hard copy printouts that we had to keep track of. We really wanted to get rid of the paperwork, and it’s totally gone now. We also wanted to provide customers with more accurate and reliable delivery times. And we do now. When I get an enquiry for an order, I am able to view all of our machines, where we are status-wise and what we are about to get started on. We have really got a strong tool for providing information to and from production and from our customers.”
A new IT system means changes in procedures
During the activation process with ROB-EX, there is a natural revising, adjusting or changing of company procedures and processes. This was also the case with Eldan Recycling. ”We went through a major cultural change in how to approach things, compared to how we used to do them. We had to make different use of time, now that we no longer had the 1100-1200 active job-sheets. We had to learn to use a new technology, but we also had to learn new in-house work procedures,” says Brian Nielsen, and he continues, ”The process meant that we had to revise and assess very old and ingrained habits concerning how we looked at scheduling and managing our production. After activation, we took a breather and let things settle a bit, and then we gradually started up the phasing in of ROB-EX. Right from the start, there was, naturally, a lot of curiosity concerning the new system, and today, everyone in production is familiar with ROB-EX. They know that this is the way that the train is headed now. Throughout the entire process, we have had several status meetings with Allan from ROB-EX, and he has also been out to see us since then. Fie from ROB-EX conducts service visits, and we have also benefitted from this. We are continually being nudged in the right direction.”
Solution setup by experienced ROB-EX specialists
ROB-EX specialists are required to have in-depth insight into process optimisation, digitalisation, supply-chains and hands-on experience with management of data, projects and production. All of these areas are in play when an enterprise starts the process of determining requirements that a new production scheduling solution must meet. They are also aspects of the setting up of given solution to manage production. The ROB-EX specialist heading both the design and setup processes for the specific solution, as well as the activation process itself, must be experienced and fully equipped to handle all of these areas. This is how we ensure that our customer gets the solution that generates the most value for the entire organisation. The Solution Specialist heading the activation process for Eldan Recycling was Allan Axelsen, and Brian Nielsen describes their collaboration as follows:
”It has been a really good process. Allan and I have personalities that mesh well. Sometimes you are just lucky, and Allan and I hit it off straight away. Allan’s experience has given him a great approach and comprehensive understanding of the things that you are battling with in a production facility. His experience, in particular, has definitely been a great advantage in our project. This has also been confirmed by the project team. Allan’s way of navigating through the project has been really constructive. He is an excellent listener and he is also good at sending the ball back in our court and making us really consider adjusting or changing our habits. He definitely made us think and consider things that we had never really discussed before,” says Brian Nielsen.
ROB-EX Web Planner became a significant element in the solution
Eldan Recycling wanted ROB-EX to provide a much better overview of production, a strong basis for providing customers with reliable delivery times and also tools to view actual and possible consequences of changes in the plan. Brian Nielsen states that ROB-EX has met all requirements, and more:
”We are now also able to manage projects – entire projects, not just single-part projects. Project managers can now ask me how far we are in a given project, and I am able to see this immediately, and provide them with an accurate timeframe. I am now able to extract information for our project managers, salespeople or whoever it may be that requires information,” Brian explains, and he continues, ”Our foremen are able to view the load on each individual machine, so if an operator needs a day off, they are able to see what that means for production and they can adjust the plan accordingly. The same applies when a colleague calls in sick. They are also able to optimise the effects and timing of maintenance, so that it has minimal to no impact on production as a whole.”
Another significant and unexpected value-generating benefit for Eldan Recycling presented itself in the possibility of having the foremen use the Web Planner. With ROB-EX Web Planner it is possible to access the plan via a standard web browser. It is easy to access ROB-EX ”on the go” to see the here-and-now impact of changes, also when you are physically located in production. ”As we progressed further in the process, we could see that ROB-EX actually also provided tools that allowed our foremen to move orders in the plan. They both have Web Planner today, and they are now able to run their scheduling independently, and don’t need me to do it for them. This gives us a lot of flexibility. ROB-EX has really provided us with a lot of great tools that make it a lot easier to get through the day,” concludes Brian Nielsen.