At MSSP (Maskinfabrikken Silkeborg Spåntagning), the obtaining of an overview of production was a major challenge on a daily basis. No one really knew what was going on, and the why’s and how’s of the scheduling processes were virtually impossible to figure out. As a result, it was very difficult to factor in the consequences when orders were moved around in the production plan. Consequences generally only became clear when delivery times on other orders were exceeded, or when customers had been given incorrect or imprecise delivery times on their specific orders.
Fortunately, all of the above is now a thing of the past. Today, MSSP has implemented ROB-EX in their production scheduling and with this, production scheduling has become transparent and everyone has access to viewing the plan. Everyone is kept up to speed on developments in production – at all times.
ROB-EX tells you what is actually happening
”With ROB-EX, we have really gained a full overview of production, and it’s simply great. Especially since we set up viewers in production, so that everyone can see what’s going. Virtually everyone in the company uses ROB-EX – even our owner and CPO,” says Production Planner, Thomas Reich (MSSP). He continues: ”We have daily morning briefings where the viewer in production is our main reference point. We can all see and discuss exactly what is going on, and what needs to be done. We can see if anything is behind schedule and what comes next. This has most certainly contributed significantly to improving the understanding of what’s required and what’s necessary.”
Employee satisfaction in the company has shot up
Most people would probably agree that it is extremely frustrating not to be able to keep track of what is to be produced – or to lack insight into progression in production. This was also the case at MSSP. ”Before ROB-EX, communication was lacking, but it’s so much better now. Everyone’s always fully informed and can see what’s lined up for the individual machines. The people in production are really happy with this. Employee satisfaction has improved enormously, now that everyone is kept updated on the day’s scheduled jobs and orders. Now operators in production have an overview of what’s going on and of what’s coming, and this really gives everyone a sense of purpose and direction,” says Thomas Reich.
Simple and straightforward process
It requires comprehensive knowledge and understanding of a company’s administrative procedures and production to set up a digital scheduling system to control production. The specialists at ROB-EX A/S apply a lot of effort to fully comprehending the company’s internal and external setup, the procedures and production facilities – and to identifying all the requirements, objectives and goals that the company has in relation to the new scheduling solution. This work must be completed before the activating of ROB-EX. It is important to be completely aware of the company’s challenges and to pinpoint the areas with potential for value creation. The digital scheduling system must be set up to provide solutions and tools for solving the actual challenges and it must be able to help the company achieve the value that it wants.
”Alex from ROB-EX A/S was assigned to our project, and we were very happy with him. Right from the start he had an impressive knowledge and insight into our procedures, both as regards production and administration. He quickly caught on to how we wanted things. Things really panned out very well, and I can only say that, for my part, I’m fully satisfied. There really hasn’t been any time where I thought that things could’ve been done better. It was really easy to get in touch with everyone at ROB-EX – and this still applies today. Actually, I am really impressed by their availability. ROB-EX Support continues to serve as a great help to us. We’re never left stranded. I always get all the help that I need. And most importantly, ROB-EX performs impeccably,” concludes Thomas Reich.