Architecture is full of variety - and that means a number of challenges for manufacturers of building materials and semi-finished products. Maas Profile has been producing and selling metal profiles for roofs, façades and ceilings since 1991. Due to the different materials, thicknesses, shapes and colors used, there are over 40,000 material variants to choose from. In addition, there are custom-made products such as special punched or perforated parts and accessories such as fasteners, light ridge systems or flashings. In total, the company has 18 product groups and millions of design variants with the product configurator - a multifaceted product range that is also a test for the company's IT department.

Keeping an overview

For a year now, Maas Profile has been handling its wide range of variants more efficiently than ever before: the company is mapping its processes consistently with the complete ERP solution Proalpha. At the heart of this are 18 product configurators that are specially tailored to the needs of Maas Profile. Managing Director Hans Wiedemann explains: "We have a separate configurator for each product group. They are the basis of our business." It is not uncommon for an order to be made up of several elements, each of which is then created using a different product configurator. The results then all come together in the ERP system. The consistently mapped processes ensure that the company can produce 225,000 production orders with more than 200,000 order items per year and deliver them in over 40,000 packages.

Implementation of the system

During the implementation of Proalpha, the needs of Maas Profile took center stage, including the introduction of the product configurator. Toni Melzer, IT department manager, emphasizes: "We first defined the goals and expectations and then implemented them together with Proalpha." This is because a comprehensive set of rules is needed to be able to use the configurator optimally.

The product configurator brings together the data required for both sales and production.

© Proalpha

The first step was to define the variants that were to be mapped using a product configurator. The next step was to define what information the system needed in order to take specific customer requirements into account - such as length information, materials and plausibility. Precise information on material prices and production costs had to be stored for automatic pricing. These key points were then implemented in the configurator, tested and adapted to new requirements.

For customers, this means a larger and more flexible selection of product variants that can be individually tailored to their needs. For Maas Profile, in turn, the product configurators increase the degree of standardization of their processes. This means that the sales staff can already compile the products when entering the order, even if they are extensive and complex. In addition, the configurators provide information as early as the order acceptance stage as to whether sufficient material of the desired quality is in stock. If this is not the case, a requirements message is automatically sent to the purchasing department, which can purchase the material.

Reduced manual effort

Diversity of variants at the heart of the system: Maas Profile's product configurator increases the overview of the variety of products. Special customer requests can also be taken into account.

© Meuse profiles

Variant descriptions ensure that production orders can be generated directly from the configurators. The required material and production steps are assigned directly. Toni Melzer explains: "We now have an overview of all our production orders and can see the status of an order at any time - whether and where it is in production, whether it is in the warehouse or has already been loaded onto the truck." This makes it easier to plan the entire process chain and optimally utilize financial and human resources.

The complete process plans are created without any manual effort. Cutting and production lists are created that define the product. These show all the dimensions of the parts to be produced as well as the required quantities - in some cases they even provide packaging instructions. In addition, the materials required can be automatically reserved for the target machines in the cutting and production lists. This represents considerable progress, as the company was only able to map the shape, material and colors of the products using IT with the old stand-alone solutions. According to Wiedemann, everything else had the character of a special status and had to be passed through the company more or less manually in the form of extra notes and verbal instructions. One example of this is orders that contain profiles with short lengths and therefore cannot be produced on all machines. The scheduling of such orders could be reduced from up to one and a half hours to just a few seconds.

In the course of introducing Proalpha, Maas Profile also optimized its entire production planning, including material flows, machine allocations and set-up times. The configurators are also the starting point here. They start with the coils, i.e. the rolls containing tons of aluminium, steel or stainless steel. As the coloring can differ between individual batches, it is particularly important that a coil is assigned to the respective order at an early stage. This prevents the batches from mixing during a production process. Employees use barcode scanners or forklift terminals to identify the coil determined by the work preparation department. In addition, this mobile data collection system allows incoming and outgoing goods to be recorded directly on site and reported back to the ERP system - without any media disruptions.

Control the machine assignment

Even before the final production order starts, the configurators play an important role in capacity planning - right through to machine allocation. They check whether there is sufficient machine capacity and material available on the planned production date. If this is the case, the materials are automatically assigned to machines that can process them. The order item selects the right machine on the right day at the right time itself and automatically enters the order - without any human intervention. The basis for this is comprehensive communication between all parties involved - both between the machines (M2M communication) and with the fully integrated ERP system.

As a rule, three machines per material and item are stored, from priority 1 to priority 3. Work preparation staff only intervene if there are shifts or bottlenecks. To do this, they can access a specially adapted interface in the ERP system that indicates irregularities in color. "With an average of 200 complete orders per day, this warning function is very important for us to ensure our speed," says Wiedemann. 90 percent of the order items run according to the defined standard process. The employees only have to deal with the ten percent or so that deviate from this. The system works: The result is an adherence to delivery dates of almost 100 percent - a rate that would be difficult to achieve without the appropriate solution. This is because the starting point for all planning is always the end date, i.e. when the goods have to be with the customer. Based on this, the loading date and the time at which the assigned truck must leave the company premises at the latest in order to deliver the goods to the customer on time are defined. With the help of the product configurators, the entire process has been significantly shortened: As a rule, the goods arrive on the truck just three working days after the order is received.

Less manual tuning

The hectic pace has eased: Just ten months after the implementation of Proalpha, it was already apparent that operations were running more smoothly. The employees have to coordinate much less manually. The few coordination processes that still exist are clearer and faster.

One example of this is the bending department, where the processes at the five bending benches are now much more efficient. Previously, the flow of goods was disorganized and there was no overview of when and what was being produced on which machine. The employees had to manually collect their pallets in the hall in order to edge their material - a time-consuming process. For this reason, a two-shift model had to be used to process the orders. This has changed since the implementation of Proalpha. Orders are assigned to the edge benches in a structured manner. The employees know exactly what needs to be done and where their work material is located. IT manager Toni Melzer is satisfied: "The result is easy to measure: Two-shift operation could be discontinued, today the same capacity utilization is mastered in one-shift operation."

The use of the new solutions has therefore paid off for Maas Profile's corporate development: the processes are automated and clearly structured, the error rate is reduced and delivery deadlines are met. The company also offers its customers a wide range of product variants with the product configuration. The production of the respective orders is individually tailored to customer requirements - right down to a batch size of one.

Authors:
Tobias Könnel is a Consultant at Proalpha;
Michael Markenstein is a Consultant at Proalpha.