“ROB-EX is the heart of the production plan in the roll forming department at Ib Andresen. It is now an indispensable management tool in our production scheduling”, says René T. Skov – Planner in the Roll Forming Department.
”Introducing ROB-EX in your production is like introducing a GPS in your car,” he continues: ”With ROB-EX you know exactly what you need to do, and you have a clear overview both of the immediate situation and also of what is waiting up ahead.”
René T. Skov explains: ”Before the implementation of ROB-EX in 2008, we based our decisions on assumptions rather than on actual knowledge, and we lacked an overview of production. We used spreadsheets and based production on a rudimentary plan that we had cooked up ourselves.”
“We now base all decisions on the tools provided in ROB-EX Scheduler. Our roll forming department has benefitted significantly from the implementation of ROB-EX, and everyone is very impressed with our new scheduling tool. We use ROB-EX as our primary management tool, and it is highly suited for the large volumes produced in the department.”
ROB-EX ensures that delivery is reliable and delivery times are kept
ROB-EX has been instrumental in improving our delivery reliability and it has improved our delivery times. ROB-EX has provided us with an overview of production, and we are able to call in extra staff in due time for peak production: ”We are able to act proactively if we need extra manhours to get production finished on time,” says René T. Skov, ” ROB-EX displays the work loads on our respective machines, and we benefit greatly from being able to see how far ahead each machine is booked and which orders we have received. This helps us ensure the adequate manning of machines at all times – and enables us to keep our delivery times.”
Data exchange with the ERP system generates a reliable and immediate status
ROB-EX exchanges data with Ib Andresen Industri’s ERP system, and integrates this data in the scheduling processes. The data exchanged with the ERP system includes: calendars (manning and number of hours), materials and pending production orders.
”We are able to obtain a reliable status overview of production without having to check a lot of different programs and systems. This provides us with a fantastic overview that enables us to act promptly, if anything unexpected should occur – and we are also able to see the consequences of the necessary adjustments immediately. We are, in other words, able to avoid nasty surprises. We have a clear overview of the raw materials available, and based on this information we are able to act in due time,” says Rene T. Skov.
Actively making use of the expertise of our operators
The best feature of ROB-EX Scheduler is the overview of production that it provides, and René T. Skov is particularly happy with the visual scheduling overview he has obtained. Viewers have been mounted in production so that all production employees are able to see what is going to be produced, and when.
”It is a major win for us that we are able to view all orders visually, and that everyone in production has access to the same data. Operators and production setup-staff are able to see what we are going to run, and make certain that preparations for production are carried out in due time. This has resulted in an improved production flow and more flexible production in general. We no longer have idle or wasted time,” says René T. Skov.
The roll forming department runs with a three-shift system. Ib Andresen Industri currently has 19 production plants in the production plan. René T. Skov meets with the production setup-staff once a week and goes through the week’s scheduled production with them, and they provide input based on their knowledge and expertise: ”The operators provide their insight and knowledge about the machines and setup-times, and provide feedback so that we end up with a plan that also makes the most practical sense.”
It was easy to get started with ROB-EX
“The process of implementing ROB-EX in the roll forming department was straightforward”, concludes René T. Skov: ”The entire project phase was run really well, and our IT people were already experienced in the implementation of new systems, and this made it easy to get started.”
