UK Aerospace Company Boosts Manufacturing Performance with K3's MFW Software
A sustained investment programme in computerised manufacturing management systems has resulted in British-owned aerospace company APPH Limited reducing manufacturing lead times by half, doubling its number of stock turns and cutting headcount and inventory.
(PRWEB) April 24, 2003
/PR Web/ APPH has so far implemented K3 Business Technology's MFW Enterprise Resource Planning software in four of its eight sites in Britain and the US. The software handles the company's manufacturing requirements for both make-to-order for original equipment and make-to-stock for aircraft spares.
The company's services cover initial concept, design, qualification, manufacture and lifetime programme support. Its products include landing gear systems, flight controls and hydraulic system assemblies for both civil and military aircraft, and filtration equipment. Almost every engine ever built by Rolls-Royce carries APPH filters. The company's capabilities also include high precision machining and landing gear, wheel and brake repair and overhaul.
Cellular manufacturing techniques are used for the assembly and testing of all hydraulic equipment. These include a clean-room environment for safety-critical assemblies and those that demand ultra-high precision. Typical batch sizes range from one to 25. The company has a turnover of circa $100 million and employs 480 staff.
APPH numbers the top aerospace companies in the world amongst its clients, and current programmes include flight control and landing gear systems for BAE Systems Hawk trainer, Alenia C27J military transporter, SAAB Gripen military fighter, and hydraulic systems for the Raytheon Hawker 800 business jet.
The company has received a number of awards for its continuous improvement and lean manufacturing initiatives, including BAE Systems award for Supply Chain Excellence, and Investors in People.
In 1989 APPH identified a need for a flexible computer system for its Bolton site. A key requirement was for a package solution rather than bespoke software; it also had to be cost effective, user-friendly and be operated without the use of computer specialists.
"We chose MFW," says APPH Managing Director David Haslam, "because it met all our selection criteria. From our decision to buy until the final system implementation took six months, although we have almost halved this time with subsequent implementations at our other sites. Timescales have to be very aggressive otherwise you tend to forget the original objectives, key people leave the company and, generally, the impetus is lost.
"In 1994, we expanded the system to our headquarters site with similar success. As we were eager to embrace the growing benefits of Windows technology we were one of the first companies to adopt the MFW system in 1998. We chose the Bolton site to lead this programme, which took us four months to implement. We invested heavily in education and training, as we consider it essential that all employees take ownership of the system. I also think active participation in the user group is essential for generating feedback and providing a discussion forum for system upgrades.
"At the Runcorn site we have several Linvar Paternoster automated storage machines for stock picking, which have been interfaced to MFW. This has greatly increased the efficiency in part picking and stock management.
"This year we have also implemented MFW at TRAK, our high precision match grinding facility. The system's production control module is particularly relevant for the company's multiple machining operations. Our Airight Inc. subsidiary in the US is also implementing MFW by the end of 2002."
K3 Business Technology's MFW is a 32 bit system comprising over 30 modules that grow together to provide a fully integrated ERP system on Windows and Windows NT platforms. APPH sites typically use MFW modules such as sales and purchase order processing, inventory, bills of materials, MRP and financials. The system caters for a wide variety of manufacturing environments. APPH, for example, has a complex Bill of Materials: the average landing gear strut has 300 line items and over 1,000 for the complete landing gear system.
"The benefits of the system are numerous," says Haslam."You must work smarter when you implement new computer systems. MFW has helped to reduce manufacturing lead times, handle our material and parts traceability requirements, and has contributed to increasing our sales per employee ratio. The control of inventory has been improved, resulting in lower inventory levels and increased turns"
MFW has an open architecture and APPH uses its inbuilt Crystal report writer for standard management reporting, and the MS Access database for special reports.
The company is standardising its networking systems, and its hardware platforms are all NT. A Group Intranet is used across the company and information can be exchanged between the various sites. It is also linking its engineering systems. APPH's design and stress engineers work as an integrated team on each project. A good example of this is the programme for the Saab JAS 39 Gripen Advanced Combat Aircraft, where APPH designed, certified and manufactured the entire landing gear system including struts, actuators, the electro hydraulic selector and steering control valve. Electronic data exchange is carried out between the Unigraphics and CATIA computer-aided design systems and the Patran and Abacus stress analysis programs.
In addition, the company is using digital document management and retrieval systems to facilitate a paperless environment. "We are also planning to link our Unigraphics CAD and the IMAN product data management system to MFW," says Systems Manager Andy Treadwell. "IMAN is a product lifecycle management system that stores product data and information and handles related changes. The integration between IMAN and MFW is planned to be at the Bill of Materials level."
David Haslam adds: "Our vision is to have state-of-the-art, integrated ERP and Engineering systems across the Group, with e-business links to our customers and suppliers on a global basis." He sums up the benefits of MFW in one sentence: "MFW is cost effective, user friendly, and has matched our system functionality expectations."
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NOTES TO EDITORS:
K3 Business Technology Group plc is a public company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Formerly known as Kewill ERP, the company is one of the UK's leading authors and suppliers of Supply Chain Management and ERP software for the SME Sector. Products include IBS, SmartVision (ERP solutions), Omicron (financial software) and JobBOSS for small jobshops.
K3's clients in the UK include Rolls Royce, Thomson CSF, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Thales. With over 1650 current UK customers, the company is the UK's market leading supplier of UK-developed Supply Chain Management software to the SME sector.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Richard Thomas
K3 Business Technology Group plc
Electra House
Electra Way
Crewe
Tel: 01270 211211
E-mail: richard. thomas@k3btg. com
K3 can also be reached on its websites: www. lenamanufacturing. com and www. k3btg. com
