www.plex.

com | 855-534-8012
Cloud ERP for Manufacturers
Plex Online
White Paper
Todays manufacturing supply chain is challenged
with quality mandates, cost reductions, and delivery
improvements.
Technology plays a key role in a companys ability to build
and manage an efective supply chain.
This paper describes the next wave of supply chain solutions,
including supplier Kanban Loops which automatically create
an electronic pull loop that generates pull signals when
parts are needed and supplier Web portals for real-time
communications.
Included are two examples of efective supply-chain
management in action, demonstrating how the enterprise
reduces costs, lead times, and inventories throughout the
entire supply chain.
At a Glance:
The Effective Supply Chain: Maximizing Performance
of the Entire Manufacturing Enterprise
Plex Online White Paper | page 2
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Challenges to the Supply Chain
Increasingly complex products drive greater dependency on supplier quality
management, especially for automotive, food processing, aerospace and
defense, and medical device manufacturers.
In addition, large OEMs drive warranty costs downward through the supply
chain, which increases the necessity for documenting quality and processes
through every step of the chain.
Cross-organizational traceability where products/parts can be traced
backward through the manufacturing process across multiple suppliers is
an absolute requirement for manufacturers with complex supply chains.
This requires a high degree of integration among systems within the
manufacturer and with multiple suppliers.
The manufacturing enterprise driven by tight proft margins; a tough
economy; escalating energy, material, labor, and operations costs; and
increasing competition demand higher levels of performance and greater
accountability from their suppliers.
Next-Wave Supply-Chain Solutions
Improved communications
between customer and supplier
let manufacturers address these
challenges. Traditionally, this
approach has relied on EDI and
stand-alone systems to facilitate
supplier communications.
However, the next wave of supply-
chain innovation is the addition
of a Kanban Loop, a real-time,
electronic pull loop that generates
pull signals when parts or materials
are needed.
This model depends on 24/7 visibility and connectivity as part of a
Web-hosted, on-demand service, along with real-time pull signals for
the customer and supplier.
This new approach
depends on 24/7 visibility
and connectivity as part of
a Web-hosted, on-demand
service, along with real-
time pull signals for the
customer and supplier.
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How Plex Online Delivers Next-Wave Solutions
Traceability is a strength of Plex Online and coupled with the corrective
action/preventive action reporting in our Supplier Quality Management
system it provides the functionality required to deal with traceability of
complex products.
Plex Onlines supplier Kanban Loops visually display the status of the loops
in real time using an electronic Kanban Rack. The loops are already helping
customers reduce costs, lead times and inventories. Shape Corporation is one
such customer.
A Supply-Chain Success Story
Faced with ever-increasing pressures to cut costs and improve quality and
efciency, Shape Corporation contracted with Plex Systems to provide a
fully integrated system to manage all of its manufacturing operations across
multiple facilities.
Shape Corporation is a leader in
automotive and industrial component
manufacturing and the worlds foremost
expert in roll forming. Established in
1974, this privately owned corporation
has grown to become a major player in
the component feld. It employs over
1,000 associates and has ofces on
three continents, encompassing four
manufacturing plants, a dedicated
research and development center, a
coating facility, and six associated sister companies.
The Web-native technology used to deliver Plex Online makes it easy
for Shape Corporation employees to log on and resolve issues quickly,
from anywhere, at anytime. Plex Onlines Kanban Loops are taking Shape
Corporations manufacturing efectiveness to the next level.
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Plex Onlines systems are being utilized in Shape Corporations metalforming,
welding, and injection-molding production facilities across the globe.
Shape Corporation is utilizing Plex Online primarily for quality, program
management, shop scheduling, reporting, and shipping processes. The
companys goal is to drive performance of the organization and the bottom
line, and Plex Online is delivering.
Bob Currier, vice president of Operations at Shape Corporation stated: After
looking at many software solutions to manage manufacturing facilities such
as ours, Plex Online was the clear winner. We needed a solution that provides
complete visibility of the entire enterprise from the shop foor to the top
foor. Plex Online ofers that complete system, and it allows us to eliminate
many stand-alone databases. It is intuitive to use, and more importantly, we
are seeing a signifcant return on our investment.
The Challenge of Improving Communication
Trust between manufacturers and suppliers is critical. In many manufacturing
industries, a confrontational relationship exists between supplier and
manufacturer, where the purchaser holds the upper hand.
The collaborative management required by increasingly complex products
will require a fundamental change in the nature of these relationships to a
relationship built on trust. That is the primary challenge.
Improved Supply-Chain Communications Success Story
As an example of optimized supplier communications, global automotive
supplier Inteva Products, LLC, implemented Plex Onlines Web-based Supplier
Quality Management (SQM) system to address the growing complexity of
managing its supplier base.
Managing an effective supply chain means reliance on
a complete system that allowed us to eliminate many
stand-alone databases.
We know when each part comes in
and exactly where it is. We can answer
inventory questions in seconds.
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The SQM portal notifes Intevas suppliers of plant-specifc requirements and
provides them with the latest versions of the companys standards, policies,
and procedures. The system also enables Inteva to communicate the details
behind any non-conformances and to document the associated sorting,
scrap, freight, and downtime costs.
In place of the time-consuming manual processing once used by the
company, Plex Online now automates the problem case log. Inteva and
suppliers communicate in one central location regarding part and process
non-conformances. The company eliminated the need for emails to track
issues with the plants and
suppliers. Now, with just a click, all
portal users see the documentation
related to part and process non-
conformances.
All parties quickly view in real time
any issues by plant, by supplier,
repeat non-conformances, and
summary data. This helps them all
work together to reduce and better
manage non-conformances.
Supplier Scorecard Improvements
Inteva also benefts from a supplier scorecard feature used to grade suppliers
based on the number of complaints theyve received, the quantities of
products rejected, major production disruptions, repeat non-conformances,
and controlled shipping statuses.
Supplier scorecards were once an administrative challenge. Now the company
can see in an instant the problem cases in any given month, based on the
non-conformance report, which fows directly to the scorecard. The system
automatically adds or deducts points based on supplier performance.
Scorecard data is generated with no manual intervention and is useful for
supplier audits for conformance with mandates such as ISO/TS 16949.
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About Plex Online
Plex Online, built on a Software as a Service (SaaS) Cloud model, offers more than 400 functions, providing
manufacturers instant access to vital information and management features using a simple Web browser. The
on-demand solution includes product lifecycle management (PLM) functions such as program and change
management; enterprise resource planning (ERP) functions such as accounting and nance programs; customer
relationship management (CRM) functions such as order entry and tracking; manufacturing execution systems (MES)
functions such as production scheduling and machine integration; and supply chain management (SCM) functions
such as supplier quality and traceability. For more information, see www.plex.com.
www.plex.com | 855-534-8012
Cloud ERP for Manufacturers
Visibility
In tandem with improved supply-chain communications, the SQM system also
brings Inteva extensive visibility into its suppliers operations.
This allows the company to pinpoint and isolate problems and minimize their
impact on overall product cost and quality.
Supply-Chain Effectiveness
In all, Inteva better manages their
supply chain since they measure and
track performance real time with a
single system.
A signifcant beneft is the ability to
directly communicate information
with the supply base. In the past,
Inteva relied on diferent solutions
outside of their ERP system or came up with homegrown solutions. Now,
since suppliers have access to the SQM system through an Internet browser,
Inteva can more easily and efectively share data with suppliers using a
single solution.
This manufacturer serves
as an excellent example
of improved supply-chain
communications.