From Spreadsheets to Manufacturing Execution System
SEA-LECT Plastics initially relied on a custom-developed enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and Excel spreadsheets to manage its injection-molding operations from estimate through delivery. However, the growing company realized that it needed to increase efficiency and improve quality as well as to better understand actual costs per job to maintain profit margins.
“Relying on Excel spreadsheets hampered our efficiency and required a lot of repetitive data entry,” the General Manager recounts. “This caused us to ballpark estimates, to learn actual costs and whether we made a profit only after a job was complete, and to be frequently late on delivery.”
The company had already achieved productivity gains implementing SOLIDWORKS and CAMWorks; however, SEA-LECT realized they still needed an overarching system that would enable automation throughout all functions related to injection-molding production…read on to see how this all worked out: