Success lies in analysing the data to provide continual and live information covering KPIs and the current status of many aspects of the business including production, the status of orders, sales pipelines and quality.
As sheet metal companies grow in size and the volume of production expands, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of manufacturing and costs, especially with the current volatility in metal prices. Much of sheet metal manufacture is fast-moving with short delivery times along with highly competitive pricing demanded by customers. Lantek offers software that makes it possible to automate quotations, generating many more accurate quotes than are possible manually which, from reports from its customers, directly correlates to the chances of getting an order. This is the first step in the production process and requires accurate information about each stage of manufacture, the cost of material, how to optimize its utilization, the times for each operation and the costs for subcontract operations. Lantek’s CRM software monitors this process including sales pipelines, analysis of which customers are the most important and tracking of sales conversions.
To feed the quotation process, accurate data from the workshop is essential. Both manual and automated methods can be used with operators scanning operation cards as each process happens or, for modern machines, Lantek can interface directly with the machine control automatically identifying the jobs being manufactured and their exact processing times. Not only does this provide live and accurate feedback on manufacturing and its costs, but also highlights discrepancies in processes as they happen so that managers can take timely and targeted action to resolve production problems, reschedule parts for remanufacture, spot failures in quality, reschedule for changed delivery dates or different manufacturing methods. Lantek’s MES and Analytics modules have been designed to collate this information and present it in a useful way so that companies can keep a finger on the pulse of their production avoiding any unexpected delays, quality issues or cost overruns.
With this type of data gathering and analysis not only can managers keep manufacturing running smoothly but they can be sure that the prices they charge customers will be both highly competitive and profitable, parts will be delivered on time and quality will be at the highest level. Companies that can consistently perform well in these areas will build up a loyal and growing customer base and be successful in the long term.
High manufacturing volumes of fast-moving parts can only be controlled with accurate feedback which relies on the quality of data collected. As digitization becomes more common, this data collection and integration will extend beyond each company’s internal operations to involve both suppliers and customers in data sharing. This may seem a long way away, but it has been happening in the automotive and aerospace industries for decades and it is inevitably going to happen in every industry. The benefits are clear, much improved business performance through data acquisition, analysis and sharing will bring advantages to every company in a supply chain in customer loyalty, business security, increased sales volumes, stable prices and reliable supply of products. Lantek has been leading the way in digital transformation and its software tools can deliver data driven advances in profitability and productivity now. Companies can get huge added value from their data today while being ready for the future of sheet metal manufacturing.
