BACKGROUND:

Morrison Products is an HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) company that specializes in the manufacturing of air distribution products and systems for commercial and residential buildings. They offer a wide range of products such as grilles, registers, diffusers, flexible duct, and other air distribution products.

Their products are designed to provide optimal airflow and comfort in buildings while also ensuring energy efficiency. They also have a team of experienced engineers who can provide customized solutions for specific projects. They have a commitment to quality, innovation and customer service which helped them establish a reputation as a reliable supplier of HVAC products.

THE PROBLEM:

As a leader in their industry, Morrison Products Corporation recognized that they had an opportunity to react faster and smarter to the quickly changing needs of their customers, the changing availability of materials from their suppliers and the day-to-day changes on the shop floor.

Their current scheduling process was slow, heavily dependent on manual input and prone to errors. They felt that there was a massive opportunity to build on their already competitive position if they could automate and standardize the scheduling process across all four of their plants.

Morrison Products Corporation has made the decision to utilize (APS) software as part of their lean manufacturing approach. This advanced software uses algorithms and analytics to optimize production scheduling, taking into account factors such as machine capacity, material availability and labor constraints. By automating their scheduling process with APS software, Morrison Products Corporation can create more accurate production schedules while freeing up valuable resources for other strategic initiatives.

ORIGINAL ENVIRONMENT:

Morrison Products Corporation uses QAD’s ERP software in a multi-site/plant environment with QAD’s  Repetitive Module. In addition, 3 plants were using a home grown excel based scheduling system that is no longer supported while one plant was using Preactor’s scheduling solution.

PROPOSED SOLUTION:

After careful consideration, the management at Morrison Products Corporation determined that the best way to achieve their objective  was to implement a fully automated Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) solution.

The APS system would enable the company to more effectively plan and schedule resources, monitor performance in real-time, reduce lead times and improve customer service levels. This solution will help ensure that Morrison Products Corporation is able to remain competitive in today’s market while still delivering quality products on time.

Essentially an Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) solution can be a powerful tool for managing production across multiple plants. It allows companies to streamline the allocation of resources, scheduling of production runs and optimization of inventory levels, while reducing errors associated with manual processes.

By automating these processes with an APS solution, companies can reduce the time it takes to schedule from hours to a few minutes. This meant they would be able to respond faster to changes in demand or other supply chain disruptions.

THE SELECTION PROCESS:

The selection committee comprised of members from multiple departments across all plants. The goal was to identify and select the best solution that would help them achieve their objectives.

After careful consideration of all available solutions, the committee concluded that the QAD Scheduler, Siemens Op Center, and PlanetTogether software packages were best-suited to meet the company’s needs. Each package was thoroughly evaluated in terms of its functionality, cost-effectiveness, and ability to be easily adapted for our specific requirements. After extensive research and analysis into each package’s capabilities and features it became clear that PlanetTogether best met their needs for the following reasons:

• PlanetTogether handled all of Morrison Products Corporation requirements.
• Only PlanetTogether handled all constraints including materials.
• Additional tools included scheduling optimization tools, real-time data analytics capabilities and much more that far surpassed its competitors in terms of functionality.
• PlanetTogether was also able to demonstrate that they were investing heavily in development and that they had a clear roadmap for the future.
• There was already a proven seamless integration path connecting QAD with PlanetTogether which would save money upfront while protecting them from software upgrade issues.
• In conclusion they felt that PlanetTogether would truly give them a significant competitive advantage.

BENEFITS:

As a result of implementing the PlanetTogether software package, Morrison Products was able to achieve the goals that it had set out at the beginning of the process.

By standardizing a formal scheduling process over all four of their plants, the company is now able to predict accurate customer ship dates, allowing them to provide reliable delivery dates to their customers. Additionally, the software’s flexibility allows Morrison Products to react quickly to disruptions in the supply chain and adjust material requirements accordingly. The software’s enterprise-wide accessibility has also provided all work centers with access to the schedules, enabling them to make more informed decisions.

Overall, the implementation of the PlanetTogether software package has allowed Morrison Products to improve their production process and achieve greater efficiency in their operations while meeting customer requirements.

Conclusions:

In conclusion, Morrison Products implementation of the PlanetTogether software package has proven to be a successful and beneficial decision for the company.

An additional benefit was that the data generated by the software has allowed Morrison Products to make more informed decisions about their operations, such as identifying new machine purposes, new tooling, and labor requirements. The collaboration with LSI-Scheduling Solutions and ERP Consulting, who have extensive experience in working with QAD and Advanced Planning and Scheduling solutions, ensured a smooth and successful implementation.

Morrison Products is now reaping the rewards of their investment in PlanetTogether and is now looking to implement PlanetTogether in three newly purchased plants.