Metso Drives Efficient Manufacturing Operations with Quick Base

Transcription

1 Case Study Metso Drives Efficient Manufacturing Operations with Quick Base Producing high volumes of complex engineered orders is a key challenge for the manufacturing industry. Managing these orders through customer service, project management, engineering, procurement, planning, and manufacturing requires a high degree of synchronization across teams and technologies. Metso recently found a new solution to this old problem by building a suite of apps on Quick Base, collectively called the Metso Global Operations Data Center. The apps have streamlined multiple processes, enabling Metso to save an estimated $1 million annually, boost efficiencies, reduce delays, and standardize its order management practices. The Challenge Order management processes not standardized, making employee training and sharing workloads difficult Complex orders difficult to track through planning, engineering, procurement, and manufacturing processes Difficulty tracking and identifying at-risk critical order paths and inventory data stored in ERP,inventory, and data warehouse systems assignments easily dropped or forgotten Need to execute time-critical engineering orderchanges accuratel The Solution With Quick Base, it s clear who is doing what, how much work is being done, and when it will be completed. Rich Buckley - VP, Global Operations, Metso A suite of apps built on Quick Base for managing orders, engineering, and inventory Data from ERP, inventory, and data warehouses updated regularly to Quick Base apps Easy creation, distribution, and management ofaction items to mitigate delays or issues Custom reporting for tracking high-priorityorders, inventory, and critical path issues Engineering Change Notices managed within Quick Base app, rather than manually 1

2 The Results Annual cost savings of $1 million from improvements to order management, engineering, and inventory processes Order management process standardization allows Metso to improve training, increase effectiveness, and allow for sharing workloads. Ability to quickly view order history and activities enables order managers to prevent delays andspot issues early enough to be pro-active Automated tracking and notifications of Engineering Change Notices saves about 6 engineering man months per year Inventory app ties multiple data streams together to create actionable workflows with measurable cost savings For Metso s Flow Control division, accuracy is everything. As a leading provider of flow control solutions to the energy and other industries, the division is responsible for engineering and manufacturing valves and valve automation that provide a safer work place, improve the environment, and maximize its customers production efficiency. Controlling its own engineering and manufacturing processes was very resource intensive for Metso, because information was stored across its ERP, order management and planning, engineering, and manufacturing processes. Metso found a solution in a suite of apps built on Quick Base that streamlined the order management process and delivered greater clarity and efficiency than before. We re always looking for new solutions to old problems, and Quick Base has been a very effective tool for us, says Rich Buckley, Vice President, Global Operations Engineering and Order Management at Metso.features to grow the app, says Boehme. In five minutes I can create a new field and start tracking something. In other businesses, that might mean a big programming effort to change the database. 2

3 Streamlining Order Management Like many companies that handle complex orders, Metso struggled to coordinate its order management processes with its engineering, purchasing, and planning processes. Order managers had to dig deep into the data for order history and status of open issues. It was time consuming to proactively identify issues and ensure that orders would be delivered on time. was the primary tool for assigning action items to other teams, meaning tasks could be dropped or forgotten. Because of the volume of orders and information in each order, it was very difficult for our order managers to look at their backlog and see exactly where the problems were, says Buckley. The company uses an ERP solution to store all order-related data, but coordinating that data with other information proved challenging. To solve the problem, Buckley searched for an online database that could serve as both a real-time repository for order-related information and a workflow tool to keep all action items and activities moving forward. After assessing a variety of database tools, Buckley chose Quick Base because it offered the right amount of flexibility and transparency. Quick Base gives all team members easy access to critical information. With Quick Base, everything is out in the open, so it s clear who is doing what, how much work is being done, and when it will be completed, says Buckley. 3

4 How it Works Metso is a leading process While orders are still collected and stored in the ERP system, order-related customers in the mining, oil management. Information from Metso s promising logic tool is also loaded industries. Metso has four orders will be delivered on schedule. approximately 16,000 Inside the app, order managers can review each order (by searching for in net sales. engineering, purchasing, and manufacturing activities will be completed performance provider, with data is exported regularly and entered into a Quick Base app for order and gas, and aggregates into Quick Base so order managers have quick insights into whether their manufacturing centers, employees, and 3.7 billion an order number or by customer name) and ensure that all the necessary in time to match. If the order manager spots an issue, he or she can assign activities within the app to resolve it. Custom reports enable order managers, their managers, and others to quickly drill down into orders to find any information they need to keep the process moving. 4

5 Reaping the Benefits Metso s Quick Base suite, Metso Global Operations Data Center, is now operational at its Helsinki, Shanghai, and Shrewsbury, MA manufacturing centers. So far, Buckley says, the company has realized significant benefits, including: Cost Savings The combination of Quick Base suites covering order management, engineering, and inventory have actual cost savings in excess of $1 million USD annually. Metso s development of these tools has given them great-er control over the local and global execution of complex engineered orders. Faster detection of potential issues Order managers can now access all order-related data quickly to identify possible trouble spots and assign action items to resolve those issues. If we get an order that takes 40 weeks to manufacture, we need to pay close attention to the first two or three weeks, says Buckley. If we don t get our materials driving in the first month or so, we re going to have problems. Custom reports for high-priority orders Order managers can flag high-priority orders for special tracking, utilizing the flexible reporting capabilities built into Quick Base. Process standardization The order management workflow in Quick Base has enabled Metso to standardize the order management pro-cess. This makes it easier to train employees and share workload. Resource savings Greater process efficiency and improved management tools have led to cost savings for Metso. For example, streamlining the engineering change notice (ECN) pro-cess from a manual one (in which engineers physically collected signatures from various departments) to an auto-mated one (in which digital signatures are collected within the Quick Base workflow) has saved six engineering man months per year, according to Buckley. 5

6 A Model for the Future Since implementing its apps, Metso quickly realizedother opportunities to solve challenges with Quick Base. The improvement in factory to factory communications, inventory control, and engineering efficiency continue to be developed. Quick access to integrated manufacturing and engineering data is now a reality. 6

7 About Quick Base Quick Base provides a cloud-based platform that empowers problem solvers to quickly turn ideas for better ways to work into apps that make their organizations more efficient. For nearly 20 years, people of all technical backgrounds have been using the Quick Base platform to create solutions that streamline processes, capture real-time data, and improve company operations, all while working in concert with existing IT systems. Based in Cambridge, MA and a former division of Intuit, Quick Base has a 6,000+ customer universe of app-enabled businesses that spans all industries and company sizes, and includes more than half of the Fortune 100. For more information, please visit: